Friday, October 31, 2025

Mobile Friday - Etheria: Restart - Graphics, Music, And Story Make A Great First Impression


For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Etheria: Restart from developer XD Entertainment on my iPhone 14 Pro.

Etheria: Restart had been on my phone for a while but it was after it's big 1.0 update in September that i was reminded about it. maybe i missed it, but i don't remember seeing it high in the charts when i'm looking for mobile games.

The title of this video is not quite accurate. the first thing the game does when you start it is download a 2.49GB update to the game. there was no prompt, no warning about doing this over mobile networks, and there was no cinematic or artwork shown to make the time pass quicker. the screen the game starts with, and it's music, is kept whilst the update is downloaded. So the very first impression of the game isn't a good one.

But the remaining hour and a half does help redeem Etheria: Restart. I quite enjoyed the art style of the game. it's futuristic, but not full Cyberpunk. the game does a lot with color, probably because fine textures would push phones too hard, and pulls it off well. each of the characters we meet and use in this video are all distinct from each other not just in terms of their design but also their personalities and voice acting.

The world they inhabit is split into two. there's the real world, and then there the computer world Etheria. they look very different from each other, too. the real world was ravaged by nature whilst Etheria has a more clean future look. But then there's Genesis, a virus plaguing Etheria and those who inhabit it and turning them into monsters if they're not saved quick enough. these three styles do work together. coupled with the story i've had so far, the world mostly ties together and feels cohesive.

With combat being somewhat simple, i found the controls to be easier than some other mobile games i've played. a problem with a phone screen is it's size. some games may have cool cinematic set pieces and insane combat, but as soon as you try to move the camera you end up hitting buttons and doing things you don't want to. at this point in the game, it wasn't an issue for me.

In this video i played the Prologue and first part of the first chapter. the pace may look slow, but it didn't feel it. i was enjoying the world, the story, and i did want to know more. But after talking to my community about this, my thought's about how AI has been used in this game might actually be true. in the video i joked how their MiniDisc looking device for summoning kinda looks like someone told AI to make MiniDisc futuristic. but there's also some confusion i had about who or what the Animus are. i thought they were the virtual avatars of those in the world. but it doesn't seem like it, humans and Animus are described as being separate. that kinda detail feels like either an AI translation error or it's just been missed.

Right at the end of the video i noticed a stamina system. up to this point in the game, it hadn't crossed my mind that this sorta game would have one. i had been playing and enjoying the story. But now i know that this is in the game, i am concerned about how the game will change. it almost feels like the first part of the game is one style and the rest of it is something else. when games have stamina systems there's usually two reasons for it. 1, they don't want players seeing all the story right away so will slow them down. and 2, it's a way to add monetisation to the game, or a grind for those wanting to keep it free.

From what i played in this video, i couldn't tell you what it is. i don't know how the game is going to change or how well this is balanced. so if you know, talk about it in the comments. all i can say for now is that Etheria: Restart makes a good second impression. there maybe some questions about how AI was used in development of it. And i can't say for sure that the game you play at the start is the game you'll be playing throughout.

Version 1.0.1 Played

Thursday, October 30, 2025

Demo Play Thursday - Majogami On Switch


For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Majogami from Inti Creates.

The demo for Majogami is short, but because of the game's style and art direction it does leave an impression. the demo starts quite quickly and immediately begins with some story. once it's finished, the tutorial begins and it's quite simple at first. you're introduced to something then get to do it in-game. what's great is that for more complicated things, the game will show videos on what to do. even tho we end up at the tutorial quite abruptly, it's pretty decent.

The Demo seems to be from the start of the game and is essentially the game's opening prologue. we get more story, more tutorials, and then we reach a boss fight. as it's the start of the game, i never felt like i was in danger even tho i was being hit often, but it did take some time to wear down the boss. i do worry that this could get longer as you progress through the game.

I have to imagine that on the OLED Switch, Majogami looks fantastic. i have a launch model Switch and i felt that it ran fine and looked great. the music isn't bad either. with good controls, a fantastic tutorial, a story that leaves you wanting to know more, and of course great style, i'd say that this demo for Majogami is a good one and well worth checking out.

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Backlog Conquering - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy HD On PS3 - Part 6


Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.

Our new game is the PlayStation 3 version of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy from the 2012 The Jak and Daxter Trilogy that remastered the games and brought them into HD. This series is my first time playing any of the games from the initial trilogy, tho i have played the PSP game Daxter.

