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First Impressions: Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy

As someone who’s a fan of the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and has enjoyed playing both series, I figured it was about time I checked out the Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy. For those unfamiliar with these games, they’re developed by CAPCOM and are all single player story driven games. The main story behind these games involves investigating murders in order to defend your clients in court and prove that your client isn’t the one who committed the crime. In these games, you come up against tough prosecutors and use the evidence you collect against witness testimony to help prove your client’s innocence.  

The Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy storyline involves these three games: Apollo Justice Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Dual Destinies, and Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice, which follow one of the newest members of Wright’s team, Apollo Justice. In these games, you are introduced to Apollo who is taking over the helm during a time described as the dark age of the law. In this review, I’m going to talk about all three of these games in chronological order as while they follow the same character’s story arch, they are each uniquely different as well. I’m going to share my thoughts on each of these games in the trilogy as well as talk about what I think of the trilogy as a whole.

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

Photo Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Justice:_Ace_Attorney

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney is the first game in this trilogy, and I felt it was a good way to introduce the new protagonist Apollo Justice into the series along with Trucy who helps Apollo throughout as he’s investigating and collecting evidence to defend his clients. The storyline in this game I found to be interesting and couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen.  

What I enjoyed about this game is that the cases were unique and mostly simple to complete. I felt like there was a good balance between using the logic that the evidence provided to prove your case and enough of a challenge that you weren’t breezing through every case. I also enjoyed that Apollo had a unique ability that you were able to use throughout Apollo Justice Ace Attorney. The ability I’m referring to involves Apollo being able to perceive when someone he’s talking to is lying to him through habits the person has when talking but also due to the bracelet he wears tightening around his wrist whenever he’s talking to a person and they’re lying to him. I felt like the way this ability was explained in the game was cool and how you were able to use it, both during investigations and while in court, was a nice touch and brought something to the game to enjoy that I wasn’t expecting.

What I also love about this first game in the trilogy is getting the back story behind Phoenix during this time. I’m not going to get too specific here on what happens as I don’t want to spoil the overall plot of these games. But I really enjoyed seeing it unfold from beginning to end despite how sad it turned out to be for Phoenix and especially Trucy. I think what helped me with it all is that I really like Trucy’s character because she’s a wonderful addition in this series. She reminds me some of Maya and brings light to the trilogy when you need it as the player.

Speaking of characters, another thing I enjoyed about Apollo Justice Ace Attorney was the characters involved in these cases. I especially loved the prosecutor in this game, Klavier Gavin. He is the brother of Apollo’s mentor in the first case, Kristoph Gavin and he’s also the lead vocalist and guitarist in a rock band called the Gavinners. What I like about Klavier is that he’s a prosecutor interested in finding out the truth instead of looking to get a guilty verdict. I also like the dynamic between Apollo and Klavier throughout this game as I feel like they are evenly matched in court. I also like a lot of the lines he uses when in the courtroom when facing off against Apollo.

If I had to choose anything about Apollo Justice Ace Attorney to criticize, it would be the cases themselves. While I enjoy the storyline regarding what happened to Phoenix and a truth that later gets revealed regarding Trucy and Apollo, I wasn’t particularly fond of all of the cases in this first game in the trilogy. Yes, I enjoyed going through the cases and finding out the truth about who the killer actually was, but they weren’t my favorite cases from this trilogy and in the first game of a trilogy. They brought interesting twists and turns that made you wonder what was going to happen next but felt like they didn’t overall leave an impact on me regarding how the rest of the trilogy was going to unfold. The last case is a good example of why I felt this way because the way the verdict was decided wasn’t something that impacted the rest of the trilogy since you were in control of the one who determined whether the client was guilty or not. And the way the verdict in that trial was determined was never discussed in the next game and how it if at all had an impact on the courtroom and how trials are conducted. However, I still did enjoy my playthrough of this game as we were introduced to Apollo, Trucy and Klavier and getting to see what Phoenix’s life was like during what was described as being the dark age of the law.   

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Dual Destinies

Photo Credit: https://aceattorney.fandom.com/wiki/Phoenix_Wright:_Ace_Attorney_-_Dual_Destinies

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Dual Destinies was an enjoyable game in the Apollo Justice Ace Attorney trilogyto play. This game continues where Apollo Justice Ace Attorney left off but are also introduced to another character into the trilogy named Athena Cykes who works alongside Apollo and Phoenix to help their clients. In this game in the series, you continue to play as Apollo and with the help of Athena, defend your clients and determine who actually committed the crime your client is accused of. 

What I enjoyed about playing Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Dual Destinies was the introduction of Athena Cykes and the ability she’s able to bring into the courtroom. Athena Cykes is another person hired at Phoenix’s firm who also has unique abilities of her own that involves being able to pick up on people’s emotions through their voice. She then examines the person’s emotions through a program called the Mood Matrix to uncover the truth regarding their emotions to help a person discover what they truly witnessed. While difficult at times to understand how to use it, I enjoyed getting to use the Mood Matrix in this game because it was very useful during witness testimony as what Athena usually uncovered was information that as the defense you didn’t already have, and I felt like it helped bring me closer to discovering the truth in a case.

And in comparison to the cases in Apollo Justice Ace Attorney, I found that I enjoyed the cases and the backstory that happened in this game better. I think what helped for me was the introduction of Athena Cykes’s character because I felt like the cases in this game brought us more of her backstory regarding her past and why she became a defense attorney in the first place. You saw this not only through the cases in this game but the introduction of the prosecutor for the cases in this game Simon Blackquill. I’m not going to go too deep into the character of Simon Blackquill other than to say he’s a very interesting character to have in these games as a prosecutor. I especially enjoyed how his hawk Taka interacted in the courtroom during witness testimony because it brought some entertainment during some serious moments in trials.

The biggest criticism for me of this game in the trilogy was using the Mood Matrix mechanic because I don’t find its explained very well how it works. I find it to be a very interesting mechanic to include, but I don’t feel like the game does a wonderful job explaining to me how it works. As a result, I found myself oftentimes just pressing randomly hoping to get a result or looking up when I needed to press so that I wasn’t stuck at certain points in the game. Another criticism I have is that although this is supposed to be a game following Apollo’s character, I felt like he didn’t play too much of a role in this game all that much until the last few cases. Not to say I didn’t enjoy the story with this game, but I just felt weird about it because I was hoping to get more of his character backstory in this game, and I feel like I didn’t as it felt like the story was focused on Athena’s growth as a defense lawyer and her story arch.

Overall though, I enjoyed playing Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Dual Destinies. Each of the cases had their own unique twists and turns, I enjoyed seeing the dynamic between Apollo, Athena and Trucy and I felt like the backstory you get of the characters as the game goes on was wonderfully done as I didn’t know what to expect.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice

I feel like out of the games in this trilogy, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice had some of the most interesting cases and brought in one of the most interesting mechanics. I also found the backstory of what’s going on during this time to be interesting because I wasn’t expecting us to end up switching between playing Phoenix, Apollo and Athena in this game in the way you do. I especially wasn’t expecting to play as Phoenix and end up going into another country called Khura’in and dealing with their unique court system. Phoenix literally puts his life on the line while in Khura’in to defend his clients and uncover truths through the use of the Divination Séance, which allows the player to see the victim’s final moments before their death.

The Divination Séance is one of the most interesting mechanics I’ve seen in these games. Through this séance, you as the player need to pay close attention to what the victim experiences in their final moments in order to find contradictions that’ll help you uncover the truth regarding the victim’s death. Once you find these contradictions, the truth becomes even more clear and you’re able to use what’s discovered to provide doubt regarding your client’s guilt.

Along with the use of this new mechanic, what I also enjoyed about playing Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice was getting to switch between these three characters and handle a unique set of cases that involved using the séance as well as using the mechanics that were in the first two games in this trilogy. I also enjoyed all of the cases in this game because you were given backstory about another country and its justice system while also learning more about the characters in this game. I especially enjoyed it because I learned more about Apollo’s background that led up to him becoming the defense lawyer we know him to be in this trilogy. The last case in particular I enjoyed because it had me on the edge of my seat and also found myself emotional, waiting to see how everything would unfold.

If I had to choose anything about Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice to criticize it would be that we don’t get to see Athena take on too many cases or see her develop in any way. I know we got a lot of her story in Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Dual Destinies so I wasn’t expecting too much from her here. But I think it would’ve been nice to see her continue to develop into her own as a defense attorney since she’s just as much of a lawyer in these games as Phoenix and Apollo.

Final Thoughts on Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy

As a whole, the Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy was a pleasure for me to play. I enjoyed getting to see a variety of characters that needed a strong defense in court and seeing someone else taking up the helm besides Phoenix. It was also nice getting to see the return of characters from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy and getting to see what their lives were like during these games. Apollo is an enjoyable protagonist to play as and I’m glad I decided to play these games as I enjoyed them immensely. I enjoyed that each of the games following the first in the trilogy built further upon its predecessor by adding in game mechanics that added an element to investigations and trials that wasn’t there before. And I love how everything with these cases unfolded as there was a wonderful combination of gameplay and logic with these cases to make this an enjoyable experience. If you’ve played the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and enjoyed them, I highly recommend playing this trilogy as well.

If you’ve read this post, thank you for taking time out of your day to do so as I really appreciate it! Don’t hesitate to leave a comment below if you’ve played any of the trilogies mentioned or have any thoughts about any games similar to these.  

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First Impressions: Cattails

Cattails is an animal simulation game where you get to play as a cat surviving out in the wild in a colony. You as a cat get the chance to choose which colony of three you want to join: Forest Colony, Mountain Domain, and Mystic Colony. Each of these colonies in this game have their own territory in this world and each day, you have the opportunity to participate in two battles for your colony to claim/protect land that’s close to your colonies territory. If you win those battles, your colony’s percentage of ownership increases, and you have the potential to have that piece of land turned into a part of your territory that you must also protect.

Screenshot of the world map I took while playing Cattails.

I recently started playing this game because I wanted to play something more relaxing. I had gotten this game on Steam a while back but hadn’t gotten too far into it at the time. But decided I was going to put some hours into playing it again to see what it was like. And so far, I’ve been really enjoying Cattails.

