So, this game was recommended to me by my good friend HellyonWorks. If you don't know her, I urge you to really check out her art, and give her a commission sometime.  The odd thing is, I knew of Tomb Raider: but it was through the Angelina Jolie movies. I barely remember theme, but I can say they got Lara's personality spot on. But this is a very different game to the one older fans may know.

Rules as always:
1.Spoilers are abounding, and depending on the game, can spoil the experience. While not super story heavy, be warned going into the review.

2. I will not put aside any bias, but will try to be fair for games I do not like. This is my personal opinion. If you want to send your opinion, please do so in the comments below.

3. I am reviewing the PC Version.

So, what does the reboot have in store for us? This is my review of the rebooted version of Tomb Raider.

Story
Tomb Raider begins with Lara Croft(now a lot younger) heading on expedition into the Bermuda Triangle, and her and her crew considering of Sam, her best friend, Reyes, a mechanical expert, Jonah, a New Zealand cook, Roth ,Lara's Father figure, Grim, the ship captain and Dr.Whitman, the tag along, head to the Bermuda Triangle, and their ship(The endurance) get wreaked, leaving Lara captured and having to find a way to her crew.  After this they try to escape twice and fail, Lara realises 2 thing: Himiko is controlling the storms and Whitman is a traitor. This is very obvious, but to play up the Drama, Sam is the soul needed to revive Himiko. This involves Lara running into a man named Matius, the main villan who we only see a few time, and only wants to review Himiko for the sake of reviving Himiko. Anyways, Matius is defeated, Himiko is destroyed and Lara is prepared to look for the truth. More on that when I get to Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Overall, the story was enjoyable, you can really tell this is a younger Lara Croft who is not experienced at staying out in the wild. There is also a lot of death in this game, but the only one that meant a lot was Roth. Grim we only see once before his sacrifice, and I didn't mention Alex(since he is really insignificance), but his is at least somewhat meaningful, since he wants to be a hero, so he sacrifices himself on the endurance shipwreck. However, Roth means a lot to Lara. Remember, he when he dies, Lara has lost both her father and father figure. I felt very sorry for Lara. Speaking of, compared to the older games(or what I have see of them), she is much more emotional and I think this makes her a better character compared to the old Lara, just because it gives a lot more range than just her being a badass. Though I do need to play the older games.

Gameplay
We have a lot to get through, so buckle up folks. The basic mechanics now involve your bow and arrow, instead of dual pistols. This was my go to weapon, and this because you can get some great upgrades through the salvage system. Salvage can be collected from fallen enemies, but for this and other skills you have to buy this with skill points, which is earned by killing enemies. Honestly while I should be mad about not having this from at the start, I'm not, because of the fact this game takes place in the wild, you have to learn all these skills. Though skill points do take a while to stack up.

Another thing I like is that you don't have buy the extra weapons from a shop, you get them early in the game, and upgrades come through finding parts, or entering secret tombs or challenge tombs. These are small puzzles that shouldn't be too brain taxing, and you will need them for a 100% run of the game(which I wasn't going for, so I missed a lot of them). There are a lot of documents to find, if 16 hours of main story content is not enough for you, but I am satisfied.

You can still climb walls, they have marked paint, and with your axe you can climb certain rocks and attack enemies in close range.However, I don't like the melee system in this game, it feels very sluggish. I get that's the point(more focus on the shooting gameplay), but I think some good melee is also helpful in the wild. 

Still, the guns you get are really nice. A shotgun(my go to in a shooter...when I play them), assault rifle that gets a grenade launcher, and a pistol, with the option to have a sliencer on it. You get FIRE arrows and GRENADE ARROWS. That's awesome. There is a focus on using stealth to get past, and enemies are very aggressive when you go all gun-ho, so go all out with caution.

Finally, their are costumes(which are DLC) that while purely cosmetic, give a different look to Lara depending on what one you are wearing.

