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Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method

Hi guys! Today I will teach you how to use a mouse and keyboard to play games on Cemu. It probably won’t work on all games, but one game that it will surely work on is BotW. This process is tested and if you follow every step to the letter, I guarantee you that it will work out. This is the 200th article on this site so I decided to make this article since the article with the old method is the most popular article on the website.

If for some reason you can’t make it work with this method no matter what you try, then you can always check the old method:

https://gamerwelfare.com/2020/01/30/the-definitive-guide-cemu-with-mouse-and-keyboard/

Before I start, I would like to thank memethyl (the person who made Mouse2Joystick and the original setup guide on github) for the tips and fixes he provided.

What you will need:

Besides Cemu, you will need to download two files. The websites are safe and the files don’t contain any viruses.

Here are the links:

https://github.com/memethyl/Mouse2Joystick/wiki/Cemu-setup-guide

https://vigem.org/projects/ViGEm/How-to-Install/

https://github.com/ViGEm/ViGEmBus/releases

https://github.com/memethyl/Mouse2Joystick/releases

The first link is a short description of the things I am about to show you. I followed that guide to setup my Cemu but since it didn’t mention key bindings it took some time to make everything work so I made this guide to make the setup as detailed and easy as possible. I recommend you read that guide one time because it contains some important warnings that I don’t think are necessary to repeat here.

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
The first link has a guide to setup Cemu.

The first thing you need to install is ViGEmBus.

The second link has information on ViGemBus and ways to fix various problems so I recommend reading it if any problem arises.

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
The second link has information on ViGemBus.

The third link has the ViGEmBus installer.

Download ViGEmBus_1.18.367_x64_x86.exe I show in the image below and install ViGEmBus, you don’t need to change anything in the installation options, just click Next and Install. In the future, there may be newer versions of the program, only install the version that says Latest on the top, NOT PRE-RELEASE.

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
The third link has the ViGEmBus installer.

To check if everything is installed correctly search Device Manager on the Windows search bar and then open it. On the top click on View->Devices by Connection.

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
This is the image you will see after you click View->Devices by Connection.

Look for entries with names like Virtual Gamepad Emulation Bus or Nefarius Virtual Gamepad Emulation Bus.

If more than one entry appears you might have multiple versions of ViGEmBus installed which may cause conflicts. Follow the full clean section, it’s part of the second link I showed you.

If there is only one entry then you can continue.

Right-Click on Nefarius Virtual Gamepad Emulation Bus then click on Properties. Click on the Driver tab and you should see something like the image below.

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
Image of Nefarious Virtual Gamepad Emulation Bus Properties

If you see something like this then ViGEmBus is installed correctly.

Next, you have to go to the fourth link.

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method

The fourth link has the Mouse2Joystick.zip

You have to download this zip and extract it. You don’t have to download the version that is shown in the image, as time passes new versions will come out so download the latest version.

After you downloaded and extracted the zip go to the extracted folder and open Mouse2Joystick.exe AS ADMIN, always open it as administrator (it might work correctly even if you run it without administrator privileges but depending on the version of windows 10 or 11 there might be some bugs and running it as admin may fix them).

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
Image of Mouse2Joystick.exe

Copy my settings as you them in the image.

Next open Cemu.

Click on Options->Input settings

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
Image of Input settings window.

Click on the – Icon till there are no controllers.

In the Emulated controller option choose Wii U Gamepad.

Before continuing make sure you have opened Mouse2Joystick.exe AS ADMIN.

Now click on the + Icon which is next to the – Icon.

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
Image of the window that appears after you click + Icon and the settings you have to select THE FIRST TIME.

Copy my settings as you see them. If you don’t see a Controller 1 option it means that you haven’t opened Mouse2Joystick, so make sure you open it AS ADMIN.

After you copy my settings click Add, then click the + Icon again.

Now copy the settings of the image below.

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
Image of the window that appears after you click + Icon and the settings you have to select THE SECOND TIME.

After you copy the settings click Add.

Below is the window you will see after you click Add.

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
Notice that the Controller that is selected is Keyboard[Keyboard]

As you can see all the key bindings are greyed out. To change the key bindings click on each greyed box and press the key you want to assign it to. Before you click anything check the image below and copy my Key Bindings since they work perfectly and it took me some time to set it up.

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
Make sure your Keyboard[Keyboard] key bindings look the same as mine in this image.

If you change the controller to Controller 1[XInput] by clicking Keyboard[Keyboard] and then choosing Controller 1[XInput] you will see the image below.

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
Make sure your settings look the same in Controller 1[XInput], you won’t have to change anything here since you copied the keyboard settings before from me.

Don’t mess with the settings in Controller 1[XInput], if you do, you have to press – Icon again till all the controllers are clear and then create them again with the + Icon. Y and ZR as you can see aren’t greyed in Controller 1[XInput] that’s because we have already set them in Mouse2Joystick.exe

Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
Y is binded to the Left Mouse Button and RZ to the Right Mouse Button.
If you want to change the keybindings only change the Keyboard[Keyboard] keybindings don’t mess with Controller[XInput].

You MUST UNCHECK DISABLE MOUSE CLICKS because without it being enabled, Left-Click won’t work correctly. Also, I recommend unchecking Hide Cursor and Lock Cursor when you play games. When you uncheck something it enables it.

Now we are basically done. Two more recommendations, to change the sensitivity edit X Resistance and Y Resistance values on the Mouse2Joystick window. Also if you play BotW change the Camera sensitivity in-game to Very Fast.

  • Disable Mouse Clicks: Blocks all mouse clicks in Cemu’s window. Use this to keep the mouse from “touching” the virtual GamePad.
  • Hide Mouse: Hides the cursor while Cemu is the foreground window.
  • Lock Mouse: Forces the cursor to stay in the middle of the screen while Cemu is the foreground window.
Cemu with Mouse and Keyboard – New Method
Notice Disable Mouse Clicks, Hide Cursor and Lock Cursor are unchecked, which means they are active.  Copy my settings as you see them.

Finally, you MUST open Mouse2Joystick.exe AS Admin AFTER you have already opened the game because with Disable Mouse Clicks being active you won’t be able to interact with Cemu at all.

Some games might require gyroscope/motion controls. For those games watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pp1B8S7yxI

I also recommend you to watch Cemu Complete Setup Guide:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw7qa94P0ls


This was the guide. Thanks for reading it, and I hope that all went well without problems. If you have faced any problems or have any questions feel free to comment below and ask.

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Sifu PC Review

Sifu PC Review

Hi guys! Today I will talk about Nioh 2. As always, the review will have four parts, firstly I will talk about the storyline, then about the gameplay, afterward, I will talk about the visuals and finally, I will tell you my personal thoughts and give you a rating for the game from 0-10 (10 being the best).

Sifu PC Review

Storyline

Sifu’s storyline isn’t something you haven’t seen before or something that will be unforgettable. It’s a storyline that gives a reason for all the fighting and the power of the protagonist. There wasn’t a point in the story that made me feel something more than any other similar story.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that the story is bad, the story is just unimportant in my opinion. You shouldn’t get this game for the story anyway since there is very little dialog and very few cutscenes. There is a board with clues that you find while exploring the different areas but the game never made me care enough to try to find every single clue.

To summarize, if you want to play a game that has an amazing story before anything else then this game isn’t for you.

Gameplay

Sifu has the best hand-to-hand combat system I have seen in a game. It’s hard because unlike other games there isn’t an indicator for when to press the dodge or counter button(like in Arkham Knight), but at the same time, it’s fair because once you get used to it you feel more rewarded when you beat a lot of people without them hitting you once.

In the game, you can also use weapons that you find in the environment or that you can steal from the enemies you fight. The weapons break from the use so you can’t use the same weapon for the entire playthrough. This is a good thing because the game forces you to think and choose what is the best weapon to use in each scenario.

You can also unlock abilities with the experience you get by beating enemies, but before I explain more about that I have to talk about the main system that the gameplay revolves around and that is the aging system. Each time you die your character ages and the more times you die fighting the same enemy the faster you age with each death. When you reach a certain age(above 70) the next time you die you lose. If you lose you have to start over from the last stage you completed or if you haven’t beaten any stages from the beginning. Basically, you have to beat the game in one lifetime of a human.

You don’t have to worry though since each time you beat a stage your progress is saved so you don’t have to start all over again when you lose. Also, you can beat a stage multiple times if you want to start the next stage with fewer deaths.

Also if you buy a certain ability 5 times before you lose then you get to keep it forever., that is a good way to keep some of the progress even after you lose.

Finally, let’s talk about the difficulty of Sifu. Sifu has a steep learning curve meaning you will die a lot at the beginning until you get used to the fighting system. Also having only one lifetime to beat the game means that you will have to replay the stages in order to beat them while remaining as young as possible.

The average time someone needs to beat the game is around 10 hours depending on how fast you learn the game.

