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Mortal Shell II Didn't expect anything of this when I heard it was coming out a few months ago. However, after 45 hours with the game, I think I'm officially a fan. It doesn't reinvent the wheel or anything, but it does everything really well, and without any real frustration. I enjoy these games greatly, but often I find there's one little thing that frustrates me no end. That wasn't the case here. Sure, there's the occasional badly designed boss, but for the most part, the rest of the game felt like it was designed to give the player a challenging but incredibly fun time. 4/5 - About as high a score I can give a game without it becoming something I'd consider getting tattooed on my actual human body.

Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies We've made the jump to PS2! A bunch of changes and improvements, better graphics, special weapons, the ability to buy new aircraft and weapons, lots of cool stuff. Story presentation also changes, the story here is mainly told through the narration of this boy who loses his home and family after an enemy ace, Yellow 13 shoots down a jet that crashes into his house. Pretty different from the previous 3 games, also, your character doesn't really appear in the main story, except for some mentions later on. The other part of the story is similar through previous games, mission briefings and result screens tell you how the war is progressing, were your forces are, losses, wins, etc. Fun thing about the story too, this is the first game that presents you as this super pilot, Ace of Aces, living legend, etc. 1 and 2 had you as the leader of Scarface squadron, and while your team was famous, this wasn't as big of a deal during the actual game, 3 had some pilots knowledge your skills (pretty funny considering the true ending lol), this one though, is a whole new level. During missions allies will go all "it's Mobius 1! We're saved!", "Mobius 1 is here! Victory is ours!" while your enemies are all "That's the ribbon fighter! The grim reaper!" It's over the top, it's cheesy, I love it. Last mission took me several tries, even if they're pretty short, four tunnel runs in one mission is too much lol. 6 was my first AC, and this one is much closer to it than the previous 3 games, so it was a cool experience. Grade: A+

Mortal Shell II I love this game. Low-key might be my favourite non-From Souls game; overtaking Lies of P for that title. For context, I didn't enjoy the first game at all. I tried three times on multiple platforms but it just never stuck. This thing though? It feels like it's almost the perfect version of what I want from these games. The boss fights are difficult without being frustrating slogs that expect you to be damn near perfect at all times. The world is fun to look at and enjoyable to explore and the combat feels tight but fair. Plus they've just released a massive update that fixes some of the more pressing issues the community was having, like patching in a system that'll allow you to respawn outside a dungeon upon death; a pet hate of mine. Honestly, this thing is great, and I'm pleased to see the devs getting their moment in the sun because they fully deserve it.

Gone halves with my brother. Should be able to finish it pretty quickly and make a lil bit of our cash back on resale.

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (JP) Counting this as a separate game from the US version because they're completely different. This one has a ton of cutscenes (by Production I.G. no less), several characters, multiple endings, a hidden true ending unlocked when you get all the other endings, it's easily one of my favorites in the series. Really liked the UPEO and Cynthia endings, both are fairly bittersweet but still end in a higher note than some of the other paths, then the true ending played out. I would love to see a remake of this one, or at least a proper release of this version in English, the series is more popular than back then so maybe there's a chance. My only issue, as with the US version, is the Electrosphere mission lol, cool concept, but a visual nightmare. Grade: S