Check out the other parts of this play through:

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Stories on Tuesday - XBlaze Lost: Memories - Part 9


The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS3 version of XBlaze Lost: Memories from Arc System Works and Aksys Games.

This is the ninth part. After how sad Part 8 ended, let's see what happens in the story in this part. without spoiling anything, the story isn't over yet!

Check out previous parts:

Monday, October 27, 2025

Cloud Monday - Cyberpunk 2077 - PT2 - Shooting Is Affected By Controller Lag


This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I noticed it in the first video, especially during the tutorial, that there's noticeable lag in controller inputs. for the most part, most other games i've played as part of this series haven't had this issue. the worst i remember was Rogue Legacy 2, but that had in it's options a "BETA" feature to improve latency in the controls at the expense of some screen tearing. a quick look in the options showed that the game seemed to be in a console controller mode and couldn't be made more sensitive. 

What this mostly means is that it's going to take longer to adjust to the games shooting mechanics. i personally found it difficult to aim and keep the aim constantly on an enemy. it's hard to say this early into such a long game whether this is something you can adjust to your self or if you're able to spec your character, by stats or equipment, in such a way that it minimises the negative effects. If you play this game via the Cloud, it'll be interesting to hear from you how you dealt with the shooting and controller lag. the tutorial does show how you can use hacking and melee combat so you're not strictly forced to always use guns. it could be a simple change of play style at the start of the game, until upgrades and better equipment make the shooting better, is how you should play it.

The quality of the video stream we got in this part wasn't as good as it was in Part 1. it was mostly Stream Tearing, where one or two of the frames of video we got were lacking information, so there were little bits of gray on screen. in a game as stylised as Cyberpunk 2077 it was noticeable and whilst it didn't affect my gameplay i can see how it happening whilst driving or during a shoot out would be quite a negative experience. In this part i did get to the infamous driving shoot out section and it was rough. the framerate dropped lower than i had experienced up to this point and this made the shooting even worse. this wasn't a streaming issue, this is just the game.

It's difficult to say whether Cyberpunk 2077 is a game better streamed than downloaded to console. it already has it's own issues regardless of how you play it. But streaming it does seem to add one or two more. it's a big download and it's not going to get patched anymore or get any of the DLC so i think i would prefer to stream this from the Cloud rather than having it take up space on my HDD. the streaming experience isn't great but it doesn't detract from the game too much. Let me know in the comments what you chose to do.

Check out Part 1 at - https://youtu.be/ALv_ddXCx9Q

Friday, October 24, 2025

Mobile Friday - COSMO PANIC - An Easy To Play Retro Style Wave Based Shooter That Needs More Polish


For this week's Mobile Friday i tried COSMO PANIC from developer FUNDOSHI PARADE on my iPhone 14 Pro.

On the App Store, this game's icon not only looked cool but i also immediately had an idea as to it's gameplay. checking out the screenshots revealed it to be a retro style shooter.

When we start the game we're greeted to an opening crawl inspired by Star Wars. it tells an interesting story, but i suspect that's the only time we're going to be given story by the game. 

The first time playing was pleasant as there's a decent tutorial telling us how to move and what to do. i found it useful and a surprise that there was one. unfortunately, the tutorial kinda just stops. when we lost, we were greeted by a screen that i didn't immediately realise was the game's home screen. i was expecting a result screen or a story screen. i think the game needs to continue it's tutorial to help guide the player better and explain things more clearly.

The gameplay is solid. it does exactly what it sets out to do. what makes COSMO PANIC different to some other wave based games is that we're defending something that's not ourselves. most of these games have the enemies come after us, but here the enemies are targeting a planet we're defending. we can bounce into some enemies without consequence, whilst others can paralyse us momentarily. 

we're not expected to always win and survive but it did feel like progress in this game slowed down too quickly. i was able to do the first 3 waves fine but that fourth wave was much more difficult even after spending money on upgrades. i'm concerned that progression in this game might be a little off and will need tweaking.

Version 1.1.1 Played

Thursday, October 23, 2025

Demo Play Thursday - Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds On Switch


For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds from SEGA and Sonic Team.

I really enjoyed playing this DEMO. the game itself is already out now, i'm a bit behind with the demos after catching Covid, and it's been getting a lot of positive comments and praise so i was quite keen to try the demo and see what the fuss was about. 

