Ala-Arska

Battle Chasers: Nightwar The Battle Chaser Aquire all trophies A picture tells more than a thousand words. Not in this screen. Since the Plat image is what it is, I decided to do something different this time. Now with pictures! (and yes, that is a typo in Platinum description. Blame the developers, not me) For starters, I have to say this is absolutely a hidden gem. A turn-based RPG with deep combat and beautiful visuals. I liked the fact that leveling up matters less than acquiring good (and ultimately Legendary!) gear. Being an RPG, of course there's a fishing mini game. But it's fun! Outside of combat there's a strong Bastion feel. Great game too Sound and hit effects are 60's-Batman-Awesome. Music, especially at the end, is excellent and very similar to epic Darksiders II. Monsters are big, aplenty and can kill you quickly. Like usual, the enemy grind is real. This can be a turning point for many. I found Battle Chasers to be addictive, easy on the eyes, engaging in combat and honey on my ears. Slight repetitiveness aside, it is a catch

NieR: Automata Final Words Thank you for playing Yes, I used the "secret" Trophy Shop. Sue me. NieR was one of my favourite games on PS3. NieR: Automata fails to reach those heights. It does try hard occasionally, though. But with every epic moment comes an epic blunder. First of, it goes for visual tricks and grand scales often. Not that impressive, when graphics look like 2009. Granted, looks aren't everything, but at least some effort towards the scenery would've been nice Now it's just shades of grey all around, building blocks and blandness. And an occasional moose. Combat is hectic and makes the camera go ballistic 10 times out of 10. It's definitely action~y, but overall a mess. Characters like to shout a lot and overact, as is the tradition in JRPGs. Like a summer theater, at home Multiple playthroughs are required for all endings. Or, playing same segments multiple times more like. 3+ was fine for me, hence that screenshot. Yup, there's a thing called "Secret Trophy Shop", which you'll unlock after a few endings. Saves a lot of grinding and time, and is a weird addition. But hey, if it's in the game, it's in the game. And allows you to skip fishing mini games among other things The amount of backtracking, walking, traveling from point A to B, lagging and being lost in general didn't encourage me to go on, either. Bosses are a huge slog. They've got way too much HP, way too many stages, and they just drag on foreeeeever. And it's just robot this or robot that. What IS great about this game is the music. Not quite the masterpiece like NieR PS3, it's still got a grade A+ soundtrack. Props for that. I did like some characters, and main protagonists were pretty okay. Antagonists Adam (male) and Eve (also male, WTF?) were OTT emo as hell Story was splendid. The more you play, the more it opens up. Sadly, gameplay itself doesn't do it justice. But it really is a well thought plot. NieR: Automata sure can be divisive. I was disappointed, but I know it can be loved. Try it out with an open mind and see for yourself

Skylanders SuperChargers (PS3) SuperCharged Earn all other trophies When sparks are flying, it's Love and Thunder. My hand is getting tired from all the vehicle switching. Yeah, the biggest obstacle here was to get up from my couch and remove/add figurines from/to my Portal (of Power!) Otherwise this game is smooth sailing, depending of course what and how many characters and vehicles you have. It's a huge money grab, buying new Skylanders every time a new title appears, but also weirdly addicting. My poor wallet. Luckily SuperChargers is very doable with only a few "lives", the final boss in Nightmare Mode is the only "up yours" moment here And these games are super fun! I enjoy every one of them immensely, despite the odd difficulty spikes. Graphics are clean, colourful and pretty to look at. Animations and cut scenes are entertaining and levels have variety to boot. Music is cheerful, and especially the Live Wire minigame has an electrifyingly catchy tune Controls are not pitch-perfect, which makes some platforming a minor headache. Movement is a bit too slow for my taste, too. New driving/flying/seafaring sections are a welcome (again, more costly) addition. Especially water parts look just gorgeous. Getting to the Fastest Achievers list, woot woot! Currently at 3rd place, always a sight for sore eyes Skylanders SuperChargers is a whole lotta fun, even though a money sinker. A good family investment, and good times overall