Visuals

The art style of Sifu is something you don’t see very often and it’s rather unique in its own way. It isn’t something that will blow your mind but I personally like it and I believe it fits the general aesthetic of the game. The areas of the game are all intriguing and have their own style.

You will see some amazing areas while playing the game and I believe you will feel satisfied with your experience. As for the customization, there is none. The only thing you can decide about your character is gender and that’s it. As you age your character changes in appearance but you have no control over the changes.

Final Thoughts

Let me summarize what you should keep from this article.

First, the story is ok but nothing you haven’t seen before, so don’t get this game if you absolutely want an amazing story, this isn’t that kind of game.

The main reason to get this game is the amazing and innovative gameplay it brings to the table. I haven’t seen such a smooth combat system in a while and you can tell the developers put their hearts into it.

The visuals are unique and certainly fit the aesthetic of the story and the gameplay, but there is, unfortunately, no customization for your character.

Now the final question. Is it worth 40 euros? The answer is it depends. If you are looking for a game with amazing combat and you don’t care about the story or customization then possibly and the little time it takes for the average player to beat the game then yes. If you want every single euro you spend to count then personally I would wait for sale.

Final Verdict

Storyline: 8

Gameplay: 10

Visuals: 10

General Rating: 9

That’s it for my review guys, I hope you liked it. If you liked the game leave a comment down below and tell me what you liked the most about this game. See ya in the next article.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page and sharing our articles.

Here is the link for the images I used:

https://www.igdb.com/games/sifu/presskit

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Slay the Spire vs Dicey Dungeons – The Definitive Comparison

It may seem that comparing the 2 yields an obvious winner but that is simply not true. Slay the Spire and Dicey Dungeons have both their merits and their flaws.

Let’s see what the games offer and (hopefully) help you make a decision. This comparison will compare the games in their storyline, gameplay, and visuals. I will also have a personal thoughts section to round up my thoughts. Without further ado:

Storyline

Slay the Spire tries to keep its storyline mysterious and convoluted. It gives you lore bits through its character introductions, random events, and endings.

Generally, the story is about 4 characters that want to ascend a corrupted Spire, each with their own reasons. That’s most of what you can get, the rest are up to you to determine.

Dicey Dungeons is about a few people joining a game show called Dicey Dungeons. The host of the show, Lady Luck, turns them into big anthropomorphic dice and leaves them to play.

The players soon realize that the game is rigged and they are trapped, so they try their best to escape.

There is no clear advantage in either game in the storyline department as both the mysterious background and general moodiness or Slay the Spire and the looming threat and hopelessness of Dicey Dungeons are things that help the player feel the right mood when playing.

Gameplay

Slay the Spire is a deck-building purity. The game actually brought the genre to relevance!

You begin the game with a basic deck, and as you move on, you get more cards and various trinkets to help you improve your chances of winning. Each character has different decks and cards to choose from.

You have a map, and you have to choose a path. Paths can have enemies, elites (harder fights with more rewards), random events (dnd like events that may give you an advantage or disadvantage), fireplaces that heal you or upgrade a card, shops, and one chest in the middle if every path that gives a free trinket.

Being a deck builder, the size of your deck is really important and you never know what you’ll draw. You can also remove and upgrade cards and generally, the game has lots of decision-making. That’s the gist of it.

Dicey Dungeons is considered a deck builder as you have to build a “deck” with various equipment you find. That deck can be used with dice. Every turn, you roll a number of dice depending on your level. You can use these dice on your equipment for various effects.

For example, a piece of equipment can have a requirement of 1-3 die roll and deals double the damage of the die you put.

You have a map to explore and various enemies to fight. The enemies have the same mechanics as you with the difference being that every enemy has the same equipment every time.

The map also has chests with equipment and shops with more equipment. You can also find upgrade anvils or copy scrolls to either upgrade something or copy it respectively.

Of course, there is a limit to how much equipment you can use. You have space for at most 6 equipment and many equipment are double-sized, taking two spaces instead of one.

I suggest beating all enemies as you get more dice as you level and you heal to full. You have to beat all enemies to reach the max level before the boss fight.

Each character is his own class with different abilities and some unique equipment and mechanics.

Comparing the two games you will see that Slay the Spire is much more convoluted, with lots more decision-making to do. Dicey Dungeons is easier and more pleasant to pick up and much more casual.

It’s all about whether you want something more casual or harder and more skill-based.

Visuals

The Visuals in Slay the Spire are pretty good. They set the mood perfectly and are not distracting.

Dicey Dungeons is more cartoony, which is good, as the game is about anthropomorphic dice after all. The game is more colorful which adds to the casual experience I mentioned.

Final Thoughts

The games have similar playstyles and patterns but, as I mentioned, there are some distinct differences.

It all comes down to what kind of experience you want.

Slay the Spire is more high skill cap, with more decision making, and generally is much more intense.

Dicey Dungeons is moe chill, casual, and much more accessible.

Both could be good of course but if you have to choose one, take a look at your preferences and pick. You’re not going wrong either way!


That’s it for my comparison. Have you played both games? If so, which do you prefer? You can tell me your opinions below.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page, and sharing our articles.

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CHRONO TRIGGER vs OCTOPATH TRAVELER – The Definitive Comparison

A classic vs a new wonder. Two different worlds, same genre. This comparison will help you choose just a bit easier which of these awesome JRPGs is for you.


We will compare the games in their respective storylines, gameplay elements, and visuals. There will also be a final thoughts section highlighting the differences. Without further ado:


Storyline


Being JRPGs, I think this is where you should be focusing.


Chrono Trigger is about trying to save the world and all timelines from an eternal evil existing in the prehistoric era. You travel in the same world at different points of time, past, present, and future.


Octopath Traveler is about each character living his own story. Throughout your travels you meet the other characters and do their stories as well.


At first glance, Chrono Trigger seems more deep and convoluted. It certainly seems so bit Octopath Traveler is also quite deep. It’s just that Chrono Trigger is a whole story from start to finish, while Octopath Traveler is more episodic. I will say though that in Octopath Traveler, it is revealed in the end that all the stories had a common enemy pulling the string from behind and giving you a “final” story.

On the other hand, once you finish Chrono Trigger once, not only do you get some extra story and a “final” boss, but you can play the game (keeping your stats and equipment) to unlock many different endings depending on when you beat the final boss (which is available through the most part of the game).


Gameplay


The gameplay has a lot of similarities.


In both games you have parties, you fight monsters and enemies, you grind experience and learn new skills as you fight etc. The core JRPG experience.


You travel on the continent, go into towns, buy and sell equipment.


Of course, they’re not the same game. That’s the point of this comparison.


For starters. Octopath Traveler has side quests. To do them you also have to use another unique thing• the profession actions. Chrono Trigger doesn’t have any professions. You could argue if course that every character is it’s own class as not all characters can deal lots of damage or heal.


Another key difference is weaknesses. Octopath Traveler’s enemies have guards and weaknesses. By striking them with the right element or weapon you break one point of their guard. Break it and they get stunned for a turn and become more vulnerable to damage. Chrono Trigger has weaknesses also, but it’s just more damage.

Chrono Trigger has a fun gimmick too. In battle, the more you play as a combination of characters, you will eventually learn some combo moves that 2 or all 3 can pull. Each combination of characters has their own unique combos.


Visuals


I won’t stay too much here. I’m just going to say that Octopath Traveler has a clear advantage here. Being newer, its graphics are absolutely stunning. Chrono Trigger doesn’t look it’s age (before 2000s) but it doesn’t hold a candle to Octopath in this regard.

Of course, their basis is pixel art graphics as they are JRPGs, but the environment graphics is where Octopath really shines. Battle effects too. Though Chrono Trigger’s pixel spells and effects are quite nostalgic.

Final Thoughts

Both games are masterpieces in their genre. I certainly recommend both.

But you are probably here because you want one.

If you want a more classic, old-school experience and cohesive story, go with Chrono Trigger (and take Octopath when you’re finished).

If you want something newer, fresher, with more polished mechanics, and episodic nature, go with Octopath Traveler (and take Chrono Trigger when you’re finished).

If you want to have a banger soundtrack that you’ll be listening long after you’ve finished the game, flip a coin because both games do that.

If you made it this far let’s talk about one final difference. One that may actually shape your opinion; price.

Chrono Trigger is pretty accessible in that regard while Octopath is pretty pricey. It certainly is important in the comparison and I have to say that Octopath is certainly on the high end. Do get it on a sale.


That’s it for my comparison. Have you played both games? If so, which do you prefer? You can tell me your opinions below.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page, and sharing our articles.

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OCTOPATH TRAVELER Review

OCTOPATH TRAVELER Review

Octopath Traveler, developed by Square Enix is a JRPG of recent times. It generally has what you’d expect from a JRPG, and we’re here today to see if it’s worth it both for fans of the genre and for players who haven’t played any JRPGs yet, or any RPGs for that matter.

This review will have a Storyline, Gameplay, Visuals, and finally, a Personal Thoughts section. Without further ado:

Storyline

Being a JRPG, the game has a rich and convoluted storyline. I’ll explain the basics while avoiding spoilers.