On Switch, this demo looks great. loading wasn't too bad and the transition from world to world during the race was fine. there is a sense of speed as you race. i initially liked how the tutorial explained how the game is played but soon realized in the race that the tutorial failed to go over the buttons in the game. thankfully it doesn't take long to try them out, but in a race you're up against some strong competition.

In kart racing games, it's tough to make the opposition feel strong and fair. in the past, a criticism of Mario Kart games has been the "Rubber Banding" effect that would bring the other racers back closer to you. here in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds i didn't feel like the other racers were cheating. i could see them doing the tricks, aiming for speed boosts, and attacking other players. it felt like i was racing against some decent opposition. 

This meant that i failed to win all of the races i took part in. i typically won around 2 of the 4 races in the cup available in the demo. But as it is competitive and as the other racers are trying hard, the top positions would change race to race. i was racing against a rival and even tho i didn't win all of them, neither did they so i was always able to beat the rival.

The DEMO had some of the racers, some of the cars, and some of the customisation options. it was enough to mix and match and get a feel for how that works, it might be familiar to those who have played the older Sonic Racing games. there was also a Time Trial option which was also useful for practicing the tracks. it felt like there was about an hours worth of content and some replay-ability. i think this is a good demo for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and after playing it i do get a sense of why the game is getting more popular and i do want to play the game now.

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Backlog Conquering - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy HD On PS3 - Part 5


Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.

Our new game is the PlayStation 3 version of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy from the 2012 The Jak and Daxter Trilogy that remastered the games and brought them into HD. This series is my first time playing any of the games from the initial trilogy, tho i have played the PSP game Daxter.

Check out the other parts of this play through:

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Stories on Tuesday - XBlaze Lost: Memories - Part 8


The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS3 version of XBlaze Lost: Memories from Arc System Works and Aksys Games.

This is the eighth part. it ends on a sad note. I thought that this would be the final part but it isn't. there is maybe another part or two to go!

Check out previous parts:

Monday, October 20, 2025

Cloud Monday - Cyberpunk 2077 - PT1 - Many Save Options And Frequent Auto Saves, But It Did Crash!


This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

The launch of Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4 is quite infamous as the game was removed from the PSN because of the state of it at launch. it's 5 years later and the game has received numerous patches since launch and it's now available to play from the cloud. at around 64GB, cloud streaming such a big game is an interesting option so i was curious how it would hold up.

I haven't played this game before, nor do i have anything that can play this game other than the PS4, so for me the version of the game i get from the cloud looked great, apart from people's faces as for the most part the people we met kinda looked ugly. i also enjoyed the soundtrack. there were no audio issues from streaming it and the video quality was solid throughout, even with film grain turned on in the options.

But something that was immediately noticeable from the start was control lag. It's very rare for this to happen and so far only Rouge Legacy 2 had an option to solve it for cloud streaming. In Cyberpunk 2077 it's noticeable in two situations mainly, navigating the UI and gunplay. Cyberpunk 2077 does have extensive options, but there's nothing listed for cloud streaming. the options seem to say that they've been adjust for an optimum console experience, but don't say anything about a cloud streaming experience. it's too early to say if this will be an issue as we might be able to adjust to it over time or we may get upgrades which improve our shooting abilities.

As with any game being streamed, being able to save quickly or having a frequent auto save is very important. if we're going to be disconnected, there's only a 20 second warning before. by pressing options we're greeted with a couple of save options but neither explain what they do. unfortunately, we'll find out in Part 2 how good the auto save feature is as in this part, Cyberpunk 2077 crashes. 

i had just finished the tutorial, and it's a pretty good one showcasing that there are many different ways in dealing with enemies. but in the transition from tutorial back to the game, it seemed like the game hanged. it's a familiar experience to me as this happens on my PS4 when i play many Unity games and can be seen in my Foamstars live streams. but unlike in my experience when things continue like nothing had happened, in Cyberpunk 2077 the screen was very wrong and i couldn't use the options. i had no choice but to quit the game, so tune into Part 2 next week to see whether the auto save triggered after i completed the tutorial or not.

Friday, October 17, 2025

Mobile Friday - Disney Magic Match 3D - A Basic Chill Matchmaking Game With Hints of Disney


For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Disney Magic Match 3D from developer Jam City on my iPhone 14 Pro.

