Recent reviews by jim balls

A very solid remaster of two of the best JRPGs ever made. I'm used to playing these on a tiny PS Vita screen at a much lower resolution, so the very slick UI and upgraded backgrounds took some getting used to. I really appreciate the new translation of both games. The sprites, animations, and character portraits are just as charming as ever. Suikoden 1 has seen a massive visual improvement, and Suikoden 2 looks just as great as it always has. Highly recommend this series to anyone, and I hope Konami continues to invest in bringing it back. I'd love to see remasters of Suikoden 3, 4, and 5 sometime in the future too.

This remaster has some issues on the technical side and it's built off of Sigma 2, which is not to everyone's taste, but it's still an excellent way to play one of the greatest action games ever made. The biggest problem is that this version has a lot of the same widespread technical issues affecting other recent Unreal Engine 5 games which results in some poor performance, frame-timing issues, input lag, and some strange rendering issues and artifacting. There are some mods available that fix or mitigate most of the problems. I love this series and I'm very glad to see it return. Highly recommend playing any version of Ninja Gaiden 2, you'll have a great time.

It's phenomenal. Hugely influential in resurrecting the CRPG genre in the mid-2010s. The storytelling and worldbuilding is incredibly rich and detailed, and all of the characters are presented with their own interesting and unique side stories and distinct beliefs/cultures. The pre-rendered backgrounds are gorgeous, and the game's art direction is terrific (although it's surpassed by PoE2 imo). The ruleset is a bit confusing and takes a bit to get used to, but combat is very tactical and fun. It's a really great game. I can't recommend it enough.

The performance is inconsistent and stuttery at times, but this is otherwise a very strong hero shooter. I've written off everything in this genre for years as terrible slop, but this is actually pretty fun and chill in a way that I haven't felt with a PvP shooter in a long time. Great art direction. Fun, well-designed characters. Solid all-around.

I love this game so much. One of the best RPGs Atlus has ever made. It's everything I ever wanted it to be and more. Can't recommend it enough.

It's essentially just more Elden Ring for better or worse, with some more traces of DS1 and 3 mixed in. All of the same problems from the original game are still here. It's still bloated and the level/boss design has felt really underwhelming. The story is also pretty disappointing and a major fall-off in terms of quality compared to the original game. Gorgeous art direction as per usual. The new weapons are all really fun and unique, and they're definitely the best addition to the game. It's essentially a very budget Elden Ring 2. There's a lot of content here, but I just feel like From Software could've pushed the envelope a lot more with this. It's fine.

It's a really great immersive sim. Beautiful presentation/art direction, a fun pulp noir narrative, and fun combat that makes every fight feel like a scrappy brawl. Each level has been a blast to punch, kick, and sneak my way through so far. There are still lots of hidden secrets and alternate routes that I'd like to explore. Really looking forward to the remaining episodes.

One of the most creatively unique and boundary pushing video games ever made. It's unlike any other game, especially within its own series, and it features one of the most complex and detailed virtual worlds ever conceived. You can keep playing this game forever and always find a reason to come back to it. It's absolutely a must-play piece of RPG history.

Leaving a positive review because Sony has now backed down from their stupid PSN sign-in requirement, which would have revoked access to the game from many players around the world for no reason. The game itself is pretty good. This kind of co-op shooter isn't really my cup of tea, but I enjoyed what little I played of this a few months ago. Arrowhead deserves the support, especially after standing up against Sony's very poor decision-making over the past few days.

It's embarrassing slop garbage that absolutely feels disrespectful to the rest of the series in terms of tone and narrative but if you can detach it from any expectations related to the wider Fallout franchise, it's pretty enjoyable. Dense world-design, fun multiplayer events, a very laid-back gameplay loop, and solid gunplay make this an entertaining (albeit very different) entry in the series. A fun time if you're looking for an open-world online looter shooter to play casually with friends.