Recent reviews by BadRevolver

The prologue set the table. Chapter 1 deals the cards. Chapter 2 massively ups the ante.

While I'm personally not a fan of charging per chapter, the devs have some PASSION to show and then some. To elaborate, the prologue shows that its got the style to set it apart. I was excited to see more. Chapter 1 thoroughly impressed me. It was a decently hard case to start off with but left me feeling really good about the future. Chapter 2 set this game to new heights I didn't think possible, and it's clear the game isn't anywhere near finished showing its hand. I was hooked from the very premise of this case alone, and while I was able to work out the killer early on, this case was HARD, and was leagues better than I thought chapter 1 could accomplish.

To put it short, if you liked the prologue and chapter 1, you WILL love this case. I'm really looking forward to what the devs cook up next

I played this game in the 2020 pandemic out of curiosity, and to this day this game remains as one of the best I've ever played, which rips my heart out because of what is happening. RGG is going to delist this game in 10 days in favor of an objectively worse version that's twice the price, bloated file size, extra cutscenes that either add nothing or retcon the story, no save carry-over, as well as delisting the other games from W10 because they can't be bothered to maintain/upgrade it, and they are even delisting it from PS4, something they have no reason to do! Alongside ALL of this, they are also keeping a known sexual abuser in the cast in their upcoming re-release, and as fans continue to push against it, RGG continues to silence them instead of addressing the criticism. RGG was a company I used to adore as an actually good AAA company, but either through corporate greed or through sketchy actions by Sega, this company has tanked their reputation HARD in the past few months. Do yourself a favor and purchase, dare I say pirate, this version and don't buy the more expensive worse version.

Look, I'm a huge sucker for a compelling premise, and a murder mystery that seemingly borders on the supernatural grips me harder than a coconut crab's claw. That is why I really, really, REALLY wanted to like this game, but was thoroughly disappointed.

Going off the game's description, a website named "Corpse Girl" exists to request the deaths of someone that the site user chooses. The victim receives a picture of their corpse an hour before their death, and their death mysteriously comes to fruition. The beginning of the game presents the answer that Corpse Girl is the POV character, setting the stage that the real mystery isn't who Corpse Girl is, but rather how the murders happen and how her power works, which starts unraveling into something more complex as the game continues. Playing through this game, this initial mystery is set up from the beginning, but isn't actually expanded upon until almost the end of Act I, which is roughly 8 to 9 hours into the game, and my interest was piqued only after around 6 and a half hours in.

The writing itself is really annoying to read. There is WAY too much dialogue, and about 60% of it is unnecessary. I couldn't even point to moments where the dialogue actually feels efficient, and it especially drags during inner monologues, which makes up at least 90% of the text. There is almost NO room for subtext, interpretation, or ambiguity, as the POV character will outright tell you what they're feeling down to the last detail, even if it's to explain what's currently happening or what has happened just before. There's some crime scenes the character will stumble upon, and without your input they just list out their deductions of what happened. There was the aftermath of a massacre scene that you encounter halfway through act I. It's the first time I actually got gripped into the mystery of what happened at the scene, only for that intrigue to get ripped away by the POV character's inner monologue deducing what the sequence of events was (for context, the monologue starts IMMEDIATELY after seeing the bloody mess). It takes a LOT of the intrigue out of it, even if the mystery isn't fully focused on the deaths/murders. Again, almost no room for subtlety. The writing also tries to use clever or grotesque metaphors within its prose, but more often than not I found it falling flat, being extremely out of place, or being downright cringy. It's like the dialogue writers tried throwing in quotes they think sounds hard and/or poetic, while not understanding what makes a great quote to begin with, and much less the right times to use it. While the writing in Act I was pretty decent, about halfway through Act II, the writing takes a violent downhill tumble, and fast.

Another gripe I have is the characters actions and motivations. The characters are dumb. Even for the characters who are... less insane... their actions a lot of the time don't make sense. I can't really delve into it without spoilers, but I found myself questioning what the hell they were doing. A lot of the choices the characters make in this game defy all rational thought, and hard to forgive even considering that the characters are insane and delusional. Suspension of disbelief doesn't contain even an eighth as much elasticity as much as this game's narrative pleads you to stretch it to.

