Gabs Tanner – Reviewer
Fantasy Life
If you enjoy job systems in games, then you’ve got to pick up Fantasy Life. It’s all about maxing out different classes to unlock abilities, that can in-turn be used to help out other job systems. (Miners break rocks that get sold to Blacksmiths, who can forge them into weapons for Paladins). It’s all wrapped up in Level-5’s charming art style, and a cutesy story to boot. It’s simple, but heart-warming, and I never get bored of exploring the huge world and satisfying the needs of its people.
Tales From The Borderlands
Telltale Games just know how to grab hold of players and get them invested in a good story. Tales from the Borderlands captures the atmosphere of the games it’s inspired by, from the art style, to the character’s hardened humor. It’s rare that a game really makes me laugh out loud, and this happened at many points within the journey. There’s also a decent amount of sad and thought-provoking moments mixed in, made all the more poignant when they’re a consequence of my personal choices.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
This was my first experience of PSP graphics, and led to my adoration of that little handheld console. Of course it’s got more than looks going for it, what with great real-time combat and a three-part story that gets me in the feels no matter how many times I replay. To top it off, Birth By Sleep is the game that revealed my true gaming nature to my current partner (just after I casually beat the boss he had been stuck on for hours).
The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
Zelda games scream ‘adventure’ to me, and Twilight Princess wins out over other titles in the series for its sprawling 3D world, dark story, and (most importantly) sass-master sidekick Midna. Not only does it happen to have some of my favourite boss fights and items in the franchise, but it’s also one of my favourite versions of Link. He won my heart with his HD design, animalistic side, and a genuine concern for the people around him. I took immense pleasure in fighting as and with him, as he tries to save not one, but two worlds.
Persona 3 Portable
JRPGs are a personal favourite genre and Persona 3 captures everything I love in one fell swoop. There are weird and wonderful enemies, the satisfaction of switching between Personas, and in-depth characters to interact with and care about. Multiple angles to choose to approach the gameplay give way to plenty of replayability, starting immediately from the choice of acting as a male or female protagonist, that affects how people approach and react to you.
To The Moon
One of the only games that made me cry multiple times, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. To the Moon is made in RPG Maker, and much of the gameplay is limited to moving around, listening to the conversations of others. Despite the simplistic nature, and short time frame, it’s storytelling through gaming at its best. You just become so personally involved from the way you move about and interact with the main character and their life, that some of the final moments can end up being rather overwhelming.
Virtue’s Last Reward
A title that tests your trust with other humans to the limit, as the repeated choice of whether to ally or betray could result in life or death of you or the other 8 people forced into playing Zero’s “game.” Virtue’s Last Reward provides tension and intrigue through story that I’ve only ever seen done to the same degree from other titles in the series. Working out the dark secrets behind the place you’re locked in, the people you’re with, and the brilliantly frustrating puzzles was impossible to pull myself away from. I’m actually rather jealous of anyone who can experience this thrilling tale for the first time, as all the twists and turns are firmly imprinted in my mind.