Mary Skelter Finale | PS4 Review

The Mary Skelter series, by Idea Factory International, is a dark fantasy series that places fairytale characters into a hellish living prison known as Jail. A place that consumes everything in it's path, and will not allow it's prisoners to escape their torment. Subjecting them to torture night, and day at the hands of monstrous beasts ... 

In the first game in the series we got to know of mainstay characters and prisoners Jack and Alice as we followed their attempted escape from said Jail. Jack and Alice having been couple of childhood friends that were abducted by the resident monsters known as Marchens, and taken to the Jail in which they were made to do unspeakable things. It is there they were ultimately rescued by the likes of Red Riding Hood, and were told of Alice's unusual powers. It seems Alice was a Blood Maiden, a person who draws powers from the blood of Marchens, and is borne of Marchen descent. While Alice, and other Blood Maidens like her are capable of fighting back against the Jail's minions with those powers they cannot push it too far past their strengthened Massacre Mode, a heightened state of sorts brought on by the blood splatters of Marchens, or they'll go into a transformative Skelter frenzy where they lose their reasoning to madness. Attacking friends as well as foes. 

This is where Jack's role is first made known. It seems that Jack's blood is not your ordinary blood type. It can actually bring a Blood Maiden who has gone into a Skelter transformation back from that awakened state into their normal selves, and through the use of a Mary Gun he does just that. With Alice, Red Riding Hood, Jack, and Red's Dawn Liberation group in tow the lot set out to tackle the enemies at hand and free themselves from the Jail using the knowledge of their powers. Or so they thought ...

G-Darius HD | PS4 Review

*REVISED*

ININ Games continues their porting of the Darius series with an arcade port of G-Darius. The fourth entry in TAITO's Darius shmup series which hails from 1997. It comes complete with what appears to be a direct from arcade rip of the original game. Still inclusive of the "Only Playable In Japan" warning ahead of the starting intro. Something you often times see with MAME-like emulation. Aside from that the game gets a visual upscaling in it's HD version with a more polygon focused 3D Silverhawk ship, and more vibrant visuals. That, and an original lesser quality version for comparison or preference sake. When it comes to versions both versions of the game, which are included in this package deal, hold up graphically. At least somewhat. Comparable to one another in most aspects. Outside of the game's art borders, screen size options, filters, and gameplay cheats there's not much else that's changed though. The saddest thing of all is that the game, particularly in the original version, suffers from heavy framerate issues that further points to possible console translation issues. 

Crisis Wing | PS4 Review

Crisis Wing is your standard shoot 'em up affair. It's SSDD. Same Shmup Different Design. While it looks noticeably different from anything before it, it's visual design does little to help the game in the area of gameplay. The ship's movement, which is a crucial part in any bullet hell shooter, is so loose that it makes for an unfairly challenging experience, and I do believe that artificial difficulty is what the developer was banking on in the area of challenge. When it comes to modes of play the SSDD side of things still applies. Nothing to write home about, but it does include a sort of unique take on time attack mode. Visual tweaks are also made available in the form of sharp, or CRT filters. Even the border colors, and screen orientation can be changed. 

Weapon of Choice DX | PS4 Review

Weapon of choice was originally an XBLIG (Xbox Live Indie Game) release on the Xbox 360. It was created by a developer known as Mommy's Best Games. The same developer that rereleased their shmup 'Shoot 1up' on the PS4 not too long ago. Like most of the developer's creations this game also features a unique art style all it's own. Mostly hand drawn, and articulated creature and character creations put into a wacky, and wonderfully weird world of unusual patchworked design. 

In the world of Weapon of Choice DX, as it were, we find unusually equipped soldiers tied to an U.N.P. governmental organization that is fighting the annihilation of the human species. The year is 2188, and an alien race known as the Chuul has begun eradication measures against humankind. Torn between the leadership of a U.N.P. general, and a mysterious alien contact the soldiers under your control must make it through the branching paths as they try to stay alive, and save those that have fallen.