The game is called Octopath Traveler because the number 8 is super important in the continent of Orsterra. As such, before you begin, you have a choice between 8 characters.

The characters you can choose from have a profession and skill that goes with their profession. Their profession is their class.

The character you choose here will be your protagonist, and he will be that character you always have at your party. But not to worry• in the case you liked more than one character, you will be able to travel to their starting location and recruit them to your party.

Each character has their own story split into chapters. You have to travel half the continent to get to the next chapter too, so you will most certainly recruit someone along the way.

Even though the party consists of 4 people, you can recruit all 8 and play their stories however you like. Each character’s story is independent, but once you finish all stories, you will see that most of them had some common figure controlling the scenes from behind, taking you to a “final story” of sorts.

Gameplay

I inadvertently talked about some gameplay elements in the storyline section by mentioning that there can be only 4 party members at a time.

You can change which members are those by visiting a tavern in any town. Generally, there are 2 rules.

Firstly, if you want to play a character’s story chapter, you have to have him at the party. Second, the protagonist you chose will be the party leader at the very least until you finish his/her chapters. This is not going to happen anytime soon, so I hope you really like him/her.

Now generally, there’s nothing wrong with having 4 main members and just switching one for the one who needs to do his story. The game requires some grinding to an extent, and it’s useful to have some characters overleveled.

Each profession (class) has its own unique skills. Everyone starts with 3 and can learn up to 5 more. The 5th skill is usually an ultimate. More on that later.

The skills usually cost mana. They also usually have a damage type (if they deal damage). Damage types are essential to combat.

Essentially, in combat, every enemy has a set of weaknesses. These weaknesses are either to weapon types (swords, polearms, axes, daggers, bows, staves) or an element (fire, ice, lightning, wind, light, and darkness).

Hitting an enemy with their weaknesses deals increased damage, and also breaks one of their shields. Every enemy starts with a set amount and getting it to zero breaks them, stunning them for a turn and making them take increased damage from every source.

Every turn you gain a BP. These are points you can use to boost a move. A character can have up to 5 and can use up to 3. You can either boost a skill for an increased effect (damage, heal or buff) or you can buff a regular attack and essentially make it a multi-hit. Every boost level adds a hit.

I mentioned ultimate skills. These ultimate skills need you to be fully boosted to use.

The battle is split into turns and every turn the one with the highest speed attacks first then the second, third, etc until all have attacked in which a new turn begins.

You can see this turn’s priority as well as the next turn’s.

You can also defend, which means you take reduced damage for the turn, and act faster in the next turn.

Winning a battle gives you gold, experience, and JP.

The first two are self-explanatory. JP are resource points you use to learn new skills in your class.

The more skills you learn the more supporting skills you unlock. Support skills are essentially passive buffs that help you or your whole party.

Now I want to mention 2 hidden mechanics. Secondary classes and advanced classes.

Secondary classes mean you can take any character and give him a second class among the other 7 available. Of course, each secondary class can only be equipped by only one character at a time.

I suggest not switching too much between one character because you will have to spend JP to train those classes much like your primary, and switching it resets the progress for the new character that has it. The old character keeps the progress in case you give him back that specific secondary class.

That’s why I suggest keeping one class for every one character and not changing it, so you won’t have to grind more than you have to.

Advanced classes are essentially different classes or evolutions. You keep your main class and you gain the advanced profession as a bonus of sorts. There are 4 advanced classes and you can allocate them any way you want.

To gain these classes (secondary or advanced) you must find the shrine of their respective deity on the map as you travel, go in, and get their blessing. Keep an eye out as you travel.

There is also the equipment. Besides the weapons you wield, you also have shields, helmets, and bodywear. These are just stat sticks, they offer no other advantage.

Finally you have the profession actions. Each profession can interact with the citizens of Orsterra in its own unique way. Some classes gain information about items and situations, others lead them around. These are a must if you want to do the side quests that some citizens have.

A special word about the SFX. Generally, I am personally amazed by both the music and the voice acting. The world is so much more alive with these things the actors nailed their characters. You will probably find yourself repeating after your characters.

Visuals

The visuals are astounding. That is if you know what to expect. This is a JRPG, which means you should be expecting pixel art graphics.

Well the game is pixel art, but most sceneries are far from being low-resolution pixel art. Stuff like sandy beached, flowing rivers, snowy mountains, are extremely detailed and absolutely stunning.

The game definitely exceeded my expectations in that regard.

Personal Thoughts

The only negative I could think of is that the game does get a bit repetitive. Not that JRPGs are known for keeping you on edge but Octopath Traveler doesn’t do anything to even spice it up a bit. I guess it’s not bad if you’re absorbed into the story. But if you aren’t it will feel kinda grindy.

Final Verdict

Storyline: 9

Gameplay: 9

Visuals: 10

General Rating: 9/10

That’s it for my review guys, I hope you liked it. If you liked the game leave a comment down below and tell me what you liked the most about this game. See ya in the next article.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page, and sharing our articles.

The image(s) I used are from the following site(s):

www.igdb.com

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Sonic Forces: Speed Battle Tier List

Sonic Forces: Speed Battle Tier List

 

(This list is updated up to Sonic Forces: Speed Battle version 4.3.1)

Before I start, I would like to thank every single person who comments, either to express their opinions and have a pleasant dialogue or to notify me of changes I don’t notice. Thanks a lot, guys!

This tier list will have the same rules as my previous one.

In other words:

My opinion is not de facto correct, nor what I say is set in stone. As a matter of fact, everything here is my opinion, and a low placement should not discourage you from using anyone.

The tier list will be split into 5 tiers: S, A, B, C, and D. S is the best tier and D is the worst.

I should mention that the S-Tier is for game-breaking characters and that anyone down to B-Tier is just as viable if you are good.

You will, however, need extra skill to pull off a C-Tier or even a D-Tier.

Oh and one more thing. The order within the tiers doesn’t represent anything. It’s simply in the order the characters are presented in-game.

Of course, I will also be providing you with a brief explanation of each character, as well as why I placed them there.

I should note to those who don’t know: that every character has stats and weapons. Each one has 3 weapons, a single lane/single-target weapon, a boost that turns into a barrier if you are ahead, and a trap weapon.

The weapons also have a type. I color-coded them so should be easier to understand, but some characters have unique weapons, so I colored them with the color of their characters.

Every character also has a rarity. This does not mean much but I have to note something about Holiday characters.

They are characters that are available for a limited time. They also happen to be much stronger than their original character. That is because SEGA needs to get money somehow and having stronger characters that are also limited is a good way to do it.

Finally, a little about the stats. Speed is the maximum speed you can reach, Acceleration is how fast you can reach that speed and Strength is how much speed you lose when ht (along with the factor of weapon strength).

High-Speed characters tend to do better collecting rings early and avoiding a lot.

High Acceleration characters definitely play with their other stat, strength, or speed.

High Strength characters like playing it slow and hitting their enemies, and don’t mind getting hit as long as they don’t get left behind.

If you want to see more on the game’s gameplay, refer here.

Without further ado:

S TIER

-Big the Cat

Stats:

Speed: 7/10

Acceleration: 7/10

Strength: 10/10

Weapons:

Chopper Chomp

Umbrella Boost

Lilytrap

Big isn’t game-breakingly broken. But he sure is good at what he does.

Generally, he’s an unstoppable force. He starts rolling, and no matter how hard you hit, he ain’t stopping.

Once he does start rolling, he hits you with his heavy Water Type attacks. Water Type attacks hit you and then give you a huge slow that quickly wears off.

His Lilytrap is also highly unpredictable and even the best players can mess it up.

The gist is that 2 out of 4 lanes with Lilytraps eject water, and afterward, the other 2 do. You gotta time it perfectly.

Did I mention he has the longest boost in the game? (That also hurts opponents.)

That’s what S-Tier looks like.

-Chaos

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 5/10

Strength: 9/10

Weapons:

Ice Wave

Ice Boost

Ice Mine

Another amazingly strong character, Chaos the demi-god runs fast, and he’s difficult to stop.

What bumps him up to S-Tier however, is his full Ice Type arsenal, and his Ice Wave more specifically.

Ice is very powerful in general, as it disallows moving and weapon throwing, plus, a frozen opponent is more likely to get hurt again by any hazard on the stage.

As you upgrade Chaos, his Ice Wave hits progressively more lanes, making him unbelievably strong.

-Zavok

Stats:

Speed: 7/10

Acceleration: 9/10

Strength: 10/10

Weapons:

Fireball

Fire Boost

Explosive Mine

Updated to have even more stats, Zavok finally reached his accomplice Zazz in S-Tier.

Fire-type moves are among the strongest and he has Explosive Mines to boot. Getting hit by Zavok is no small deal.

And hitting him does nothing much do to his max Strength stat. Now, with even better acceleration, it’s really hard to stop him.

Zavok is not as flashy as the other S-Tiers nor has something really unique but he sure proves that brute force can also be the way.