I was curious about Disney Magic Match 3D, was it a game aimed at a younger audience or was there something here for everyone. i've got previous experience with such a game called TsumTsum, which to this day i see being played daily here in Japan. after playing it, i don't think Disney Magic Match 3D is aimed at any group in particular.

Disney Magic Match 3D surprised me in a few ways. firstly, and something i mentioned a few times in the video, was how chill it felt. the music felt lo-fi to the extent that i couldn't tell how it was even Disney. The tutorial was also very simple and clear and continued to offer hints throughout this video, but again it lacked that Disney charm. there was no mascot character guiding us. we were matching items from Disney, but not really doing much with them once the level was finished. with a few minor changes, i can't help but feel that Disney Magic Match 3D could just as easily be any other matchmaking game.

This lack of personality doesn't hinder the gameplay aspect. it's fine to play. the stages are simple, they are quick, and if you fail it's made clear that you can spend money to continue trying or loose a life. this simplicity, and with the accessibility of the tutorial, make Disney Magic Match 3D a fine game to play. 

another weird thing was that the game had icons on the bottom of the screen for in-game stuff that's "Coming Soon". these icons weren't greyed out nor did they have a lock on them like other content that we didn't have access to. there was no hint as to what these features were nor a date when they were coming. So why then, are there these buttons on the screen? with Disney Magic Match 3D being so accessible and simple, this seems like a big oversight that detracts from the good they've done so far.

the main reason why this video stops when it does is because the developers have been too generous at the start of the game. Like many, if not all, of these sort of games the start is much easier than the later stages. levels are easy, money is easy to earn, and rewards are easy to get. in Disney Magic Match 3D they are too easy to get and they're automatically earned and applied if needed. this meant i got into a situation where i knew if i completed another stage i would be stuck with infinity health for an hour. it's a nice gift for sure, but i was still using up a previous timed infinity health gift. if i had both, i would've had to keep on playing for hours or just loose it all. Disney Magic Match 3D really needs a way to save these bonus, or like Pokémon Go let us click and obtain them when we're ready. 

Disney Magic Match 3D is a fine game. it's accessible and simple with light puzzle elements, well for the first 27 levels. But it's surprising how chill it feels with it's music and how it's not all Disney all the time. hardcore fans were probably going to try it anyway, but it does feel fine for anyone interested in this matchmaking game.

Version 5.0.3 Played

Thursday, October 16, 2025

Demo Play Thursday - Trails in the Sky: 1st Chapter On Switch


For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Trails in the Sky: 1st Chapter from Nihon Falcom and GungHo Online Entertainment.

This is one of the longest videos in the Demo Play Thursday series, if not the longest, and i'm not surprised because all of the "The Legend of Heroes" game demos have been long, but unlike them this time i kept playing because i knew from experience that i should. this video only covers the opening story, a time skip, and the first quest of the game.

The demo starts with a screen that lets you buy the game, something that not all demos do. the option menu is quite extensive and has some nice customisations that typically come to early 2000 games remade in the modern day like speed up settings. the next 9 minutes is an opening set in the game's past before having an intro to the modern day setting of the game.

the story we start with is both main characters needing to head into town as today is their final test. their goal, to become a junior bracer. our characters and the world look great on the original Switch, and a launch model too. there was some pop in where shadows appeared before the grass that sat on top, but other than that everything looked and controlled great and it didn't feel like i was playing a lesser version of the game.

by about 40 minutes into the demo, it really started to feel slow. i had turned on auto messages, but they were slow. there was nothing in the options to increase the speed of the text bubbles. the default in this demo just happens to be really slow. i had set the difficult to easy as i wanted to sit back and enjoy the story, but i was starting to get frustrated by how slow things were starting to feel and the auto messages was a key part of this.

it would take about 40 minutes to start our final training quest and get all the back story of the world. having so much information available is useful as i've never played the original on PSP. but it was a lot to take in in such a short period of time. when it came to combat, the game had some nice pictures showing how to do it. as i've played previous The Legend of Heroes games i was also able to bring some of that past experience. what's nice about the combat is that if you're facing a low level enemy you can quicky dispatch them. but if there are many of them or something stronger, you can do a quick hit and then engage them in turn based combat.

it took a little under 20 minutes to complete this final training quest and i ended this video once we became junior bracers. unfortunately, i don't know how much longer this demo was. there was no information on the game's eShop page and the game itself gave no information as to how long and what was in this demo. another issue with this demo is how out of date it is to the game. the developers have done a final job continuously updating the game since it came out, but this demo hasn't been updated. i don't know how different this demo is, or how improved the game is, from what i played in this video.