Along with choosing a colony to join and fighting to claim territory, there’s a lot more to this game than that. You as a cat can also hunt for food and collect items that help keep your hunger and health meters up, so you don’t die. There’s also different skills you can level up and learn throughout to help your cat become stronger too as you gain experience points throughout the days in the game.

You can also in Cattails work on your relationships with the other cats in your colony. And from the number of hours I’ve put into this game so far, it looks like you can build relationships with the other colonies as well, though I’m not completely sure yet what happens once you’ve gotten those relationships up to a certain percent. My guess is that once you get your relationship with a colony to a certain percent, you’ll then be able to go into the colony’s headquarters and interact with the cats in that colony.

What I’ve enjoyed about playing Cattails so far is all of the areas you can explore, the variety of animals you can hunt and herbs you can collect to keep your health up, and just being able to play as a cat. There’s just a lot with this game you can do besides the things I’ve already mentioned that I can get into. For example, there’s a task board in your colony’s town where you can go to see what daily task needs to be completed and complete it and get Task Points that you can then spend at the board to buy items. There’s also two mines in the game that you can also explore where you can dig up resources that you can then trade in for Mole Cash, like the Task Points you can spend at the Mole Shop to buy items.

There’s just a lot with this game that I’ve really enjoyed during the time I’ve been playing it so far. And what I like the most about it is that I feel like I’m able to relax when I’m playing this game. I feel like that’s because once you get accustomed to the controls and get better at hunting, everything else comes naturally to me with it when it comes to playing a video game where you play as a cat. I also feel like the music in the game helps too because it creates a peaceful atmosphere during gameplay that makes this game much more enjoyable for me to play.

So overall, my impression of Cattails from what I’ve played so far is that I really enjoy it. It’s the perfect game to play whenever I want to relax or play a video game that isn’t very heavy on storytelling. Can’t wait to continue playing this game as I’ve enjoyed every minute of it and recommend it to anyone else who loves cats just as much as I do. Especially if you’re a gamer who enjoys playing life simulation games such as Stardew Valley as I feel like Cattails shares a lot of similarities to it. 

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First Impressions: Life is Strange: True Colors

I know the last time you saw a Life is Strange review from me was when I was talking about this game here along with the review I did on its fifth episode. Like that game, Life is Strange: True Colors is also a video game that focuses on a main character with superpowers. But instead of having the ability to rewind time, Alex Chen has the ability to read people’s emotions to where she can even take on their emotions if they are strong enough and she gets too close to them.

Taking place in a small mining town in Haven Springs, Colorado, you play as Alex Chen who’s just been reunited with her older brother Gabe after many years apart. Alex has a difficult past and her brother offers her a place to stay in Haven Springs as a fresh start. But when her empathetic abilities start to take over once again, she finds herself discovering there is more to this small town than what meets the eye, and will have to use her powers to find out the truth about what happened to her older brother.

There are so many things I loved when playing through Life is Strange: True Colors. For starters, I loved that they introduced a character I felt like I could relate to. I myself tend to be a heavily emotional person and consider myself someone who’s sensitive to other people’s feelings to the point where I’ve embodied those feelings. Not to the point like Alex who is able to not only embody those feelings but find out why someone is having those feelings through objects near the person whose strong emotions she’s picking up on and help the person dealing with them. But I felt like I could relate to her character because I’ve been able to pick up on people’s emotions like she has and felt like I had no control over them. I love they brought a character I could relate to life so vividly. And they did it in a way that drew me into the story in the game and made me want to find out what happened next.

Besides Alex’s superpower, I also enjoyed playing Life is Strange: True Colors because of the setting where they had these events take place. Haven Springs is a small mining town and I felt like you could clearly see how small of a place it is when Alex meets everyone in town. They did a good job of bringing to life what I imagine living in a small town would be like where everyone knows everyone already and where everyone knows when something is going on. Like when Alex made it into Haven Springs, the residents already knew she was coming because of her brother Gabe. Along with the small-town feel, Haven Springs itself is a beautiful setting in this game and I felt like they did a good job of showing the mountains you’re more than likely to see in a place like Colorado.

I also enjoyed Life is Strange: True Colors because the story and characters drew me in. I found Alex and the residents of Haven Springs to be very relatable and I wanted to find out what was going to happen in this town.

Unlike the original Life is Strange, however, I felt like a lot of the overall choices you made in the game didn’t have too much of a significant impact on what happened to you as Alex. I felt like a lot of the decisions you made didn’t heavily impact the story quite as much because the end result was going to be the same no matter which choice you made. Yes, there were some decisions you as Alex could’ve made that I felt like they were trying to make seem like big decisions, but to me, they didn’t seem all that big in comparison to the first Life is Strange game. I feel like the only difference I would’ve seen if I made different decisions would’ve been different dialogue and whether certain characters trusted you when you revealed the truth about one of the characters in town. Oh, and there might’ve been different results as well depending on who you decided on as Alex’s love interest. But overall, I don’t think there were really any choices you could’ve made that would’ve completely altered how things played out.