-Zazz

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 10/10

Strength: 5/10

Weapons:

Moto-Bug

Electro Boost

Star Trail

Zazz is extremely unique.

As an opponent, he is the most annoying character you will face.

If you control him, however, you must do your best to keep ahead.

2 Electric Type attacks one of which attracts rings, coupled with his high speed and acceleration, and you have enough to get the lead.

From there, Star Trail.

Star Trail leaves stars behind you for a short amount of time. This can get extremely annoying to your opponents, as they have to be careful of your trail, along with everything else.

Zazz is the best character to keep a lead and should be your go-to if you like being annoying.

-Santa Big

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 9/10

Strength: 7/10

Weapons:

Frozen Chopper Chomp

Festive Umbrella Boost

Flue Shot

OP stats, a long boost, I wonder what he lacks.

The only negative I can find is that his Frozen Chopper Chomp is easy to dodge if you’re paying attention…

Honestly, Flue Shot isn’t the hardest thing in the world to dodge, but with an Ice-Type attack, Flue Shot being a little weaker than the strongest weapon in the game, and 25/30 total to his stats, you have to wonder what SEGA was thinking.

-Reaper Metal Sonic

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 5/10

Strength: 9/10

Weapons:

Harvest Time

Ice Boost

Dead End

And you thought Shadow was edgy.

Probably the most popular character around (at least when it comes to Holiday characters) Reaper Metal Sonic is a pain in the ass.

Harvest Time is like Explosive Mine, coming from behind, and covering multiple lanes.

He has 9/10 Strength and 2 Ice-Type attacks. Things cannot get more annoying.

Yet they do. Dead End doesn’t spawn 3 stuff in 3 lanes like usual. Instead, it spawns a tombstone in front of the leading racer (or the second if you’re first) a bunch of times.

His stats don’t deserve S-Tier, but his weapons really do the trick.

Santa Big is probably much better, but you know what they say; you can’t beat the edgelords.

-Witch Rouge

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 7/10

Strength: 7/10

Weapons:

Drac-O’-Lantern

Wind Boost

Booby Trap

Drac-O’-Lantern is not a Fire-Type attack, I just couldn’t find a better color to use since she shares this weapon with Vampire Shadow.

Ok, first of all, what are these stats? I know at least 3 hedgehogs that should be complaining.

Witch Rouge is excellent to use in general, you just don’t see her as often because… well, she’s not edgy or “cool”.

Drac-O’-Lantern, in particular, is dreadful, as, if it hits you, you will be slow as molasses for a while.

No doubt, Witch Rouge deserves a spot in the S-Tier.

-Spring Cream

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 10/10

Strength: 4/10

Weapons:

Chao Attack

Bunny Boost

Hedge Maze

Spring Cream brings everything good Cream does, with a slight alteration in her 3rd attack.

Her Chao Attack is a boomerang, which means it can hit twice, on the way out and on the way back.

Bunny Boost gives you more speed when you switch lanes, but to compensate, the boost isn’t that strong.

Hedge Maze works like Lilytraps or Flue Shot. It covers 2 lanes with unpassable Hedges, and the other 2 lanes have Hedges on the bottom.

Should you get hit, you gain a debuff that reduces your speed every time you switch lanes for a while.

Her only negative is her low Strength.

-DJ Vector

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 7/10

Strength: 8/10

Weapons:

Audio Assault

Beat Boost

Storm Cloud

DJ Vector. 1 less stat total from the actual Vector with much better weapons.

Audio Assault and Beat Boost introduce a new mechanic. I’ll call it Silence because it locks the opponent from using Items for a while.

Special shout out to Beat Boost that, besides Silencing an opponent, gives you an extra speed boost when switching lanes.

So, due to the two new Silences, a strong Boost, and an excellent stat total, DJ Vector certainly deserves S-Tier.

(Pro Tip: You can dodge Storm Cloud by sliding. You’re welcome.)

-Punk Zazz

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 6/10

Strength: 10/10

Weapons:

Audio Assault

Beat Boost

Tornado

As with Dj Vector, Punk Zazz introduces a new mechanic in the game. I’ll call it Silence because it locks the opponent from using Items for a while.

Besides 2 new mechanics and an arguably awesome Boost, Punk Zazz has the legendary 25/30 stat total, and honestly, puts some S-tier characters to shame.

Tornado is the only… dissonance as it really doesn’t fit. Yes, it helps with his Speed but it’s Zazz, shouldn’t he have had an Electric Type move.

But, to be fair, Punk Zazz is certainly one of the best characters out there.

-Sir Percival

Stats:

Speed: 8/10

Acceleration: 10/10

Strength: 8/10

Weapons:

Laevatein Lunge

Blazing Aura

Lava Bomb

We’ve got the newest highest stat total with a whopping 26/30.

But she isn’t all about stats. Percival has awfully strong weapons (2 of them being hard-hitting Fire Weapons).

Laevatein Lunge is a dash that gives you more speed if you manage to hit an opponent.

Blazing Aura hits adjacent lanes, in addition to everyone you pass through.

Lava Bomb is the only mediocre thing about her but it’s still really strong.

I really have no more words for Sir Percival, her stats speak for herself.

-Unicorn Cream

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 10/10

Strength: 4/10

Weapons:

Rainbow Blast

Magical Boost

Chao-Nado

Regular Cream falls slightly short off of S-Tier. So if a slight improvement comes she is bumped to S, like Spring Cream. Enter Unicorn Cream.

Just like Spring Cream (and with the same stats), Unicorn Cream is an S-Tier that won’t ruin your game (looking at you Zazz).

Unlike Spring Cream though she retains the Chao-Nado and loses the Chao Attack. Her boost is also different.

Now Rainbow Blast is kinda like a weaker Ice Wave. It deals damage (to multiple lanes when upgraded) but doesn’t leave an effect.

I mentioned Zazz… Well, Magical Boost leaves behind you permanent rainbows that damage anyone that touches them. Just like Zazz’s stars… but quite less annoying I guess.

Chao-Nado is good ol’ Chao-Nado. Spawns in front of your leading enemy (or behind you if you are leading) and steals speed.

Unicorn Cream is definitely not the craziest thing we’ve seen in S-Tier but she does deserve it as she has an edge against other A-Tier characters.

-Infinite the Jackal

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 10/10

Strength: 6/10

Weapons:

Reality Warp

Phantom Dash

Deadly Replica

Ok. Wow. Just wow.

So they put In Infinite, the main baddie along with Eggman in Sonic Forces. And boy is he broken. I must certainly say he could be his own tier but I don’t want to break the formatting.

26 base stats and broken weapons. Leaving the weapons aside, did they really have to give him of all characters those absurd stats? I mean, there’s Super Sonic on the roster.

Anyway, I’m not gonna explain exactly what the weapons do as it’s something you’ve probably already seen by now (Wave attacks and Mine-esque attacks). But I will tell you about the broken status they inflict upon you.

I will talk about the dash first actually as it’s kind of unique. The effect is similar to most dashes, with the difference that it drains rings to keep going, similar to Super Sonic.

Anyway, Infinite’s unique status effect is… let’s call it Different Reality. So Different Reality actually lets you run in a world where dash pads and item boxes are replaced with spikes. No bonus for you. Also, the enemy Badnicks are invulnerable. Going to them actually damages you!

I don’t have to tell you how broken this is. I mean, you hurt your opponents. You make them lose Rings and slow down. And you’re giving them almost 0 chance to come back.

They did nerf him which now puts him more in line with S-Tier (and the game…) which goes to show how absurd he is was.

-Nutcracker Silver

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 5/10

Strength: 8/10

Weapons:

Psychic Surprise

Jingle Boost

Ice Mine

You know you’re in trouble when Silver reaches S-Tier. I mean, every iteration comes out better and better.

Psychic Surprise is a heavy-hitting mine. But you carry it in front of you for a while (maybe sniping a few unfortunate ones) and if you don’t find a target, it doesn’t matter; you launch it. It also explodes when triggered.

Jingle Boost is an Ice boost (freezes on contact)  that doubles as a shield.

Ice Mine is the usual. Our favorite little freeze mines.

You know, Nutcracker Silver ain’t that op. Honestly, he could maybe be A-Tier. But if you can use Psychic Surprise to its strengths, you will also be surprised with what you can do.

A TIER

-Cream the Rabbit

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 9/10

Strength: 4/10

Weapons:

Chao Attack

Bunny Boost

Chao-Nado

A first glance in Cream reveals she has weapons of her own Type. Call it Bunny Type, call it Chao Type, Cream has among the best weapons in the game.

Her weapons are why she’s on S-Tier even though she has the same stat total as Blaze (and many other non-S-Tiers).

Chao Attack initially works like most other single-lane weapons, but shortly after returns back. Opponents have to be careful about both instances of this attack.

Bunny Boost works while you switch lanes, which is just what you need to do in this game in order to avoid the opponents’ attacks. The boost is sub-par to compensate of course.