For an endgame spoiler I have to get off my chest that accents the issues I have with the writing: What is Aoi's purpose beyond the obsession? There is no buildup before revealing her as the twist villain. When you switch to her POV and learn she's the culprit behind the deaths that Corpse Girl supposedly caused, she goes on a rant about how she hated Noriko her whole life, so why was she trying to aid her in the killings, and even more of an issue, why doesn't she just kill her? She claims she wants to take over Noriko's life for having it better than her, but again why? Then she wants to "take down the HRS"? It creates a massive plot hole for the entire story, which isn't even accounting for the question of how she found Corpse Girl's site, and how the timeline for the murders straight up don't match from when Aoi found the admin page. Secondly, the game made it a point about how easily Junpei identified Tomoe and Kojiro, he was able to rob Kojiro's morgue, and yet he wasn't able to locate the factory they worked from? Did Junpei conveniently get lazy? Third, how is a person like Aoi able to kill so easily? I don't buy her excuse of "I've been emotionally dead my whole life", because she is capable of maintaining personal and intimate relationships, renting an apartment, and holding a job. Even if she was a master manipulator, her inability to detach emotionally from her surroundings massively contradicts her "I'm actually dead" ideology. The idea of an uncontentious person with debilitating social anxiety and severe OCD being a mass murderer is really stretching it for me. Finally, there's no explanation how any of them get away with their crimes for so long. They make it a massive point that they were being very sloppy with their operations and cover-ups, that they weren't even being subtle, that even a nobody like Junpei found them out. How are they eluding police so much, even when a member is identified as a prime suspect?

The biggest mystery of the game is who is running the HRS, Corpse Girl's competitor . It's not payed off in a satisfying way, and while I didn't predict who it was, there was nothing that showed a silhouette of who it was, and the narrative actively deceives you of said person, not providing any chance of buildup for the player. Even upon the reveal, it doesn't recontextualize the plot, pieces of the puzzle don't click, it just... makes sense in the most boring way possible. I don't contest that it's a predictable choice, but my listed issues perpetuate. On top of that, the logic around the characters actions straight up don't match with their true nature, not even mentioning the fact he somehow survives being burned alive twice!!!

While I love murder mysteries, especially a mystery like this that should captivate me, this VN hit stunningly off the mark and thoroughly disappointed me. This is one of the only games I've finished and felt the need to immediately write a negative review

As a musician myself, I will say the game provides great value and a decent experience for what it is already, but it has SO MUCH POTENTIAL! While the game could benefit from more selections, there's some other things that I think could make the game thrive. The biggest thing I want from the game is modding support and custom charting capabilities to let users make their own conducting experiences. Another feature would be a "concert" feature where you can cue up songs to perform in one sitting rather than having to return to the menu each time. Other smaller things that would be cool to see are concertos and full symphonies (with selectable movements)

all in all, a game with a decent experience and massive potential

This game has a rather intriguing concept and I really wanted to like it, but it falls flat from lack of care for its game mechanics.

The premise is you are appointed as a court judge to make rulings for numerous different cases, from civil to criminal. Depending on the decisions you make, the possibility you either get arrested or assassinated can rise, and each case could end with either result, or you seeing another day.

After playing through the main story, many things fall flat because of these mechanics. Firstly, as many people in these reviews will mention, the percentages of assassination or arrest are extremely annoying, and narratively pointless. As long as either percentage is over 1%, the game could end in either option. If either one happens, you can just reload the game, hand down the same verdict, and you could get away the second time. Considering that these don't affect the endings, they're totally pointless. These mechanics make the game a trudge if you have a high percentage on either, and the game does not ever make it clear if it's possible to lower them (it is, but the point is you are never told or hinted at. I found out during the very last case).

Second, this game suffers from a lack of localization. The game does have an option to play in English, but it's almost like it was all run through Google Translate instead of hiring a proofreader or someone to convert it into something natural and readable. It's not all that apparent at first, but becomes more obvious the later in the game you get with increasingly glaring grammar and spelling errors. For those people that demand that games or shows don't have localizers and just stick to the literal translation, this game is the result of such practices. Don't underestimate what localization can do for your media.

Because of the lack of localizing, many of the characters are very uninteresting with next to no characterization (with the exception of your family, who are flatter than cardboard). If you were to take away the names and appearances, you wouldn't be able to tell anyone apart.

The game also tries to follow the format of Papers Please, where new guidelines and laws are implemented that you have to take into account when you make your ruling, as well as having to save money to make your family happy. Most of the time these mechanics were pointless. In this game, you have all the time in the world to make your ruling, so there is no stress, meaning the fact that new laws may trip you up is very rare, and even if you make an incorrect ruling you can reload your save. Denying your family their treasures doesn't have much impact either. I granted my family only 3 requests and it didn't affect my playthrough. In fact, I got the best ending.

One more issue I have with the cases is the evidence file. Most of the cases are ambiguous until you open the evidence file, which proves beyond a doubt that the accused is guilty. If the accused isn't guilty, the evidence doesn't help at all, making most cases open and shut most of the time, where logic is almost unnecessary.