Overall, I enjoyed playing Life is Strange: True Colors. It touched on my emotions with its story and with playing Alex who was someone I could relate to because of her superpower. It’s a game I can see myself coming back to play. I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys story-based games and wants to play a game with a main character that has superpowers.

Are there any video games you’ve played recently that touched on you like this one did for me? Please leave a comment below telling me about your experience as I’d love to hear all about it!

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First Impressions: Kingdom Hearts III

Kingdom Hearts 3 2

As someone who’s been playing video games since elementary school, the Kingdom Hearts games have been the biggest part of my childhood. So, when I heard about the release of Kingdom Hearts III, a game I’ve been waiting for the longest time to come out, I was so excited and ready to play it.

Kingdom Hearts III takes place after the events in Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, following when Riku and Sora take the Mark of Mastery test. As Riku and King Mickey go on the search for Aqua (another chosen Keyblade wielder whose story you learn more about in Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep), Sora goes on an adventure of his own with Donald Duck and Goofy in search of reawakening his weakened powers and trying to learn the power of wakening. As Sora travels from world to world, he encounters Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed as well as runs into various members of the new Organization XIII whose true goals remain unknown.

While I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of Kingdom Hearts III, I truly believe it’s my favorite game in the series that I’ve ever played. One of the things I enjoy about the game so far is the combat. I love the different abilities (otherwise known as form change) that each of Sora’s Keyblades has that you can activate when you fight. I feel like each of them is unique to the Keyblade Sora is using but in a way that suits it.

Kingdom Hearts 3 Form Change
One of the form changes in the game.

There’s also a new ability in combat called attractions that I still have mixed feelings about. Just like the name suggests, attractions are an ability that Sora can use where he’s on different attraction rides that can cause damage to the enemy. I have mixed feelings about this new ability because some of the attractions you can use are very useful and others I just find to be very annoying and don’t like using in combat. But overall, I find the combat in this game to be the most fun I’ve had in a Kingdom Hearts game in a very long time and look forward to fighting whenever I play.

Another thing I’ve enjoyed with Kingdom Hearts III so far are the different worlds you can travel to in the game. I like the worlds you get to go into because most of them you’ve never been to in any of the other games in the series. I also like the role Sora gets to play in those worlds, whether he’s dressed like a toy and helps Woody and Buzz search for their missing friends or he’s a monster helping Mike and Sullivan get Boo back home. Sora is always getting himself into situations, making friends along the way and I love it just as much in this game as I do all the others.

Kingdom Hearts 3 3
Sora in the Carribean, one of my favorite worlds from Kingdom Hearts II that I’m glad they’ve brought back.

I also love the message of friendship these games bring with them. Of your friends even when they aren’t around still being a part of your life, close to your heart. This message always resonates with me and I feel like its exactly what I needed to hear. Especially with the personal stuff that’s been going on in my life.

There are, however, some issues I do have with Kingdom Hearts III. One of the biggest issues I have with the game is how they go about the plot. I’ve just recently started to get further into the main storyline of the game and while I do at times find it interesting, I also find myself left with a lot of questions that remain to be answered. I know since I haven’t completed the game yet I probably shouldn’t be complaining about this, but its something that bothers me so I feel like it needs to be discussed.

What I think doesn’t help is that a lot of the worlds Sora goes to the story doesn’t feel complete. You get some gameplay in these worlds, but I feel like you never truly get any resolution to the conflicts the characters in the world are dealing with. For example, one of the worlds I enjoy going to because the characters were a big part of my childhood is the Hundred Acre Woods from Winnie the Pooh. In the previous Kingdom Hearts games, you go to the Hundred Acre Woods and must help Sora find the missing pages of the book to see Pooh and the rest of his friends. In this game, however, Merlin shows you the book and Sora notices his image is missing on the front cover, so you go visit to see if anything is wrong there. It’s the shortest world visit in the game you experience and its one of many worlds in the game I felt were treated the same way, though not quite as short.

I also don’t like with Kingdom Hearts III that the worlds you go and visit don’t really tie in with the main storyline in the game. Usually, in these games, the worlds you go into playing as Sora there’s usually a reason he goes there that ties into the main storyline in the game. With this game, I didn’t see that truly being the case. I felt like you got some snippets of what the main storyline was, but not enough to really understand why Sora went to these worlds. The main storyline doesn’t take place until after you’ve completed these worlds. While I didn’t necessarily mind it, it’s different from what I remember in the other games, so it threw me off.

But overall, I’m enjoying my experience playing Kingdom Hearts III. I remember when I first got into the series, excited to play these games. This game has been no different for me because I’ve been waiting for its release for so long. I know I’ll be sad when I finish this game because this game series has been a part of my life for such a long time. But right now, I’m enjoying my first time playing through it and believe I will continue to do so despite my criticisms.

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First Impressions: Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery

Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery One

For the past couple months, I’ve been anxiously awaiting Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery to come to the Apps Store on my IOS. As a die-hard Harry Potter fan, I was really excited when I first heard this game was coming out. Now that it’s out here, I’ve been excitedly playing it in between completing other tasks at home.