Looks, Sound and Final Thoughts
This game looks amazing on PC, though GeForce Experience messed up on giving me the best graphical settings. I will warning you though, the game has a lot of blood and gore, though it makes sense here, considering that this game wants to be more darker than the others. Like I said before, I love the cutscene cinematography in this game. However, in game, there is a lot of quick time events and situations where you are given partial control of Lara. This happens WAY too many times for my liking.

The soundtrack is amazing, but I wouldn't find myself listening to any of these in the street or while working on a project. Still, it works, it's just fitted to the atmospheric. A bit odd.

Overall, I found this to be a great game bar none. Older Tomb Raider fans may find this a bit alienating, as a lot of new elements may leave them alienated, but for new fans, or some one looking for a great game to play, I recommend this game to you. You can get it on Steam, PS3, Xbox 360, or the Definitive edition on PS4 or Xbox One.

Sorry that this took so long! The games I'm currently playing are Action games or RPG, and that does not mesh well with school! I do plan on finishing more games this summer! 

Either way, Thanks for Reading, have a great night, share if it's not too much trouble for you, and take care.

Written By Nana Marfo

Tomb Raider(C) Square Enix

Hey all! Gaming Diaries came up with a good question of the month:

I can tell LightningEllen is rubbing off on me because the answer to the second part of the question is Lightning Farron from Final Fantasy XIII. Thought there is some reasoning to it, and that is Lightning Returns.

She wore a lot of costumes in Lightning Returns (Ignoring the ones that blatantly fan-service), so I think she would work out great here in picking what to wear!

As for who I would take... hmmm... Sora! This would be just to get him to realise some feelings...

Anyways, that's it for now! Thanks for reading, have a great day/night, share if you enjoyed it and take care.

Written by Nana Marfo

Question of the month by TheGamingDiaries (She did a really good piece on Media VS Gaming)

Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy(C) Square Enix

So, this was annocenced at E3 and has released as 100% FREE game. But is it worth your time? 

Rules:

1.Spoilers are abounding, and depending on the game, can spoil the experience. This one in particular is very story heavy, so be warned going into the review.

2. I will not put aside any bias, but will try to be fair for games I do not like. This is my personal opinion. If you want to send your opinion, please do so in the comments below.

3.I am covering the PC version.

​Been a while since my last review, huh? This is my review of The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit.

Story
We begin with a 10-year-old boy named Chris Eriksen, who loves to tell stories about him being Captain Spirit, in his room on a Saturday Morning.. He lives with his Dad named Charles, who likes to drink, even in front of his kid. He also seems to very violent with Chris, as we see a bruise on Chris arm, something that his dad may have given to him.  From the go, you can tell that the loss of Chris's mother has shaken Chris's dad, meaning that he's now a drunken alcoholic. However, I still get the feeling that he cares.

From here, Chris is told to wake up his Dad when he has finished watching the game, so they can go shopping for a Christmas Tree. After you wake up Dad, you speak to a women named Clare Roberson, and afterward in a gut punching confrontation with the dad, you learn that Chris's mother died in a Car Crash. 

Yep, that it. The story is a bit disappointing this time round, but it makes sense. This is a demo, and they want to give you more of a taster of the world is like. The world revolved are Chris and what he chooses to do, but if you are rushing through the game, you may find it is a bit minimal for a game like this, so I while liked it, it also felt a less enjoyable than Life is Strange Ep.1.

Gameplay

As with Life is Strange Ep.1, the game is mostly choice based. You can walk around your house but unlike Life is Strange, the game is more open world. All of the tasks in this game are optional, and while this works, this is alienating for player who are playing this game and have played Life is Strange 1. I can't speak for Before the Storm, I haven't played Before the Storm. Still, I like the choice. You feel like a kid on a Saturday Morning.

The big change between Life is Strange 1 and Captain Spirit is the superhero actions.

Instead of being able to rewind time, with a press of a button Chris can do superhero actions. In my opinion, this really sells the fact that we are a 10-year-old. Using the power of IMAGINATION is always cool, and I can't wait to see what they will do with it in Life is Strange 2.

