Recent reviews by ankimo

I... expected more from this. I really do. Kodaka write and directed this game and somehow it felt like a washed up 428 with a black mirror like twist in the end. It's generally boring and linear.

I don't really wanna review this badly though. I admire what they did here. I think it's Kodaka and Tookyo/Izanagi dream project. They had something but they got through some budget or planning issue. It could be better but it definitely squander back to its own limitation.

To compare this to 428 is kind of an achievement though. I love 428. It's a full on though and through Chun Soft sound novel experience with a legitimate casts, high quality script, and well made mechanic that lasts 40 hours to enjoy.

This is a 3 hour live action linear pick your adventure with a rather shallow script although it was helped by a well directed scene, excellent crew, great casting, and amazing post editing work. For a live action video game it's well made, it just have the issue of just basic and boring script and the most insulting part...

very linear script. Like I can see the story wanna go on a tangent once in a while. There's a couple ending path that's really out of place but it felt like they wanna go on a side story kind of situation. But they end up not doing it and sort of go back to being a single linear ending.

Multi branch story... not. It certainly try to have 2 ultimate ending as picking one to another would erase the game save data. But still the game is just cutscenes, so you can just skip through, skim the part that you watched and just check out which you missed out. It's very basic and boring.

Overall I just have no heart to recommend this. I certainly won't play this again. Story is very unmemorable and while everything else is great, it's just not worth spending 3 hours with it.

For the first time ever Taiko no Tatsujin actually went multiplatform and its the best version of em all. The port is almost perfect despite minor issue like frame pacing but the game as a whole is just great. Music pass is also a welcome addition and the compatibility for every controller you can imagine is a major plus.

I'm really impressed with this game.

It's essentially KeyboardMania if you ever in that era where you use a 25 key midi keyboard (preferably with wheel) and just play some midi based music in the game. The game pretty easy to understand if you used to play IIDX or most rhythm game and the only confusing part at first is the menu navigation although once you mastered it, it's like one of the best navigation for this kind of game.

The wheel support is surprising too, the game support both Rotary type and Y type wheel. Some music would have pitch bend and modulo which would really mess you up if you never use one in life (like me) luckily you can also automate it so you can focus on the key alone.

The control midi keyboard support is also great, Im using a KORG nanoKEY Studio and it work straight out of box without any setup. Just set the pad to Pitch/Mod and update the settings to use Y type wheel. Then you good to go. I imagine midi keyboard with more key would work out of box too (I have to test this later with my KORG microKey)

The music selection can be up to taste, I enjoyed a small variety off it but this definitely could use some workshop support or at least just custom setup so people can have their personal midi to be used in game (like Synthesia)

but seriously, this is way way better than most Midi Piano based rhythm game, it definitely teaches you play piano/keyboard and it certainly help you master one too at that. All that with this this pricing is like an amazing deal. Definitely try this out!

I enjoy learning how fish is made.

Tetrachroma is a hidden gem for me this year. Tetris but infects and only clears when the color match is a rather addictive and frustrating game at the same time.

But after playing through multiple modes and going through its easiest mode once, I end up getting the beat of the game and its pretty straightforward on what to do. It's a great mix of puzzle and action game. If you enjoy tetris and want some actual challenge then this game is for you!

Oh and as a bonus, the game took a heavy inspiration towards Grand Master, it feels bizarre yet familiar. It's amazing how a simple aesthetic choice can really elevate the game.

strong message
hard drum play
yea

Since its release I've been getting error INTONE-04. It's never been fixed and I dont think they even care to fix it.

I've just played a few tracks off Beat Arena and despite the huge accessibility issue and major stuttering I've had (which I think because of my setup with Virtual Desktop) I would recommend this game to those who really like Bemani or just wanted a Bemani experience within a premium budget.

This game interestingly opt out from western licensed music (unlike most western localization) and instead listed a handful and popular bemani music from both pop'n music, and gitadora. The music is limited, but I found some of my most favorite classics are listed.

The gameplay itself is pretty basic, but works well with VR. The drums being the most obvious is kind of clunky since the virtual drum is huge and you can't really adjust the size of it.

The guitar and bass is straightforward enough, use your dominant hand to strum and your non-dominant hand on the neck. It's straightforward enough and once you got the gesture, it's actually the most fun (apart from way too many vibration happening)

I haven't tried other instrument yet, but I assume it's mostly simplified version of the actual instrument but made it fun to play.

Two major downside however is the music sync and performance. Again I'm not sure if its because of my setup, but some music played have some sync problem where the instrument would play ahead of its vocal or some instrument would lag behind your own instrument. The other issue would be performance where the game would lock up sometimes and actually stutter so bad that it hurts. Steam VR thankfully would restore view to the Steam VR view but if you can't handle it, it's pretty bad from time to time.

In case you wonder my spec is a R9-5900x, RTX3080, and 64gb RAM. It's a workstation basically but it suffers from these performance issue.

One minor downside would be the gesture and UI camera being way too close sometimes, it's also unclear sometimes as to what to do within certain situation. These however are something you could get used to from time to time.

Overall, again I'm recommending it for Bemani fans, if you just want a basic rhythm game maybe look elsewhere, but if you still like this anime heavy aesthethic, you might get yourself converted to liking the Bemani lineup.

This game is excellent, you drive quick nimble rally car in a tight parking space. 8 tracks, 8 ska music to accompany it, 3 different car, and possibly thousand of people trying to beat your time attack.

It's crazy good fun, money well spent, just get this and play it!

This game is on point! Felt like playing through Famicom Tantei, or Portopia again and it just felt like old times.
Demo story is simple enough to intrigue me, but not much can be gathered of what the mystery to be. However, I do crave this old feelings of unknown and mysteriousness I can't wait to play more of this!