For those unfamiliar with the release of this game, Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery is a new Harry Potter mobile game where the player gets to go to Hogwarts. As a Hogwarts student, you get to attend different classes where you earn different attribute points and if you successfully complete the class, points for your Hogwarts House. Along with attending classes, the game allows you to explore the Hogwarts grounds in order to complete the main game storyline.

From what I’ve played of the game so far, your character has an older brother who’s been missing since being expelled from Hogwarts. He’s expelled from Hogwarts because of his obsession with the Cursed Vaults, which your character decides they want to learn more about in order to find out what happened to their brother. So with the help from friends you’ve made at Hogwarts (Rowan, Penny and Ben, the first set of characters you’re introduced to during your first year), you set out to find out more about the Cursed Vaults and to find your missing brother.

I find that this plot in Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery is one of the many reasons I’ve been enjoying this game so far. It’s not too complex of a storyline, but enough to get me interested in playing this game to see where it goes. I’ve also enjoyed it too though because I finally get to play as a student who attends Hogwarts. Since I fell in love with the Harry Potter series, I’ve always wanted to be a student at Hogwarts, and this game allows me to do just that.

Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery Me Sorting Hat
Me during the Sorting Hat ceremony, where I choose Ravenclaw to be my house.

I’m also enjoying this game because it’s not too complex of a game. The controls are pretty simple, it’s mostly just pointing and tapping to get from one area to the next. The same with classes too where you just click on what’s highlighted in blue until you’ve completed that particular task. It’s also very slow-paced because a lot of the objectives you complete (classes included) involve using your energy under a certain amount of hours until you collect a number of stars. Once you get the number of stars you need, you then can actually take the class and learn a new spell, potion, etc.

As your taking these classes and progressing through the game, your character also gains attribute points. There are a total of three attributes that you can level up: courage, empathy and knowledge. Courage represents your bravery, empathy represents your ability to understand others, and knowledge represents your academic aptitude. None of these attributes have any real bearing on the decisions you make in the game at this point in time other than being able to say certain things to people if a particular attribute is at a high enough level. But I love all of these features and how simplistic this game has turned out to be because it makes it a very relaxing experience to play. While you’ll have to do a lot of waiting to get your energy so you can continue with your lessons, I don’t particularly mind because I use that time to do something else while waiting for my energy to refill.

Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery My Character Attributes
My character in Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery. Even though I’m a Ravenclaw at heart, in this game I seem to have an easy time leveling up my courage and empathy more so than knowledge.

While I love playing Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery, there are some things this game does need that would improve it for me. For one, I think it would be nice if there were more clothing and hairstyle options for your character. From what I’ve seen of the clothes, there is a lot left to be desired. None of them are things I’d honestly really wear, and the things I do tend to see that I like require more gems or coins than I currently have. It would actually require me to spend money on this game to buy them. While I wouldn’t necessarily mind spending money on this game, it has to be something really worthwhile for me to consider it. And right now, there’s really nothing in the game currently that I find worth me to spend my money on. So for now, I’m sticking with wearing my Hogwarts house robs until I can afford clothes for my character I actually like. There also aren’t a lot of hairstyle options for your character when you first start playing the game. It isn’t until later on that you unlock more hair options. But like with the clothes, those hair options require more gems or coins than I can afford, and I’m perfectly fine with the hair my character has right now anyway.

The one thing everyone who’s played Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery believes needs to be improved in the game is the energy system. While I agree in the sense that the wait time for energy needs to be reduced a little, what I really believe would improve this game immensely is if the game was a little more interactive. I think it would be cool if there were more things you could do in the game while waiting for energy for classes, whether it be side objectives to complete that give you attribute points or fun games you can play that level up your character. I think for me what would make this game exactly what I want it to be is if we as players could control our characters and if the choices we made in the game had an actual impact on the plot in the game, whether it be differences in house points we gain or lose or the people we become friends with and the spells we learn during classes. I want all of these different features in this game because I want it to feel more like I’m attending Hogwarts myself rather than it feeling like I’m just playing a game on my phone. I also think it would be nice to have games you can play while waiting for your energy to refill because it would give players something fun they can do (if they so wish), but it would also give them more opportunity to work on their attributes and leveling up their character.

Another feature this game is missing that would make it a really great gaming experience for me is a Sorting Hat quiz. While I don’t necessarily mind being able to choose the Hogwarts House I want to be in (since in the books, the Sorting Hat does say it’ll take the house you want to be in into consideration), I like the idea of taking a quiz to see what house I’d be placed in. While I know for people who identify with a certain house that might cause problems, I love taking online quizzes to see what I get and I think having one here would’ve been another way for people to see if they truly belong in the house they want to be in. I also think for a lot of people it would just confirm for certain the house they identify themselves as being in and would make playing this game feel even more like we’re attending Hogwarts.

So while I’ve enjoyed playing Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery, there are a few features I believe need to be implemented or improved for this game to be the Hogwarts experience I want for myself.  But I do believe this game is making a great start in creating a Hogwarts universe that all of us who love the Harry Potter series can be proud of.