And Chao-Nado closes the set. It’s placed in front of the opponent ahead of you (or behind you if you’re first), and should it hit, it steals speed from an opponent.

Cream rarely needs to worry about anything. She has the stats and weapons to both catch-up and keep the lead and definitely belongs in the A-Tier

-Rouge the Bat

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 8/10

Strength: 6/10

Weapons:

Lightning

Illusion Boost

Booby Trap

Rouge has the same stats as Espio and the Illusion Boost, like Espio. So why is she A-Tier and not B-Tier like Espio (or vice versa)?

She does have the Booby Trap though which is class superior to Illusion Mine. It locks the opponent’s Items away and they must pay 10 Rings to unlock them

Anyone affected by one is in serious trouble as they either have to pay 10 rings and lose speed or stay with a locked Item for the rest of the match.

All in all, it’s extremely annoying to play against her, and she surely deserves a better tier than Espio.

-Storm the Albatross

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 6/10

Strength: 10/10

Weapons:

Whirlwind

Wind Boost

Zap Trap

Storm’s stat total is the biggest in the game, along with other characters of course. The only reason he’s not B-Tier like his boss.

His Wind attacks go very well with his high speed, but the thing keeping him away from the sweet, sweet S-Tier is Zap Trap.

While Electic is a good Type, Zap Trap is extremely predictable and easy to dodge, and only appears in front of 1 (or 2 or everyone after enough upgrades) of the opponents.

Anyone with half a brain can switch lanes or slide to dodge.

(Pro Tip: You can dodge Zap Trap by sliding. You’re welcome.)

-Vector the Crocodile

Stats:

Speed: 8/10

Acceleration: 9/10

Strength: 8/10

Weapons:

Fireball

Invincibility

Bubble Bomb

Bad, bad, bad… At least that’s what I used to say

His (really) high stat total was really held back by his weapons, but he’s been slightly buffed to the point of deserving A-Tier.

Fireball is good, in fact, I can’t think of something better there.

Invincibility is really good, but Vector has really high Strength, so maybe he’d benefit from something more… speedy.

Bubble Blast was the bane of his existence as it dealt no damage, but now that it does deal damage, it is better.

All in all, Vector is the character for you if you want stats and simple weapons. In other words, he is a vanilla character. If you like simple but effective characters, then Vector is for you.

-Wave the Swallow

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 6/10

Strength: 7/10

Weapons:

Whirlwind

Wrench Rush

Explosive Mine

Wave is pretty good, despite not having a specific Type for her weapons (making her excel at something).

She has a Wind Attack to help her steal rings and goes well with her high speed.

She has the Explosive Mines, the strongest attack in the game.

And her boost hurts opponents in both her lane and the lanes next to her.

Wave is generally pretty good and takes the niche of “fast and sturdy hard-hitter” quite well.

-Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 7/10

Strength: 6/10

Weapons:

Balkiry

Rocket Boost

Honor Guard

Welcome, Dr. Eggman. The long-awaited villain returns!

Eggman has pretty good stats, nothing too special, but not bad overall. With these stats though, you’d think he could beat Sonic in a fair battle but whatevs.

Anyway, what sets him apart is his weapons, or rather, his toys.

Eggman’s weapons are unique and require the opponent to consciously think about dodging them which is huge for a game that is all about fast reactions and reflexes.

His Balkiry targets one opponent (and on later levels two and three) and throws five missiles. When they lock on (seen when a red target appears in their position), the target(s) have to dodge by switching lanes. If they dodge too fast, the Balkiries may target both their old and their new lane.

Rocket Boost is nothing special, just another average boost.

Honor Guard is quite interesting. When used, Eggman throws ahead of him three Motor Bugs in the lanes that he currently isn’t. The Bugs move slower than the players and after a while, they explode. If an opponent is hit they are stunned and lose an item.

Eggman is pretty fun and has pretty decent stats to boost, so he is definitely recommended to players who like using their weapons with more forethought.

-Metal Sonic

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 6/10

Strength: 7/10

Weapons:

Steal

Electro Boost

Explosive Mine

Metal Sonic has averagely good stats.

Honestly, there’s only 1 thing worth mentioning about him.

He can Steal an item from an opponent (not boosts) and allows him to use it.

Upgrading it just makes the items he steals stronger.

A-Tier materials right here, despite being one of the most popular characters, even among the top players.

-Shadow the Hedgehog

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 9/10

Strength: 3/10

Weapons:

Lightning

Power Sneakers

Storm Cloud

Shadow (likewise to the main series) is just a better Sonic.

He runs the fastest, but when hit, he needs to get all that speed back. And he has the Power Sneakers to help him.

Fortunately (and unlike Sonic), he has the acceleration to back it up.

His weapons require skill to use, as they are not easy to use, but Shadow is one of those characters that just get much better when you level him up.

(Pro Tip: You can dodge Storm Cloud by sliding. You’re welcome.)

-Zeena

Stats:

Speed: 8/10

Acceleration: 9/10

Strength: 7/10

Weapons:

Blizzard Bomb

Electro Boost

Explosive Mine

Zeena is just a worse Zazz.

To be honest, the newest character really wasn’t as special as you’d expect, but fits her niche of “all-around great disruptor”.

Zeena is very good at grabbing late victories, however, due to her arsenal.

If she freezes you, you’re bound to get an Explosive Mine in your face.

But, as most A-Tiers, she doesn’t have anything to bump her up to S-Tier.

-Tikal the Echidna

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 6/10

Strength: 5/10

Weapons:

Chao Guardians

Chao Chase

Captive Light

Just like Cream, Tikal has absolutely beasts for weapons. Her stats are not A-Tier worthy but her weapons sure are!

Chao Guardians works like Cream’s Chao Attack. It’s practically a boomerang. The difference is that there is a chance of 2 firing instead of 1.

Her dash hurts opponents and gives you more speed for doing so.

And her Captive Light slows opponents while also blinding them! To be honest with you, I don’t even see the point in Vector’s Bubble Bomb.

Tikal is a super solid pick for any of your needs. Just be careful not to stay too behind the others.

-All-Star Amy

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 4/10

Strength: 8/10

Weapons:

Strike Out

Home Run

Tornado

All-Star Amy is certainly an improvement upon regular Amy (what a surprise…)

She doesn’t have much better stats than regular Amy, but what she does have is the best boost in the game. I’m not even kidding, if you can master it, you will seldom stay behind for too long.

Home Run needs you to choose the right lane in order to gain a boost, essentially, it gives you free dash pads.

Her other weapons are meh and are not worth much discussion.

-Lunar Blaze

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 7/10

Strength: 7/10

Weapons:

Dragon Dance

Fire Boost

Pyro-Mine

Lunar Blaze is an improvement upon regular Blaze in every way.

Her stats are higher. And her weapons are literally upgrades to her old ones.

Dragon Dance is identical to Fire Whirl, only it returns at some point, so it always remains a threat.

Pyro-Mine works exactly the same as Lava Bomb, with the difference of a splash explosion that can hit multiple enemies. Just be careful as the explosion can also hit you.

If you have Lunar Blaze at the same level as regular Blaze, don’t even think about playing regular Blaze instead.

-Lantern Silver

Stats:

Speed: 7/10

Acceleration: 10/10

Strength: 6/10

Weapons:

Firework Flurry

Illusion Boost

Pyro-Mine

So Lantern Silver might not be (even near) the best Holiday character. But he does give his base character the biggest improvement.

Just check Lantern Silver’s stats versus Silver’s.

You’re probably wondering about Firework Flurry.

You see, this weapon gives you 3 shots of a random color (red, yellow or blue) each with a different effect.

Red slows the opponent after hitting him.

Yellow stuns them briefly.

Blue freezes them.

I don’t want to say much more about this character as it’s pointless, the only reason you’d choose original Silver over Lantern is that you’re a hardcore Silver fan and this skin is not canon (been there; done that).

-Vampire Shadow

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 8/10

Strength: 4/10

Weapons:

Drac-O’-Lantern

Electro Boost

Storm Cloud

*Sigh* As a long-time fan of Shadow the Hedgehog, I cannot begin to explain how much something like this bothers me.

Vampire Shadow holds a special place among the other Holiday characters, by not improving on the original at all. After all, how can you improve upon the Ultimate Life Form?

His stat total is literally the same with a +1/-1 distribution in acceleration and strength.

Vampire Shadow is just Shadow with a different, more bulky playstyle.

Drac-O’-Lantern helps him catch up and EM Boost helps him collect those much-needed rings faster.

Vampire Shadow is a much less skilled version of Shadow. That said, due to being easier, he certainly deserves A-Tier more than Shadow himself, so in a sense, he is an improvement?

(Pro Tip: You can dodge Storm Cloud by sliding. You’re welcome.)

-Tidal Wave

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 9/10

Strength: 5/10

Weapons:

Wipeout

Wrench Rush

Ice Mine

At first sight, she might not seem like S-Tier material.

Her stats certainly pass the mark.

