Recent reviews by John27

In sale? Yes.
Not in sale? No.
Game's campaign end in around 3 hours and the racing events that allow you to be armed can be cheesed with simply blowing up the opposition because they won't respawn
Car's design is average.
Turning? You can turn nicely unlike games like NFS or Trail Out. By default pretty much all of the cars are grippy.
AI opponents? Rubberbands but in a twist you can blow them and they only rubberband in speed, not really aggressive. Also unlike some other racing games like i mentioned the AI opponents are not wrecking balls... they're just as susceptible with spinouts like you if you ram them well. But if you play the race mode without weapons, save your nitro!
Tracks design? Multiple road, wide, with little to no sharp turns and pretty much all of them has alternate routes, but unfortunately no city tracks or night races (there's one that set in a sandstorm which makes the sky dark though).
Sponsors? Forget it, not only they're ugly their "optional" events are usually more frustrating that the main events.
No exclusive final boss stage
Custom content? Nope.
Soundtrack? Forgettable and generic though the garage soundtrack has some strange surprises.
The zombie battle DLC is not included with the campaign, must be chosen through the quick race menu.

Conclusion: Glad to choose this instead of Trail Out. Yes Trail Out has more personality and more memorable soundtrack and stage designs but it is pointless as Trail Out is extremely uncomfortable for a casual gamer.

While it is unlikely for me to beat the game this time around (see why below) i ultimately give this game 8/10 and actually recommend it. Why?

THE GOOD
+Fresh story can be enjoyed by those who don't understand the series or only partially. Basically the guy you play as had an amnesia but still remember what kind of a guy he is (in short a honorable one)
+things to do in Honolulu, spend me 15 hours once i land there. Not to mention the arcade games!!! Granted i didn't play Infinite Wealth though...
+SIDE ACTIVITIES AND MINIGAMES. The Arcades choice alone (ESPECIALLY BOTH VERSIONS OF SEGA RACING CLASSIC 2 AND THE FIRST TIME EVER THE OCEAN HUNTER IS PLAYABLE OUTSIDE OF EXTINCT ARCADES) is why i buy this game. To put into perspective, counting the minigames and the game itself this game has 10 or more games worth, 6 if you count only arcades and Master System (a flopped but hidden gem of a NES competitor back in pre-Genesis era) games.
+The arcade games and Master System games are made easier. They respectively have difficulty levels and rewind save load respectively. Legal emulators ahoy and ironic that this game is about pirates... get it?
+Surprisingly good English dub. I immediately switch to English in the beginning.

THE BAD:
-NOT ALL OF THE DIALOGUE IS VOICED EVEN IN STORY SEGMENTS, and this is a 2025 game. I've seen games 2 generation behind and even a relatively recent remaster that is fully voiced, not taking much space in comparison, and yet it is fully voiced.
-You can't make Japanese characters speak Japan and Hawaiian American characters speak English. Oh they did but only for crews and enemy gangs with no story roles.
-Frequent load times, which reminds me of Sonic 2006. Often short scenes are precluded with not-so-long but extremely frequent load times. If you're in Honolulu, you're basically surfing, but if you're in story segments, well...
It's even worse when you (have to) raid islands and fight Devil Flags. I found Bethesda games, even Starfield, loading bearable in comparison.
-Uneven pacing and repetitiveness, especially once you get to qualified to Madlantis and set sail
-The pirates sailing. Unlike the seamless Assassin's Creed Black Flag and Assassin's Creed Rogue (and even if those games have load times it isn't as many as those), the sea segments are split into numerous smaller ones, there's loading screens when you have to board enemy ships and land to raid an island, and....
-Repetitive combat. That's it. Once you become a/the legend, especially.
-Despite putting solid characterisms, once they're on board your ship they mostly become statistics with repetitive soundbaits.

Well i need a break, it's not Chapter 3 yet and i'm like 30 hours or something in the game. Maybe later. Or that 35 years old me found long story games increasingly unbearable.

While for like a year of playing i was satisfied to see a free-to-play, not pay-to-win, "anime XCOM" with clear differences that every player can feel it once they played it...
Once players insert characters like Tololo (can only attack one enemy but can attack twice in the first turn) Klukai (almost all of her attacks are area-of-effect, her skill that can be triggered as soon as the first turn allow her to zip around the map, and free attack if she defeats two or more enemies) and Springfield (heal and double every ally HP, passive auto counter, skill can be triggered as soon as the first turn)

Oh you don't really have to pay for those characters, either you patiently get them, or borrowing from a list of players that have them.

The game feels less like a turn based combat and more like a puzzle of doing the turns as soon as possible, with you tediously sweeping around the menacing looking enemies in a CONTRAST with XCOM and its ilk where wrong step can mean massive losses.
And mind you i haven't spend anything, even though i planned to do so as a goodwill.
The plot even goes nowhere, they tease a bunch of villains that almost not brought back for long while reintroducing fan favorite T-Dolls with stories to justify their appearance.
There's also load time issues, which isn't much until you go through the mobile base, which is basically the main game as it appears late 2025, relegating the tactical combat into a bunch of glorified minigames. If not for the long load time, cash-gated features (some of the features require alternate costume that is cash-gated) and cumbersome UI i would proceed.