What about you? Are you currently playing Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery? If so, what Hogwarts House did you choose and why? And if not, what Hogwarts House do you associate yourself with and why? What do you like about the game so far and what do you think about the game can improve? Please leave a comment below because I’d love to hear from you.

 

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First Impressions: Sword Art Online: Integral Factor

Sword Art Online Integral Factor Image One

I’m sure those who follow my Instagram account aren’t surprised to see this game pop up as my next video game review. I’ve been playing it for the past week now and I can honestly say I’m hooked to it right now.

For those who are familiar with the anime show Sword Art Online (also known as SAO for short), Sword Art Online: Integral Factor is a mobile role-playing game. This game centers on the beginning plot of SAO, which involves the main characters in the anime trying to clear all 100 floors of Aincrad in order to escape the game. But now you are one of the people in SAO trying to get out of the game too.

As someone who’s a big fan of anime (and SAO in particular), I’ve really enjoyed playing this game so far. It has the look and feel of the SAO universe and its one of the first role-playing games I’ve truly enjoyed in a long time. I think part of the biggest appeal for me is that I was actually able to create a character that closely resembles my real life appearance. My character doesn’t look exactly like me (because there aren’t too many games where that’s possible), but I found the appearance I was able to make for her closely resembled my real life self.

Sword Art Online Integral Factor Avatar Image One
My avatar in Sword Art Online: Integral Factor. At the point I took this picture, I was on the 2nd floor in the game at level 19.

I’ve also enjoyed playing Sword Art Online: Integral Factor because the fighting and game play is so much fun to me. In this game, you can equip your avatar with two different weapons and switch between them during fights. Each weapon has different skill sets that you can get as you complete quests, and you can equip those skills in order to gain an extra attack against monsters. I find that fighting these monsters using these skills can be quite a bit of fun. As someone who doesn’t particularly like grinding in games all that much, I really don’t mind it a bit whenever I’m playing this game because fighting these monsters is actually a bit more of a challenge than in most other role-playing games I’ve experienced. Especially when you enter the dungeons where you have multiple enemies attacking you at once. It makes this game that much more of a joy because it challenges me to be a better player and to continue leveling up so I can clear the floor. I also like that you have more than one weapon you can choose from. This allows you as the player to be able to become skilled at using more than one weapon during fights, which I think is a good skill to have in this game. I like it because I was able to find early on which weapons I enjoy using, but I also have the chance to use other weapons too if I want.

I especially like that clearing floors in this game isn’t easy. I’ve been playing this game for a week now and have only made it to the 4th floor. It allows you as the player to see exactly why it took the original SAO players so long to progress. But I also appreciate it because I love playing games that are a challenge to complete.

What I think makes up for it, however, is that you as a player do have the option to join other players and form a party. As someone who’s used to playing games solo, I like that if I so wanted I could join a party because it definitely would make clearing monsters in dungeons so much easier. While I’ve yet to really use this feature (I’ve only been in a party truly once so far since I started playing), I like being able to interact with others who love SAO and want to fight together. I don’t really get the chance to play video games with other people that often so it’s nice that I have that option if I so choose to do so.

Another thing I like about this game so much is that it allows me to be in the SAO universe and interact with the characters from the anime. Ever since I watched SAO for the first time, I’ve always wanted the opportunity to explore that universe, see the monsters Kirito fought and try my hardest to help clear each floor. Now that this game is out, I get to do just that, even get to talk to the characters from the anime. Even better, some of the choices you make in the game change the outcome of the original story line. And I really like that because you can save characters that were originally killed off in the anime. I also like that you get to explore the SAO universe because you actually get even more story line content in this game that you haven’t seen before. With each floor you clear, you learn more about Aincrad, get to do quests that you didn’t see in the anime.

I think my favorite thing about this game overall though (well besides playing this game, of course) is getting to see the SAO universe. I love getting to explore each of these floors in this game, especially the moment when I defeat a boss and get to see what the next floor looks like. I like this particular moment in this game because the SAO universe in this game is graphically beautiful. I find that each floor is beautiful in its own way and can’t wait to see what the next floor looks like.

Sword Art Online Integral Factor World Image One
Me at level 42 whenever I get to the 4th floor for the first time. So far, the 3rd and 4th floors are my favorite floors graphically in Sword Art Online: Integral Factor.

There are however, some issues I do have with this game that if cleared up would make it a much more enjoyable playing experience. The biggest issue for me when playing Sword Art Online: Integral Factor is lagging/freezing during game play. I’ll be fighting a monster on one of the floors and notice that its health isn’t going down, even though it’s clear that my attacks are hitting it. So I’ll reset my game, which usually results in my character losing a majority of their health, sometimes even dying. I’ve actually died a couple times in the game because of this problem and it’s really frustrating to deal with. I’ve also noticed from the one time I was able to really join a party that most of the conversation I had with my party members somehow gets deleted to where I can only see things I typed when talking to a party member. I don’t know why, but it’s something I easily noticed and it annoyed me. But despite these difficulties, I’m still playing and enjoying this game a lot.