Her Wipeout is like Chaos’ Ice Wave, only instead of freezing, it slows opponents.

And Ice Mine is exactly what Chaos has.

Tidal Wave is a good great replacement to Chaos if you prefer Acceleration over Strength.

However, her stats literally need a little more oomph, +1 to anything, and she’d be S-Tier in no time.

-Tropical Storm

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 7/10

Strength: 8/10

Weapons:

Wipeout

Wind Boost

Storm Cloud

Storm’s stats definitely contend for S-Tier right?

What’s wrong then?

Regular Storm is A-Tier, and this Holiday version doesn’t improve upon him, rather, it just shifts the playstyle a little.

With that out of the way, Tropical Storm is your go-to character if you like being all-around. He has lots of types of attacks, pretty evened-out stats, and some gimmicks like a multi-lane attack.

Like his partner, he lacks a bit of oomph to get him to S-Tier.

(Pro Tip: You can dodge Storm Cloud by sliding. You’re welcome.)

-Longclaw

Stats:

Speed: 8/10

Acceleration: 10/10

Strength: 6/10

Weapons:

Lightning

Wind Boost

Cyclone Charge

Once more, awesome stats, very meh Weapons.

In all honesty, if Cyclone Charge worked like most mine attacks, Longclaw would be S-Tier easily.

But the way it works is that it sets it no front of 1 opponent, or behind you if you lead.

What it does is hurt others and boost you if you pass through it. Too bad for the wasted potential.

Lightning and Wind Boost are pretty basic as well, and it’s no surprise Longclaw lurks in the A-Tier.

-Excalibur Sonic

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 5/10

Strength: 7/10

Weapons:

Soul Surge

Meteor Charge

King’s Judgement

Excalibur Sonic has a pretty decent stat total. His powers are also nothing too awesome to push him up or down.

Soul Surge has a unique mechanic for a projectile item. It spins around you damaging anyone it touches. It can only be dodged by jumping or leaving to the farthest lane.

Meteor Charge has nothing special to it.

King’s Judgement is a lot like Lightning without the Stun. It appears on the player on the front (or behind you if you’re first) and drops after 2 seconds dealing damage.

Excalibur Sonic is A-Tier rightfully, but his appearance definitely deserves an S.

-Treasure Hunter Knuckles

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 4/10

Strength: 9/10

Weapons:

Lightning

Gold Rush

Rocky Road

I don’t know what he did to get the long end of the stick, but Knuckles definitely did get the better deal.

Stats-wise, Treasure Hunter Knuckles (THK for short) is like Knuckles but faster (by 3 points!).

Item-wise, holy shit, it’s Super Knuckles. Allow me to explain.

Gold Rush lets you boost in exchange for rings. Not only does this remind us of our favorite Super Hedgehogs (which we’re still expecting as characters please), but it is also very strong as an item, as the boost is one of the fastest ones.

Rocky Road is pretty basic, except sometimes you can get 2, and sometimes, some of the traps spawned are actually too tall to jump over.

Unless you really prefer EAR aesthetically, choose THK for this event, as he is far superior.

-Jingle Belle Amy Rose

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 5/10

Strength: 8/10

Weapons:

Ice Wave

Ice Boost

Gift Trapped

Jingle Belle Amy is a variation of All-Star Amy with their stats differing literally by a +1/-1 distribution on their Speed/Strength.

I think that’s an improvement as she already has high acceleration.

Her weapons are good (besides the dash). Ice Wave is a classic and the fact that it hits many lanes is pivotal.

Gift Trapped is new and it’s practically the mines from Flue Shot. Gameplay-wise, Amy spreads these mines in the lanes but it’s not the usual drop 1 mine in each of the lanes you’re not. Instead, Amy puts random mines in random lanes, and powering up the weapon actually gives you more mines!

-Sir Lancelot

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 6/10

Strength: 6/10

Weapons:

Chaos Slash

Chaos Charge

Storm Cloud

There seems to be some kind of beef with Shadow as the developers don’t want for some reason to give him “too many” stats.

Don’t get me wrong, he does decent stats, but it wouldn’t hurt to give him something extra. Besides, Shadow is the second most popular character in the franchise.

Anyway, the only new thing here is his overloaded Chaos Slash. It hits adjacent lanes, behind you and in front of you (in other words, a 360), and can be dodged by jumping.

It also throws a Chaos Spear in the lane Lancelot’s currently in that hurts any opponent hit.

Everything else is easy to find out.

(Pro Tip: You can dodge Storm Cloud by sliding. You’re welcome.)

-Super Sonic

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 5/10

Strength: 3/10

Weapons:

Fireball

Super Sonic Form

Ice Mine

Oh, look… It’s just Sonic with a different Boost… Just kidding, Super Sonic’s pretty awesome.

That said, he really is Sonic with a different Boost.

Super Sonic Form can be used when you have at least 50 Rings. When used, Sonic stops for a while and then becomes Super Sonic, speeding through everything while draining his Rings. Super Sonic is (obviously) invulnerable.

The best tactic here is to fill up your Rings and then wait till you’re close to the finish line and use it to gain an unstoppable lead.

-Quarterback Zavok

Stats:

Speed: 8/10

Acceleration: 7/10

Strength: 10/10

Weapons:

Savage Throw

Brutal Blitz

Lava Bomb

You can literally go to the original Zavok and see what I wrote and be done with it but where’s the fun in that.

Quarterback Zavok, much like Zavok hits hard.

His Savage Throw is a classic Projectile attack with the difference that you can’t dodge by jumping. You’re gonna have to slide instead.

Brutal Blitz is also a classic Boost with a gimmick. Upgrading it will give you more of these, by trading some speed. More Boosts for a little less speed.

In the end, Quarterback Zavok is yet another Special character that doesn’t improve much upon the original. But they do have different playstyles which I guess is the whole point.

-Lucky Whisper

Stats:

Speed: 8/10

Acceleration: 9/10

Strength: 6/10

Weapons:

Cyan Laser

Golden Boost

Pink Spikes

Holiday character? Improvement of the original.

2 more in base stats but not all that greatly distributed. Cyan Laser and Pink Spikes are also identical to the two.

Cyan Laser is a very fast Electric-Type attack that moves in a line. It also shoots behind you with a much slower projectile.

Pink Spike is a Heavy attack like Explosive Mines. Unlike most mine attacks, you just shoot it down 1 lane, hit anyone in its path, and then stops and actually becomes a (pink) mine.

Green Hover has a unique (but not amazing) effect of letting you choose if you want to hover above the ground, go sliding, or just run normally… Oh, we’re talking about Lucky Whisper here… Golden Boost does that and also magnetizes rings. Yay!

-Movie Tails

Stats:

Speed: 6/10

Acceleration: 10/10

Strength: 6/10

Weapons:

Whirlwind

Twin-Tail Boost

EMP Shield

So… let me get this straight… Movie Tails, who is shown to be much weaker than Movie Sonic, Has pretty much better overall stats? Hmmm…

He isn’t fast but his weapons do the trick… Heh, like it should I guess.

Whirlwind is a Wind-Type attack which means it steals rings. Okay, I guess…

Twin-Tail Boost lets you hover high, without a worry in the world.

EMP Shield is a tiny speed boost, and damage as well. If you do damage someone you Silence him; disable his items.

-Movie Knuckles

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 3/10

Strength: 9/10

Weapons:

Fearless Strike

Ring Portal

Spear Trap

Hey so let’s continue our thoughts from Movie Tails’ introduction.

So Movie Knuckles, who on almost every occasion was better than (Movie) Sonic, has the same stat total as Tails, who is not a fighter, nor has shown any special ability in the movie, besides his brains. Okay. Cool.

Fearless Strike is pretty sweet. A regular projectile that slows anyone who stays on its path.

Ring Portal is essentially “Invincibility”.

No really, it just makes you unaffected from anything your opponents throw at you… like Invincibility… I think it’s exactly what someone with 9 Strength requires.

Spear Trap puts 3 unavoidable Spears on lanes you aren’t on currently, and one that should be jumped on the lane you’re at. Pretty cool if you’re behind.

Movie Knuckles has very strong weapons and… well a boost. Apparently, Tails also has the same innate capabilities?

B TIER

-Amy Rose

Stats:

Speed: 8/10

Acceleration: 6/10

Strength: 7/10

Weapons:

Lightning

Ice Boost

Ice Mine

Ok, so the first thing to note is that Amy has a very weird combination of 1 Electric attack and 2 Ice making her quite disruptive.

Amy is one of the first characters you will unlock, and thus, shouldn’t be too strong.

Her stats aren’t very bad, in fact, once she gets going, she is hard to stop, and since Lighting can be used even when you’re ahead, you have quite an advantage.

However, she’s nothing special, and as you climb higher, more people will expect what you do, and you won’t be as effective.

Amy is a solid pick for everyone, and there are far more bad picks, but there are more that are better than her.