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Backlog Conquering - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy HD On PS3 - Part 4


Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.

Our new game is the PlayStation3 version of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy from the 2012 The Jak and Daxter Trilogy that remastered the games and brought them into HD. This series is my first time playing any of the games from the initial trilogy, tho i have played the PSP game Daxter.

Check out the other parts of this play through:

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Stories on Tuesday - XBlaze Lost: Memories - Part 7


The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS3 version of XBlaze Lost: Memories from Arc System Works and Aksys Games.

This is the seventh part. as usual, the video is broken up into two parts, the watching of memory fragments and then us finding memory fragments for the next time.

Check out previous parts:

Monday, October 13, 2025

Cloud Monday - The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game - Pt2 - Auto Saves Start At Check Points


This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS4 version of The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

After playing Part 1, i was left with a couple of questions i wanted to try and answer in this part regarding the game's Auto Save. Turns out, i got most of my answers immediately when my save launched as i start Part 2 not in the same place i finished Part 1. this was not expected as i thought i had quit the game after a save, but i hadn't. turns out i quit the game right before an auto save so i'm not going to blame it all on the game in hindsight.

After experiencing this i decided to check what an auto save after changing options would do. so whilst i'm sure the game is saving the new settings and possibly the amount of studs collected, when i reloaded that save i started back at a checkpoint. so in all, i did the section at the start of this video 3 times.

The gameplay was much smoother in this part than Part 1, with less artifacts from it being streamed to me. i discussed in Part 1 how that wasn't much of an issue as your character is essentially walking forward and attacking nearly everything around them. i still think that to be true, but The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game is a good looking game and looks best in todays video.

The big question to answer is whether The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game is a good game to stream from the cloud or not. i think it comes down to the save system as the gameplay holds up when things get rough. out of the recent games aimed at a younger audience, it's probably the most effected by it's auto save system and checkpointing. it's only around 18GB in size, too. so i would suggest downloading The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game if you're curious or want to play it, it's playable from the Cloud and if everything goes well then fine. but being streamed from the cloud has more of a chance of hurting the experience of playing the game. i would recommend checking it out via the cloud and then downloading your save and the game if you're interested in playing more.

Friday, October 10, 2025

Mobile Friday - Coin&Dungeon: ReBurst - Simple Mechanics Feel Unbalanced And Slow, Not Much Story


For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Coin&Dungeon: ReBurst from developer Ryogo Oka on my iPhone 14 Pro.

Version 1.2.2 Played

Thursday, October 9, 2025

Demo Play Thursday - Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree On Switch



*There's a small section where the colors go weird. i accidentally forgot about the Switch dimming the screen, so i tried to manually fix it when making the video as it took a few minutes for me to realize that it had happened whilst i was recording the video.

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Stories on Tuesday - XBlaze Lost: Memories - Part 6



This is the sixth part. as usual, the video is broken up into two parts, the watching of memory fragments and then us finding memory fragments for the next time.

Check out previous parts:

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Demo Play Thursday - Shinobi: Art of Vengeance On PS4


For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance from Lizardcube.

This is a fantastic DEMO for those curious about the game. it shows off the initial level  in the game and so appropriately it shows off a lot of basic things we can do in Shinobi. The tutorial is deep and accessible, showing a video how it's meant to look whilst giving clear instructions. One of my biggest concerns about Shinobi: Art of Vengeance was the difficulty level, but this demo has eased my concerns. i played at the standard difficulty level and felt that it was appropriate. it never felt too hard nor too easy. but there are many options we can tweak to customise the experience. for example, if you like the challenge posed by the enemy Ai but feel like their health is too high, you're able to reduce their health.

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Backlog Conquering - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy HD On PS3 - Part 3


Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.

Our new game is the PlayStation 3 version of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy from the 2012 The Jak and Daxter Trilogy that remastered the games and brought them into HD. This series is my first time playing any of the games from the initial trilogy, tho i have played the PSP game #Daxter.

Check out the other parts of this play through: