Black Rock Shooter

I never watched the Black Rock Shooter anime prior to playing the game. I didn’t know what to expect, so going by the name alone, I thought it would be a bad first person shooter with a generic anime paint job. By playing the game, I discovered the show, and now I’m hooked. I’m also a bit hung up on the game. I started the game with only the intent to review it, but as I played it, I got caught up in the gameplay. I really don’t know how to review this. Is it an RPG, an action game, or a 3rd person shooter?

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Stealth Inc. Is A Real Bastard

I hate this game so much. Not because it’s a bad game, but because it’s so frustratingly good. The controls are toddler simple using nothing more than left, right, jump, and duck. It seems so easy at the start, but like any good puzzle game, the simple stages serve as prep courses for things to come. It was about the 4th boss level where I got completely stumped and had to look for a solve on YouTube. My utter incompetence is forever thankful to the internet jockeys who managed to tackle this long before I got my hands on it.

Murumasa Rebirth

Originally released for the Wii as Murumasa: The Demon Blade, this enhanced edition makes for a welcome addition in the Vita’s slowly growing library. Thankfully, you can edit the controls to suit your desires in almost every possible way. I say thankfully because the default controls are a bit of a mess. The game is simply beautiful and on full display on they Vita’s stunning screen. I find that I play this game more for the graphics than the gameplay. Playing on the easier setting is far too easy while playing on the harder setting takes a lot of work to master. Once you do, instead of being rewarded with a deep combat system, I found myself repeating the same basic attacks in a very repetitive manner. Boss fights are where the gameplay shines because you have to tackle each one with entirely different strategies. It’s a shame that there are long and frequent periods of running without any encounters whatsoever between the boss battles.