The game is a decent time, but with the amount of flaws it had I can't give a good recommendation. I'd recommend watching a playthrough or getting it on sale if you really want to buy it.

I'm a big fan of Class of '09 and I loved the comedy in the original and the Re Up. After completing this game, it's a drastic departure from what made the first two great, and I can not in good conscience recommend this game. I don't believe that taking a darker approach and tackling dark themes makes this bad, however a majority of the game is trauma beyond comprehension slapped on to Jecka with little to no cohesion. Some people will say that "class of '09 has always been problematic and edgy" for its shock value and "Why is the first game having nazi's in it ok but foot stuff is too far?". This is fundamentally misunderstanding the differences between the games. The first two games were extreme caricatures of how high school teens acted or behaved in 2008/09, and the focus was always on the absurd comedy of it, but all the same it was coherent in a way where the shock value still worked and served the narrative in some way. The Flipside is not only a complete flop in the shock value department, but is also an assassination on what the series was as a whole. The way the creator treated this game was almost like he really wanted the player to hate it, and in turn feels like a huge middle finger to fans of the series. Before moving on, the thing you're reading about the feet stuff is not an exaggeration in the slightest.

For the general points of this game, I can think of more cons than pros. Minor spoilers below:

Pros
-It's a great idea to give the POV to the fan favorite character
-The last ending you're likely to get was the most intriguing for me, as it ties back into one of the endings for the first game and expands on why Jecka acted the way she did in that route, as well as the aftermath
-The Hatman joke was possibly the funniest in the entire game, but it lasts for like a minute tops
-The voice work as always was stellar, and Kayli Mills did an amazing job even with this script that she was given

Cons
-The Flipside had a mere 6 prompts and 5 endings. Although this game is the same length as the others, there is no room for filler or tangents, making the depressing themes very linear and without rest.
-One of these prompts is completely useless, as you only get 2 extra uninteresting lines of dialogue before it reroutes to the main path. If the game was going to be this linear, why would you bother putting in a useless choice?
-A majority of the characters somehow managed to become uninteresting and boiled down to their most defining character trait with no nuance, and Jecka's dad is probably the worst of them all.
-There is very little humor in this game. I can think of a few jokes, but 99% of the time this game is straight depression. As I said before, dark themes are not a problem, but I believe that advertising it as the same game and as a comedy is very deceptive.
-Half of the game's runtime has to do with foot fetish content and is extremely uncomfortable to watch. Another route has prolonged fetish content that only contributes to the overall depression. Again, extremely uncomfortable to watch
-Nicole's character is brutally assassinated in one of the routes and is unbelievably out of character for her

This game is genuinely SO good, and somehow it wasn't good enough for Microsoft. I sincerely hope they are ready for what closing this studio will entail for them. I hope that robbing your consumers of a sequel to this is a catastrophic failure for you, Microsoft. If you can, play this game. Show the suits what a mistake they're making.

I'll be honest, this is possibly the best co-op shooter you can play and some of the most fun you'll ever have.

Although 7 countries are still region locked, Sony walking back from 177 blocked countries is still a massive W. From what I've been able to dig up, these 7 countries seem completely out of Sony's control, so my review is going back to a faithful positive.

FOR SUPER EARTH!!!

After playing both games and the side content to the end, I can say that this is probably the best ace attorney game out there. After playing the phoenix wright trilogy, AJ, and DD, this game has plot writing that overtakes all of those. The murder mysteries aren't as insane and crazy as the original trilogy, but all the good of this game from Herlock Sholmes to the character development of Barok Von Zieks, this game is absolutely f*cking fantastic. The game's story ends with the second game so there's no need to continue Ryunosuke's story, but I wouldn't mind if we got more...

I should start this review saying that if you're new to the Persona universe, DO NOT PLAY THIS FIRST. This game is a sequel to the original Persona 5. This game fully assumes that you've played at least the original Persona 5, and doesn't give any background to new players, so play either the original Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal first. I don't care if you have to watch an LP.

As a huge Persona 5 fan, I preordered this game and completed the story 4 days after it came out, playing nothing but this game. While it is significantly shorter than the original Persona 5, I can say that the combat is some of the most fun I've *ever* had in a game. You can totally feel the passion from this game, and the developers put their heart and soul into making something that will stay true to the Persona 5 vibe and the charm that made people fans of the game to begin with.

Not even mentioning the SOUNDTRACK. This absolute banger of a soundtrack paired with super-intense-stimulus-overloading fights makes for some of the most fun you'll ever have in a hack n' slash game. Of course there are pretty easy to point out flaws with it like the story not being as long or good as the original, but in my opinion the good outweighs the bad for this game. If you loved P5, you will absolutely love this game.