-Knuckles the Echidna

Stats:

Speed: 7/10

Acceleration: 4/10

Strength: 9/10

Weapons:

Fireball

Invincibility

Explosive Mine

Everyone’s favorite echidna is among the best Common rarity characters, no questions asked.

Firstly, his stats are very suited to his playstyle. He’s not the fastest, he’s not going to get going fast, but once he does, he’s not stopping.

His weapons hit hard. Knuckles is a nightmare to face if you have low strength. Explosive mines are one of the most damaging weapons in the game.

And to top it all off, he has invincibility for his boost. Since he’s not fast anyway, he gets a free period of invincibility.

If you want a character that you can pick up early and keep without losing relevance, Knuckles is the best option.

-E-123 Omega

Stats:

Speed: 8/10

Acceleration: 6/10

Strength: 7/10

Weapons:

Moto-Bug

Electro Boost

Explosive Mine

Omega is pretty interesting in the fact that he has slightly better overall stats than Knuckles, yet, is slightly worse.

There are 2 main reasons, which are mostly Knuckles’ strengths.

Omega’s yield in his stats isn’t as optimal. For example, he gets faster at a slightly higher speed than Knuckles but loses more when he gets damaged.

His weapons are also not optimal.

Electro Boost is a mediocre boost (an Electric Type) in terms of speed, that zaps opponents and attracts Rings, which isn’t as good as Omega isn’t very fast, and has high strength.

The same goes for Moto-Bug, and really, only Explosive Mines make sense here.

That does not mean that Omega is simply a worse Knuckles. If you want to emphasize on your game and not on hitting your opponents as much, then he is a far better pick, contrary to Knuckles who relies on hotting others.

All in all, Omega can be just as consistent as anyone.

-Blaze the Cat

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 4/10

Strength: 8/10

Weapons:

Fire Whirl

Fire Boost

Lava Bomb

Blaze is one of the best characters, due to her naturally high stats, as well as a great combination of weapons.

Firstly, one might notice that Blaze is using weapons of only 1 Type. That makes it easier for opponents to know what to expect.

However, Blaze is fast, strong, and hits hard.

Fire Type attacks generally are hard-hitting, but Blaze has 2 unique weapons as well, the Fire Whirl and the Lava Bomb.

The Fire Whirl is slow and hard to land, but carries on for very long, and kills many Badniks collecting a few rings on the way.

The Lava Bomb is like a single target explosive mine that deals less damage. What’s the good in it?

Well, it gets directly in the path of the opponent in front of you making it easy to land.

And when you’re first, it drops behind you allowing you to cut off important paths, or at least make them more hostile.

Blaze is very good but is missing that small oomph that could make her A-Tier.

But no one should get discouraged with playing her, especially if she is your favorite character.

-Espio the Chameleon

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 8/10

Strength: 6/10

Weapons:

Whirlwind

Illusion Boost

Illusion Mine

Espio has the same stats as Rouge, as well as 2 Illusion Type weapons, like Rouge. So why is he B-Tier and not A-Tier like Rouge (or vice versa)?

Good stats wasted on bad weapons.

Espio has among the top total stats in the game, and the yield is pretty good.

But how can you play without almost any way to hurt your opponents?

Illusion boost and Illusion Mines don’t damage your opponents, they just reverse their controls.

A good player won’t be as hindered making Espio extremely mediocre.

-Jet the Hawk

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 5/10

Strength: 5/10

Weapons:

Bashosen

Wind Boost

Tornado

Jet is the case of mediocre stats that gets extreme help from his weapons.

Jet has only Wind Type attacks that steal rings, and that work miraculously with his 10/10 speed.

Moreover, instead of Whirlwind, Jet has his (signature from Sonic Riders) Bashosen. They work like the actual Whirlwind, only they leave a trail behind them that slows anyone who is left on the trail.

Jet is very good to have, and if any of the above didn’t convince you, Jet also rides his signature board, making him gain bonus cool points.

-Tangle the Lemur

Stats:

Speed: 7/10

Acceleration: 5/10

Strength: 10/10

Weapons:

Tail Strike

Tail Spring

Tail Strike

First, they add characters from the movie, and now the comics. Not that I’m complaining, the IDW comics are awesome, definitely check them out if you have the time.

Tangle is in a weird spot. Neither his stats nor his (2) weapons are impressive unless you are really good.

As you may have noticed, Tangle doesn’t have different first and third weapons. In fact, both of these are (mini) dashes. They also hurt your opponent obviously.

His actual dash doesn’t. It does give him invulnerability though. The only difference with Invincibility is that you automatically jump when activating it.

As I said, unless you are good enough to make use of 3 dashes and almost no damage, then you will have decent success.

-Whisper the Wolf

Stats:

Speed: 8/10

Acceleration: 6/10

Strength: 7/10

Weapons:

Cyan Laser

Green Hover

Pink Spikes

Whisper is pretty decent, but that’s all she is. She has no noteworthy stats, nor any amazing weapons.

Despite the fact that Whisper is the only one who uses these weapons, they all are of an already existing type of attack with a unique twist of their own.

Cyan Laser is an Electric attack, but unlike Lightning, it just zips forward and backward from your lane. The forward one goes lightning fast while the backward goes very slow.

Green Hover has a unique (but not amazing) effect of letting you choose if you want to hover above the ground, go sliding, or just run normally.

Pink Spike is a Heavy attack like Explosive Mines. Unlike most mine attacks, you just shoot it down 1 lane, hit anyone in its path, and then stops and actually becomes a (pink) mine.

As said, nothing truly noteworthy.

-Elf Classic Sonic

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 6/10

Strength: 5/10

Weapons:

Moto-Bug

Ice Boost

Flue Shot

It’s a general rule that Holiday characters can’t be too different from their regular counterparts. Thus, Elf Classic Sonic is found in this tier.

Average stats, decent weapons, there’s really not much to say about him. I guess his best improvement is having a great third weapon.

-Slugger Sonic

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 5/10

Strength: 6/10

Weapons:

Strike Out

Home Run

Ice Mine

Slugger Sonic, along with Jet, make me wish there was an A.5-Tier, as they just make it in there. But I can’t be unfair to the rest of the A-Tier so here we are.

His stats (Strength *cough cough*) are very improved. And, as with All-Star Amy, he has the best boost in the game.

Why is he B-Tier then?

Meh first weapon, and the Ice Mines. They aren’t bad per se but compared to Amy’s Tornado which steals rings, there is a considerable difference.

That’s why he barely loses that A-Tier.

-Ice Slicer Jet

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 7/10

Strength: 5/10

Weapons:

Trap Shot

Ice Boost

Ice Mine

Ok, so, as Jet barely loses A-Tier due to stats, Ice Slicer Jet barely loses it due to items.

It’s not even that his stats are awful, in fact, Shadow has the same total.

But the weapons do nothing to help him with his “max speed” niche. They only disrupt your opponent.

Jet has nothing to be jealous of from Ice Slicer Jet, whose only saving grace is his stats.

-Movie Sonic

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 6/10F

Strength: 5/10

Weapons:

Whirlwind

Ring Portal

Zap Trap

OMG, IT’S SONIC FROM THE MOVIE!!!

Dubbed “Teen Sonic” for clarification, Teen Sonic is not as glamorous as the promotions showed him to be.

Nevertheless, Teen Sonic is pretty average and you should definitely give him a try if you liked him in the movie.

I will only talk about his Ring Portal, as hopefully, you already know about Whirlwind and Zap Trap from other characters.

Ring Portal is essentially “Invincibility”.

No really, it just makes you unaffected from anything your opponents throw at you… like Invincibility…

As I said, pretty average. If you haven’t noticed, his stats are exactly the same as Elf Classic Sonic.

(Pro Tip: You can dodge Zap Trap by sliding. You’re welcome.)

-Elite Agent Rouge

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 6/10

Strength: 5/10

Weapons:

Moto-Bug

Gold Rush

Bat Bomb

Less stat total than actual Rouge? Why?

The pairing to THK, Elite Agent Rouge (should we call her EAR for short?) is the arguably worse version.

Still sporting the Super Sonic-esque boost that drains rings, EAR has nothing else to offer.

Bat Bomb is single lane and dodged by sliding, and Moto-Bug is a classic staple.

Unless you really prefer Rouge aesthetically, choose Knuckles for this event.

-Linebacker Omega

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 4/10

Strength: 8/10

Weapons

Savage Throw

Invincibility

Brutal Barrier

Omega really gets the short end of the stick.

I mean with these stats, you’d think a holiday character would deserve better weapons. Only his unique one is worth…

Savage Throw is good… I guess. Only slides dodge it.

Invincibility is fun and all but he has 8 Strength for pete’s sake. Give him Electro Boost or a unique one like Quarterback Zavok.

Brutal Barrier is pretty fun though. It either protects you from something, or damages any enemy that comes close. Chaining these secure you won’t get hit. Then again, you do have 8 Strength but whatever…

-Sonic the Werehog

Stats:

Speed: 6/10

Acceleration: 5/10

Strength: 9/10

Weapons:

Dark Blast

Feral Dash

Storm Cloud

I really wanted to put him in C-Tier as well, just so we can grow the collection of Sonics on there. In all seriousness, the Werehog could maybe be A-Tier instead. But his stats aren’t.

