Nioh

Boss Battle

Team Ninja’s new IP combines Japanese samurai history with gameplay inspired by Dark Souls, and if you are a fan of both, then you are in for a huge treat. However, if you bite too much out of it, you will find yourself spoiled and in the end, bored.

What I mean by that is that at first, Nioh’s presentation, controls and features feel excellent. However, the longer you play, the more you realize that stages, assets and enemies are re-used enormously, to the point that the game becomes repetitive and redundant.

While that is certainly the game’s weakness, it does almost everything else right. It has some of the swiftest combat you might be accustomed to when it comes to gaming, and excitingly, there are 5 weapon styles, which each split further into 3 sub categories, because in Nion, your main character William is able to switch between 3 stances, with different kinds of movesets.

There are also bows and guns to use, as well as various support items. You can block, parry, roll and move away while quickly switching up your tactics as you seem fit, whenever you use Ninjutsu or Onmyo, or special skills, the variety here is satisfying.

While the loot system is at first exciting, again, the longer you play, the more you realize that you will be selling or sacrificing these objects so much for experience currency, that it becomes a chore to constantly equip better stuff, while at the same time dropping much more.

The story is based on famous historical Japanese characters such as Oda Nobunaga and Hattori Hanzo, while a foreigner named William comes to assist and take out the yokai, which are demons consuming the darkness around Japan.

Boss fights are another highlight, and all are entertaining and a fair challenge, except for 1 huge slimy foe with a one hit KO move and water hazards which will also instantly kill you. The normal enemies are fine too, until, again, you will see all of them for the hundredth amount of time.

Optional content includes side missions, but also twilight missions, boosting the difficulty further. The online feature includes Co-op and PvP by use of summoning, while gestures can be made, and you can lose and recover your experience curreny upon death, which are all courtesy of Dark Souls elements.

While Bloodborne played with emphasis on the HP meter, Nioh is more focused on the stamina meter. Not only do enemies fairly have them, you are also able to do a nifty little thing called Ki Pulse, which is a mechanic allowing you to recover faster, and it feels similar towards cancelling moves in fighting games.

In overall, Nioh provides great value for it’s presentation, content and gameplay, but as I said, the longer you play it, the more repetitive it becomes, and it honestly does not hold a candle towards the lore of the games it got inspiration from, despite being partially based on true historical events.

Still, I applaud Team Ninja’s efforts, and can’t wait to see what they will cook up next.

Rating: 8.3

Downloadable Content: Season of Infamy

Arkham Knight is of course an excellent modern game, and it's debatable if it, City or Asylum can be considered the best, while Origins is labeled as the black sheep and the least innovative. Now, let's take a quick look at the most interesting DLC, which is Season of Infamy.

Four new "Most Wanted" missions gradually come available as you advance further into the main story, each offering something different. I'm sure you have grown accustomed to Mad Hatter's delusional mind games, and here it's not different really, as the obsession with Alice never ends.

Killer Croc's "stranded" ship sets the stage for rescueing victims, while also chasing after the muscled crocodile humanoid, and then ending in a tag boss battle match, which is somewhat amusing. The end scene depicting Nightwing seems to suggest that it happens before some other Most Wanted is even arrested, or not.

Mr.Freeze and his wife Nora have an emotional farewell to Batman, Gotham City and all others standing in Victor's way, and this time, you are actually helping him out getting away before Arkham Knight/Deathstroke's thugs and drones get the job done.

Ra's al Ghul's quest is likely the most intriguing, as the mission involves continueing the legacy of the League of Shadows, or not. With a hospital as a main setting and the fact that you will have to track quite a few routes, this one will most likely be remembered the most.

Season of Infamy is in overall an alright expansion, but nothing major really happens. The main game and the main side Most Wanted missions more than enough make up for that, but it's always nice if you get treated even more with Batman's unstoppable rogue gallery.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice

The sixth main entry of Ace Attorney brings us towards the home country of spirit channeling, Khurain, where a new gameplay and plot feature also marks it’s debut; Divination Séances , where ritual dances share with us the final memories of fallen victims.

Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice is a tad better than the previous entry and stands quite strong in overall, and it also marks the series’s 15th anniversary.

Beloved characters like Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey return together finally, and Apollo Justice is now for the first time as deep as a character as them, for the central story focuses about him.

The 5 cases are all qualified with entertainment in their forms of variety, wacky characters, plot twists and of course the famous turnabout turnouts.

Athena Cykes and Ema Skye also return as fan favorites, and the new prosecutor Nahyuta Sahdmadhi is at first very foreign, but becomes likable in the end. My favorite case is probably the third which felt predictable at first, but ended unexpectedly.

Spirit of Justice is a good continuation of the overall series, providing character development and background info that fans wanted out of Apollo Justice. While it's occult and spiritual themes might feel divisive, the courtroom drama is still solid and entertaining.