Another criticism I have for Sword Art Online: Integral Factor is that there aren’t really a variety of quest options for a player. Besides the main quest storyline, you have two other quest options: fighting monsters to collect items and boss fights. I get that the overall objective in this game is to clear each floor of Aincrad in order to escape the game, but I was hoping the quests in this game would be more story based. Or that there would be more to them so that they would be just as challenging as the main quest storyline. While it does benefit you to do some of these sub quests anyway (mostly because you can gain experience to level up), I find them to be just plain and not to be too much of a challenge to complete. It almost seems pointless to do most of them, especially because you can do them multiple times if you wish with very little reward.

I’m also critical of this game because it doesn’t really explain how you can improve your skills very well. When I first started playing, I thought I understood how it worked, but it’s taken me longer than expected to understand it and to improve the skills I have equipped. I’ve managed to do just fine not really understanding it, but it’s frustrating because I want to do the best I can to be a good player in this game. I know with time I’ll have it all figured out, but I still wish the game had explained it better so that I wasn’t dealing with so much confusion.

But overall, I’m enjoying playing Sword Art Online: Integral Factor immensely. It’s a much better SAO game than I was expecting for mobile and I’m having so much fun playing it that I don’t know if I’ll ever stop playing it. It just needs a couple adjustments here and there for it to be a much more enjoyable gaming experience for me. But I still love it all the same and can’t wait to play it some more.

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First Impressions: Arena of Valor

Arena of Valor Picture

Arena of Valor is a multiplayer online battle arena game for mobiles published by Tencent Games. In this game, you are on a team with four other players as you try your best to destroy their home base. Doing so requires a lot of leveling up and good teamwork. Depending on what hero you choose determines what abilities you have. For example, some heroes are good at jungling (where you go into the wild and defeat monsters to gain experience and level up your hero) while others are good tanks. So do the best to choose heroes to balance out your team so you can win.

Arena of Valor Pic 2
Via Flip Geeks.

I just recently started playing Arena of Valor when I saw one of the Youtubers I follow play it. And man, do I really enjoy it. What I enjoy about this game is that its team based. While I enjoy playing video games by myself, I don’t mind a game that involves playing with other gamers and trying to reach victory together. It gives me the chance to interact with other people who enjoy video games as much as I do.

I also like Arena of Valor because of it being a 5v5 game for mobile. While I’ve never played a game like this on my phone, I like that MOBA games are being brought to mobile because I feel like the controls are a lot easier. I also think it’s very convenient too because you don’t have to worry about booting up your computer or laptop to play, it’s all just right there in your hands. The controls are also pretty easy to learn too, which is another plus to me because the player doesn’t have to worry all too much about what buttons to push to use their abilities.

I love that this game has a variety of heroes for you to choose from. Every time I play a game feels like a new experience because I want to play as many of the heroes I can so I can see which heroes work for me. I like that as you continue playing the game and getting a feel for how it works, you can unlock more heroes to experiment with along with more talents. This gives me incentive to continue playing Arena of Valor and seeing how far I can get.

Arena of Valor Pic 3 Heroes

My biggest challenge playing this game is that I don’t yet completely understand how to use the Arcana system and what items I should be buying when I level up my heroes. While I get how the Arcana system works (you have three types of Arcana: red is strength, life is purple, and green is willpower and as you play and level up, you unlock more Arcana to build up your heroes), I haven’t completely figured out how to use the Arcana and the items I buy in game to my advantage. I know I’ve just started playing recently so this’ll come with time so I’m just doing the best I can with it until then.

Arena of Valor Pic 4 Arcana Building

While I really love playing Arena of Valor, I do have some things I don’t like about it. The biggest thing I don’t like about it is the Credibility system that’s in place to make sure players aren’t leaving games or trolling. With this Credibility system, if you leave a game for any reason at all, players can then report you for being AFK and you lose credibility points. While I get why this system is in place and do overall believe it’s a good thing to have, I think it needs some improvements. I’m not the type of person to leave in the middle of a game intentionally and then come back later. But there have been times where I’ve been playing and the game suddenly froze on me and I wasn’t able to get back into the game no matter how many times I tried. And I’ve lost credibility points whenever this has happened to me. This then left me frustrated with the game because I wanted to continue playing and enjoy it, but getting points taken away from me due to a system error made me less inclined to do so. And there is no way to dispute when someone reports you for being AFK, even if being gone from the game isn’t your fault. So people could end up taking advantage of this system, which is why I think they should have it set up where there’s a way to check that someone is actually AFK verses having system problems. I think there should be a way to tell so people don’t keep getting penalized because they have a crappy system because it’s hard to enjoy a game when it’s laggy and you keep being penalized because of it.

I also don’t like with Arena of Valor that to unlock some heroes you have to pay for them. I get having something in place to unlock heroes as you level up and play. But I don’t think you should have to pay to unlock heroes you really want to play as.

However, I am overall pleased with Arena of Valor as a MOBA game and am excited to continue playing it. I remember playing League of Legends and enjoying that a lot, but I think I like this one a little more because of how convenient it is. I also hope to try out more games like this one in the future because I know they’ll definitely be fun to play.