Looks, Sound and Final Thoughts

The game looks great! The graphics seem slightly touched up from look of the first game. I am also really happy to say the facial animations are much better than the first game, but I feel they still need some work. 

One thing, I can never fault Dontnod for though, is their music choices. Death with Dignity is a perfect fit for this sort of game.

Overall, I can say I enjoyed this game. While the story may not be there, the new gameplay features and music were enough to draw me into the game. If you are an fan of Life is Strange, or plan to get Life is Strange 2, get this, it is 100% FREE! However, I will say don't get if your a newcomer to the franchise. Play the original first.

Either Way, thanks for reading, have a great day/night, share if you enjoyed and take care! 

Written By Nana Marfo

The Awesome Adventure of Captain Spirit/Life Is Strange (C) Square Enix/Dontnod Entertainment 

Ah, Kingdom Hearts, how I love you so. These game define my teen years, like Sonic defined my Childhood. And I know it's weird to start with the second game in the series, but I can't go back to 1. Man, that game has AGED. 

Anyways, here are the rules for game reviews:

1.Spoilers are abounding, and depending on the game, can spoil the experience. For RPG, I suggest you play them first.

2. I will not put aside any bias, but will try to be fair for games I do not like. This is my personal opinion. If you want to send your opinion, please do so in the comments below.

That being said, this is my review of Kingdom Hearts II:Final Mix.

Story

I won't give too much away, but I really like the story. We meet Roxas in a digital simulation of Twlight Town(You will know about it if you played Chain of Memories), where Diz and Ansem(Riku) are trying to restore Sora's Memories from KH1. After they awaken. they go and meet Yen Sid, Sora gets new duds... which I don't like that much. I know people love this design. I do and the color scheme is great. but there are too many belts. Zips, I don't mind (I love Kairi's design), but the belts are too much. I prefer his Kingdom Hearts 3 design.

Anyways, from there, we go to all sorts of worlds to find Riku, and save Kairi(Axel took her to Organisation XIII's dungeon). The story it's self is filled with twist and turns which will take Sora to fight Xemans and a reunion on Destney Islands. I love the experence that we get through the eyes of Sora. I don't really like bland character types, but here I think it works. He has been taken through hell and back, and his goal still remains the same. To save his best friends. The story however, can't be played standalone. KH2 needs you to play Chain of Memories and KH1, in order to understand what they are talking about in some instances.

Gameplay

For the sake of reader convice, I will say that Sora controls the same as in KH1, with tweaks to the Camera to map it to the right analog stick(thank god) and the fire magic is now a shield, something which I don't like unless I am in a Drive Form, more on that later. The worlds are more barren, meaning that the world is filled with enemies, which I prefer, but I want to see how KH3 handles it, since it's going open world.

Anyways, back to the game in question. Like I said before, Drive Forms added are to the game and they give extra ablitys to Sora, while having some downsides. For example, Sora can hit harder in Valor Form, and is able to run faster, but he can not use magic. These forms also cost 1 or both of you're party members, who are not really that useful. YOU(Sora) are the most important force on the battle field, and I think the form that shows that is Final Form. While you have no party members with you, if you have Firaga, with Bond of Flame, you can DESTORY EVERYTHING. Talk about a game breaker. A good gamebreaker though, as bosses don't have a hard time against forms. Anti Form is punshment for transforming too much, but you don't need to worry too much if you have Final because that resets the counter.

Overall

Games like this make me sad I started with the Wii, because I missed out on Gems like these. Descent Story, fantastic Gameplay and a beautiful soundtrack.

Hope you all enjoyed my first game review! Also a Dragon Maid review is on the way. Hope you all enjoyed you're Christmas, and have a very Happy New Year!

​Written by Nana Marfo

Just for calcification, I played this game on an emulator, because I don't have a PS3/PS4 for the collections. 

Not having Money Sucks.

Kingdom Hearts(C) Square Enix.