Rating: 8.3

Fire Emblem Fates

Birthright

First version of a "trilogy", or a story branching into 3 paths, Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright is a typical sequel with Awakening’s gameplay continued.

You are able to build buildings inside a fortress as you get through the chapters this time, support relationships and breeding are available again and the rescue option is still only done by using a staff.

Upon choosing this path, you will follow Hoshidan’s soldiers to retaliate against the invasion of the kingdom of Nohr.

The story is typical except that both Nohr and Hoshido claim to be your true family towards the Avatar you create. Personally, I was left with 3 units after playing Hard and Classic until chapter 20, and then I switched to Easy and Casual in order to beat the game. Birthright is faithful Fire Emblem gaming.

Conquest

A stronger campaign, more mission objectives and tough as nails, Conquest is better than Birthright. And again, I had to lower the difficulty to Normal and Casual around chapter 20 because it was getting too ridiculous, even though I have played plenty of Fire Emblem games so far.

With a more interesting cast of characters, and greyer values of morality throughout the plot as to what is the right choice, you will feel perhaps even more at home with this campaign, as you will with guarantee start losing your units and feel rage and despair in here.

Revelations

Supposedly, Revelations, also known as the 3rd route, is the best of the three, but I've had enough Fire Emblem for a while, and it looks like the franchise is bigger than ever after the special january direct. I will discover Revelations somewhere later this year.

Rating: 8.3/8.4

Kirby: Planet Robobot

Meanwhile, the 3DS will still go strong as backup for Nintendo as the Switch will release in march 2017, just in case of a worst case scenario. To keep that thought, I will perform a smaller amount of 3DS reviews this month once again.

Starting with Kirby: Planet Robobot.

Naturally looking back at the previous platform entry, Planet Robobot is classic Kirby gameplay this time combined with mecha suits wearable by Kirby, letting him wreck havoc even more as superior copy versions of enemies appear then.

Traditionally having enough unlockables such as The Arena and Meta Knightmare, and 3 new copy abilities of which the Doctor is my favorite, Planet Robobot is more of the same good gameplay as we are used to, with breezing challenge, pleasant graphics, collectable stickers and cute characters!

The Kirby series is one of a handful amount where the quality has never really dropped, and arguably, each title feels different enough from predecessors, plus it is unmistaken that the mood of Kirby's universe is charming and hard to resist for it's cute factor.

As previously already said, there are still several entries I have yet to play, especially including the spin-off titles, but consider me very satisfied with the main platformers maintaining the consistent quality!

Rating: 8.0

Expansions of The Witcher 3

Noticing that CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3 has gained hundreds of awards including Game of the Year several times, as well as the developer being so generous with it's numerous patches, downloadable content and of course the two big expansions, I decided to replay it and this time, beat it as far as main quests go, completely.

I already reviewed Wild Hunt earlier, and it easily sets the current standard for open word role playing gaming. With a Polish touch, based on Slavic Mythology and a high fantasy setting with political situations, it's a very detailed, vast and rich adventure.

Hearts of Stone continues Geralt of Rivia's adventures in the form of an insidious "favor to favor" request with the Man of Glass, a familiar enigma who makes you his personal champion in order to clean up the messy pact created by the immortal Olgierd von Everec.

Taking place mainly around Oxenfurt and nearby areas, the quests are varied, including slaying down a hideous toad prince, performing a heist operation, and letting your body get possessed by a ghost yearning for one more day of personal joy.

Hearts of Stone is a modest and modern definition of an expansion pack, bringing towards you a captivating story, and my favorite quest involved exploring Olgierd's former wife and her tragic background.

Blood and Wine however is how I would describe as a real authentic expansion pack, reminding me of retrospective ones such as Brood War or Yuri's Revenge if I can give out RTS examples, because this time, the adventure expands into an entire new territory; the picturesque duchy known as Toussaint.

While having a reunion with former  acquintances in battle, I was pleased to known that Regis would become Geralt's most trusted ally in these noble and fable like lands. The title is actually a pun on vampires and that the country symbolizes it's obsession and culture with wine, and they both obviously share the same color.

The main quest this time is even bigger and can branch of into two paths, but the fact that there are also dozens of side quests to be found, as well as a new way of experimenting with Geralt's mutant genetics means that CD Projekt Red really put their best efforts into this impressive expansion.

My favorite quest apart from the one involving perhaps The Witcher 3's only formidable boss aside from it's original final boss, just might be the one where Geralt and the duchess's evil sister are warped into a fairy tale world with familiar yet deadly tales awaiting you. And maybe I also really liked the sidequest involving a statue's genitals granting such energetic youth power, hah!

Blood and Wine is an exceptional rich expansion pack similar in quality towards From Software's expansions, and while Geralt's conclusion was already there with the base game, it doesn't hurt to go on an lengthy adventure with him here, one more time.