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First Impressions: Pokémon Magikarp Jump

Pokemon Magikarp Jump Image1

Last week, a game called Pokémon Magikarp Jump was released onto IOS and Androids. This game centers on a Pokémon in the franchise named Magikarp, one of the weakest fish type in the games. In this game, you catch a Magikarp which you then have to feed and train in order to get it to compete in jumping leagues. As you level up your Magikarp, it gets bigger and its jump power increases with each nugget of food you give it. Once you reach your Magikarp’s maximum level, your Magikarp will go into retirement and you’ll have to raise a new Magikarp from scratch.

I didn’t know about this game until its release. But I’ve actually found myself enjoying it. For one, even though Magikarp is one of the most annoying Pokémon to train in the other games, I like that this game gives Magikarp a purpose in the Pokémon universe.

I also like the mechanics of the game. I like that the features of this game are very easy to use so that anyone can play. All you have to do is click to feed, train and battle with your Magikarp. The only real choices you have to make in the game involve the events, when you want to spend coins to increase the jumping power of your food and training, and when you want to battle other Magikarps to become the highest jumper. Other than that, most of the game involves just clicking and watching your Magikarp grow.

Pokemon Magikarp Jump Image2

I like that this game has random events that can occur that can either help you increase your Magikarp’s stats or make you start over because your Magikarp just got eaten by another Pokémon. I think these events add something different to the game, but also make the training process even more interesting. Especially when you have a Magikarp that you’ve developed a close bond with only to have it snatched away from you. While it can be frustrating to some, I just find it amusing because I know I can train another Magikarp anyway that could end up possibly being better than the one that was taken away from me. I like when these events happen because it’s fun to see what’s going to happen next in the game.

Pokemon Magikarp Jump Image3

However, there are some downsides to Pokémon Magikarp Jump that need to be discussed. It’s a game that can easily get boring the higher you have to train your Magikarp before it can retire. This is because much of the game process involves doing a lot of grinding from when you feed your Magikarp to when you train and battle with it. When you first play this game, you don’t experience this quite as much. But once your ranking goes up and your maximum Magikarp level goes higher and higher, you begin to reach that point in the game. This results in the game starting to become too repetitive for you, which is a problem I’m beginning to experience. I’m at the point now where I wish there was more stuff you could do in the game because there’s not too much else to the game other than feeding, training and battling/jumping. I really think adding some more features to the game would really make it a game people would continue to play.

But overall, I think Pokémon Magikarp Jump is a simply fun game for anyone who wants to play and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys the Pokémon games.

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First Impressions: Transistor

Transistor 1

Transistor is a science fiction action role-playing video game. Published by Supergiant Games in 2014, the game centers around Red. Red is a very well-known singer in Cloudbank, a futuristic city where nothing is as it seems. In an attempted assassination on her life, Red acquires a weapon called the Transistor that is owned by the Camerata and has to combat creatures called the Process in order to survive in the city.

As you explore the city of Cloudbank, you learn more about the Transistor. You also fight the Process using these set of moves called Functions. Red also has a unique ability called Turn() that freezes you in time so you can use your Functions to fight the Process. This ability is one of my favorite combat features in the game because it makes fighting the enemies a little easier.

Transistor 2

Turn() is an ability that can really help you. Especially when you find yourself in a serious pinch.

Transistor is such a uniquely beautiful game, completely different from any other game I’ve played. I enjoy playing it because the game takes you immediately into the action and explains the further you progress. It tests out your ability to fight the Process with the set of Functions you start off with, making it enjoyable to fight against your enemies.

I also enjoy playing this game because of the relationship between Red and the Transistor. In the beginning of the game, Red acquires the Transistor via pulling him out of a dead man’s body. You don’t know anything about what’s going on at this point, but it’s perfectly clear Red and the Transistor know each other. While progressing in the game, Red and the Transistor have little interactions with each other that I find to be very enjoyable to hear. Their relationship continuously gets stronger the more of the Process you fight and the more you explore Cloudbank. I enjoy seeing their relationship because I’ve never seen anything like it in any other game I’ve played this year. Its serious but also playful and fun whenever they fight enemies together. I also think it offers a brief commentary on the relationship between humans and weapons, which I find to be a very fascinating thing to think about.

Transistor 3

https://www.supergiantgames.com/games/transistor/

While I enjoy fighting enemies in Transistor, there are certain aspects of the battling system I don’t particularly enjoy. I find having to click on the enemies to use your Functions to be very tedious but also hate that once you use Turn(), you have to wait until the bar is all the way full before you can use your Functions again. I understand that in many ways this allows for Red to recharge her abilities, but it also makes it difficult for you to use Functions on their own if you find the Process your battling to be low on health. I also dislike that when an enemy takes your health all the way down, you lose one of your Functions. I find that to be very annoying because you have to wait until you can get to an access terminal to reinstall them.

Besides these two issues though, I really think Transistor is a well-crafted, beautiful game that I can’t wait to play more of as I progress through the city of Cloudbank. I highly recommend it to those interested in a unique gaming experience who love science fiction as much as I do.

To view this post on Creators, click here.

 

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