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (PS4) Have you ever tried Shawarma? Collect every trophy C'mon, bub. Let's dance like it's 1974 again. I have been a fan of Marvel comics for well over 30 years now. They're awesome. This game...is not. First of, character roster is pretty fine. They've got the basic Peters, Steves and million Tonys (why?), and a few odds (hello, Kurse!). Levels are fun to play. They match you with different heroes, against some solid, and sandy, villains. So far, so good But, then starts the Collectables Grind...most of it is doing various quests for various folk. Mind. Numbingly. Boring. To put aggravation to sleepiness, quest marker (Deadpool) often is not in the right place, stuff freeze, escorts disappear...just suckiness. Then there's the races. My God do they f**king suck flaming elephant c**ks while ramming you up the ass with a purple dildo. Land races are "only" awful. Pedestrians and cars all jump in front of you like it's Vice City. No Wanted level for superheroes, though Air races (and flying) are beyond appalling. You have little or no control when taking off or landing. Or maintaining speed or course. Especially Iron Man. I'm pretty sure this version of Tony Stark has fell off the wagon, hard. No sober person moves this erratically LMSH is a game I really wanted to like, but bad controls and unforgivable glitches made it close to impossible. Then again, if you're going to collect 100%'s in LEGO games, this is something you just have to muster. 'Nuff Said

LEGO Jurassic World (PS3) Life Finds A Way Collect all of the Trophies Oh, William. You're so Shameless. Another day at the LEGO office. This is one of my favourite brick titles, everything just flows together in unity. Peaceful, man Collectibles are easy to find, races give no trouble, flying is in minimum (thankfully). Character's abilities make sense, Jeff Goldblum's laugh is present, Jimmy Fallon solves higher equations. Why not? And it's a great reminder just how a spectacular movie Jurassic Park was (and still is) back in 1993. Still holding on to my butt. LEGO Jurassic World is great fun for movie buffs and blockheads alike. And it's my second LEGO Chris Pratt game Platted in a row

LEGO Movie: The Videogame (PS4) The Piece of Resistance Unlock All Trophies Everything is super, man. Continuing with the LEGO games streak. Look at me, I'm streaking! It's the third time I'm Platting this one, after the PS3 and PS4 digital version. Still Vita left... Surprisingly glitch free, too. No crashes, not getting stuck anywhere. Flying tends to suck in LEGO games, but here it's okay. Probably the "easiest" of them all, well at least shortest. Only 70 Gold Bricks, no Minikits, no trackable characters. And yes, "Everything is Awesome" still gets stuck in your head. But now you can dance to it and get a few trophies! Very simple, and very entertaining. If you're into pants, glue and Unikittys

Cat Quest II Pawlatinum You are pawsome! One more pun, and the Universe would've been pooched. So many, many cat and dog related word plays. Be still, my heart. So, this was a joint effort between me and my youngest son. He got a Plat in the first one a while back, and wanted to play this one with me By all means, my boy. By all means. More stuff to do and to find than in the first Cat Quest, lots of haa haa-funny humour, easy gameplay. An excellent choice for anyone looking for a light-hearted action RPG, pick-and-play style Wow, managed to make it through without any animal-related puns. Dogged that bullet LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (PS Vita) All Finished! Acquire all trophies Look, it's a Russian doll inside a doll. Inside a doll. Inside a doll. Inside a doll. Inside a matryoshka doll. My second Plat of the day. And the worst LEGO game I've ever played. Plainly put, this title f**king sucks. Many things to complain about, but to name a few... One: glitches. Most common one was when my spell turned to water sprout and got locked there, preventing me to proceed in story Two: frame rate dropping to close to zero. This happened far too often. Reminded me of PS3 Fallouts and Skyrim, when a save file was big enough, everything would stutter until the game froze. Only this was far more annoying. Three: spells backfiring on me. Nice to try to destroy blocks, when my own levitation spells hits me and I'm stuck for a few seconds. Forever, seems. Four: shitty controls. Choosing a spell is a hassle, and there's sometimes a lag when doing so. I miss using my fists. In hitting stuff, I mean Five: level ending screen music. Not magical at all, felt like I was in a Resident Evil Save Room instead. Six: some voice jibbers are way off, even if they are just jibbers. Hermione sounds like a bodybuilder in a dress. Hard to get that from your head... Seven: it's just no fun at all. A bland compilation of stuff that happened in some wizards & warriors movies. DumbleBORED out of my mind. You've seen me whining enough. Now, here's some Moaning instead That was just scratching the surface (look, I did manage to make a cat pun!). PS3 & PS4 versions are waaay better than this. Avoid LEGO Harry Potter 5-7 on Vita like plague. Unless you, really, really want to complete the whole set