And how did they earn profits while the game is basically a glorified waiting sim? why you ask? of course, as usual "g--ner bait".

Overall, if you like tactical turn based combat, you better play/get a real tactical turn based combat game, and if you can bear the issue, go ahead. Otherwise... not really.

New contents and weapons are underused thanks to it being tad shorter. But you can always used the all weapons "accessibility" mode especially for the base campaign.

NEED MORE TIME IN THE OVEN.
Yellow to dodge, they say. Yes the combat is quite satisfying but the "yellow to dodge" doesn't work half the time due to wonky hitbox detection (where they can hit you even though you're farther away) and one time i dodge forward to the enemy i didn't get hit somehow. Also for a good chunk you didn't get ranged weapons.
This might show that a first-person "soulslike" isn't a good idea. however...
maybe fix the hitbox and add some assistive gameplay mechanics and the game can be good.

Also the hub is confusing due to everything look alike. Making it menu-based like most games including FromSoftware wouldn't be a bad idea.

Even though i haven't played the Terraria mod yet as of this writing, i wholeheartedly support this (kinda, story is a bit dark at the end whoops) wholesome survivors-esque game.
Story? It's kinda like Chinese/Korean gacha games story, hard to explain but yeah it's there.
Gameplay? It's a survivors-esque, only it has a final boss before ending the "expedition"
button responsiveness needs a bit work, and it is better to remove the primary attack button and make it automatic like almost every other Survivors-Esque game did.
Overall 8/10 first impression. Waiting for further content. A pixellated top down decorable room/house will be nice. And maybe an open world stage where you have to tackle multiple small dungeons or tasks before facing the boss.

used to skip this for 11+ years because it looks like a jank version of Company of Heroes...
then i discover not only this is more strategic but also can direct control units (don't rely on it too much)
also most enemies can shoot further than the map zoom
there also thousands of mod support

sidenote: have played the sequel call to arms but not as of 2020 because the storage space req is disproportionately high, maybe want to come back later.

+Essential fixes are all there without the need of copying stuff to make it work
+Multiple game modes
+Custom Difficulty

However
-many of the customizations (including those that quickly centers the crosshair without skill grinding) disable achievements
-not only cosmetic makeovers, but things are moved here and there
-while the cosmetic makeovers are good, some doors are indistinguishable to walls.
-Some users default settings has a distracting XY coordinate (especially when the HUD is resized) that has to be manually disable using console command
-the infamous save game bloat (game is based on engine which mainly designed for fixed linear stages so the saves will rewrite the map file to take note of the changes in the map like picked up items, event triggers, and unlocked doors) isn't fixed yet but that's how Deus Ex works so maybe only moving to a new engine would fix that.

Expecting Vigilante 8 / Interstate 76, getting Grand Theft Armored Core Stranding Most Wanted instead, minus the yap.

Most games have yaps, this one no yaps like long cutscenes of people talking about stuff or whatever.

STORY (maybe spoilers)
You and pretty much everyone else are machine spirits and you are apparently climbing on the top of a "Blacklist" or something, but apparently you're sabotaged just as you want to take out a heavy colossus. Oil leaks or whatever. This reveals that you are a machine spirit and can move to another unclaimed car (or simply materialize)
Your buddy is a sandcrawler or something, where you can upgrade and equip stuff.
That's it for the story, have fun.

+almost non-stop fun
+difficulty that respects its players
+intuitive controls, you can set it so that shooting is toggled
-maybe too easy for some
-drop rate mid game is atrocious

FEEDBACK:
+laser weapons
+adjustments to drop rate
+a gamemode where damage is multiplied for both the player and NPC, to lessen "spongy" moments
+make cargo delivery less repetitive
+more car bodies like Mustang, Subaru, Nissan, Impreza
+ability to make car bodies clean
+change wheel models and rims
+Lore (no need yaps unless if it's the end, just some text and pictures that can be accessed during break times)
+awesome endgame content

compared to most other JRPGs:
+story is more straightforward, there's a recap notes in case you left the game for months (like me)
+field-to-battle are transitional, but.... unlike many JRPGs, the combat is real time, you program combos of 4 attacks to be executed in a single button. Require experiment, or today, guide. Switching to character other than the protagonist is not required maybe unless you raise up the difficulty.
+difficulty is according to the settings. You'll breeze in the lowest difficulty.
+GAMEPAD is NEEDED NOT JUST RECOMMENDED. Once i got stuck in a menu because of keyboard controls.
Story? I won't spoil, especially if there's a sales event happening, just buy. All the stories are there if not in the synopsis.

cons/the bad
-it's like 8 years late i played this, but then again back then i can only afford The Phantom Pain.

conclusion:
better investment than any gacha game. Heck the developers tried to make a gacha Tales spinoff but they failed. Looking forward for Tales of Arise whenever the money's in (or not because the characters there look older more like WRPGs than JRPGs despite its anime style).