Dark Blast shoots a regular projectile. The twist? If you (the player) stay on its path, you run faster.

Feral Dash is a regular dash. The twist? It damages (both the ones you touch and those close to you in adjacent lanes).

Storm Cloud is the regular Storm Cloud. The twist? Probably the fact that the Werehog uses it?

(Pro Tip: You can dodge Storm Cloud by sliding. You’re welcome.)

C TIER

-Classic Sonic

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 5/10

Strength: 5/10

Weapons:

Moto-Bug

Invincibility

Tornado

Classic Sonic is another of the characters that get unlocked early in the game.

He has weapons of three Types, an Electric variant (Moto-Bug), a unique and Typeless Invincibility, and a Wind attack.

Due to his weapons, Classic Sonic has very mediocre stats, and yet, his weapons don’t do much difference.

Invincibility, in particular, is the weakest boost in the game, with the tradeoff that you are invincible.

He is quite often used however due to being easy, both to play, and level up.

If you are good, Classic Sonic can help you climb early on, due to his speed (in combination with Tornado) and Invincibility.

He’s a very good introductory character as well, like most Common rarity characters.

-Sonic the Hedgehog

Stats:

Speed: 10/10

Acceleration: 5/10

Strength: 3/10

Weapons:

Fireball

Power Sneakers

Ice Mine

Like his Classic counterpart, Sonic has 3 different Typed weapons.

He’s (obviously) extremely fast. His Power Sneakers help him reach max speed better.

Why is he C-Tier then?

His acceleration is abysmal. The world’s fastest hedgehog.

I guess he had to be mediocre because he is the first character you play, and he is common, so it’d be unfair if he was very strong.

But seriously, it hurts to watch characters like Big and Vector having much higher acceleration than Sonic.

-Baby Sonic

Stats:

Speed: 9/10

Acceleration: 8/10

Strength: 2/10

Weapons:

Whirlwind

EMP Boost

Storm Cloud

Maybe I should rename the C-Tier to “SoniC-Tier”.

One look at his stats and you see that he’s Shadow the Hedgehog -1 in everything. Shadow’s total barely belongs in A-Tier, so it’s obvious that with -3, you’d be C-Tier.

In fact, with his most special weapon being his boost, and its special ability to briefly stun (and nothing more), plus a strength yield that leaves you begging not to be hit by a non-Illusion attack, you could argue that he should be lower; to D-Tier.

But, Baby Sonic is the first character to have an innate ability.

He’s so short, that he doesn’t have to slide where others must.

Having 1 less gameplay mechanic to worry about does have its benefits, so I guess that you could worry about not getting hit more.

SEGA did good by keeping his stats low, but I think they overdid it.

(Pro Tip: You can dodge Storm Cloud by sliding. You’re welcome.)

D TIER

-Charmy Bee

Stats:

Speed: 7/10

Acceleration: 8/10

Strength: 4/10

Weapons:

Whirlwind

Wind Boost

Tornado

Charmy has one of the worst stat combinations in the game.

He doesn’t run that fast, and if he gets hit, he starts all over again. And he doesn’t even have high enough acceleration to do that.

His saving grace; his weapons. Wind weapons deal decent damage but steal rings.

Charmy is very good if you can get an early advantage through your weapons, but if you get hit later in the stage, you can’t get back up as easily.

He is the best character to introduce you to Wind attacks, however.

Not much more to say, Charmy is predictable and slow, so even if you find him ahead, all you need to do is hit him once or twice and he’ll be done for.

-Silver the Hedgehog

Stats:

Speed: 6/10

Acceleration: 6/10

Strength: 6/10

Weapons:

Whirlwind

Illusion Boost

Tornado

Silver has the worst combination of stats, and the worst total as well period.

He has 2 Wind attacks and an Illusion boost (Illusion is also a Type). And he can’t do much with them.

Firstly, Wind attacks are relatively weak but steal rings. However, Silver is slow. The slowest character in the game more specifically.

Illusion is not good in general. It just reverses left and right controls, but if you’re good, you won’t be as confused.

There’s nothing good in Silver, and whoever made him probably wanted him to be a jack-of-all-trades, but fell really short.

Unless he gets +1 in his stats, Silver is going to be the worse (or at least one of the worst) characters in the game.

-Miles “Tails” Prower

Stats:

Speed: 8/10

Acceleration: 7/10

Strength: 3/10

Weapons:

Moto-Bug

Wind Boost

Tornado

Sonic’s sidekick shouldn’t be higher than him, right?

Jokes aside, Tails is nothing special. His stats aren’t that good.

His weapons are very suitable to both to his character and his stats, however, due to his stats, he generally falls off.

He’s also quite similar to Charmy in many aspects, but all in all, Tails takes lots of skill to play effectively.


That’s it for my tier list. Do you agree with it? Do you think someone should be placed in another tier?

If so, leave a comment down below.

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Dicey Dungeons Review

Dicey Dungeons Review

Released in 2019 by Terry Cavanagh, Dicey Dungeons is yet another dungeon-crawling card-based game like Slay the Spire but don’t assume that they are one and the same. Not at all. Dicey Dungeons is much more fast-paced than Slay the Spire for example.

I’m not here to compare though. Let’s see if Dicey Dungeons is worth its salts.

This review will have as usual a Storyline, Gameplay, Visuals, and finally, a Personal Thoughts section. Without further ado:

Storyline

The storyline is pretty simple.

6 contestants decided to play the dungeon-crawling game controlled by the main antagonist; Lady Luck. For each one, Lady Luck promises to give them anything they desire if they manage to clear all the challenges that await them. Lady Luck has them all turned into Dice.

It is revealed however that the game is rigged and you cannot win, and you have to keep playing.

The game has you playing all characters in various scenarios and challenges. Once you finish all of them, a final confrontation with Lady Luck for the chance to leave the Dungeons and turn back into humans.

Gameplay

As I mentioned, there are 6 characters. Each character is a separate class with different abilities and equipment.

The game is turn-based. At the start of your turn, you roll your dice. Every character begins with a specific amount of starting dice and gains more as they level.

Anyway, you have your rolls. Now it’s up to you to decide how to use them in conjunction with your equipment. Your equipment is your cards actually, and each one does something depending on the die you put. For example, there is the Broadsword which deals damage equal to the die you put + 2.

After that, the opponent does the same.

The equipment are usually one-time use per turn, but there are some that are usable more than once, or even an infinite amount of times as long as you the dice. Some equipment also has dice restrictions, like requiring only odd or even numbers, or a die with more than 3, less than 3, etc. Some other dice require two dice to play, and even more than that, other equipment require 2 duplicate dice for a powerful effect,

You can see the opponent’s equipment if you want, in case you want (and can) counter them using status effects, which I will talk about later.

That’s the basics of battle.

The game begins at the dungeon. You can choose where you go and which enemies you’ll fight. Enemies stand in front of objectives.

For example, an enemy might be guarding a shop or a chest that gives you new equipment. There is always at least one enemy guarding the stairs to the next floor. At the bottom floor, a boss awaits. Win the battle and you finished an episode with that character.

Defeating an enemy gives you one gold (that you can spend on shops) and experience proportional to the enemy’s level (1 point of experience per enemy level).

With enough experience, you level up gaining other upgrades, more dice, or new equipment. You also refill your health and gain more max HP.

Each class has different starting equipment and its own exclusive one. They also have their limit break that activates when they take enough damage. Limit Breaks are powerful one-turn effects.

I’ll have to note that some classes behave much differently than others. Each class is chaotically unique, which makes the game that much more fun.

About the status effects. Some of the equipment you’ll find/have and most of the opponents’ deal some form of status effects. There are many status effects, and I will not list them all, but I’ll talk about the four elemental ones to give you an idea.

Frozen X means that X number of dice will be rerolled into 1. The dice with the biggest number are chosen.

Fire X means that the first X dice you roll will have a cost of 2 HP to play.

Shock X means that X random equipment are shocked and require one die sacrifice to open.

Weaken X means that X random equipment are weakened, which means they have worse effects or restrictions on the number of dice you can put.

There are many more status conditions but I’ll leave them for you to discover. I will mention however that some enemies are strong or weak against some status conditions.

Finally, I mentioned several episodes. Each character has 6 episodes. These episodes (besides the first one) either bend rules, class mechanics or just increase difficulty altogether.

Just learning about each class and how to play them is one thing, but having to adjust to new rules keeps the game super fun and refreshing.

Visuals

The game has much more cartoon-ey VFX than what you’d expect from a dungeon-crawler. But that’s ok as we are talking about a game with humanoid dice.

Every enemy designed will tell exactly what they are based on and which status conditions they’ll be using. All in all, the VFX are very intuitive and easy to the eye.

Plus, the game is easy to run on most PCs and Laptops.

Personal Thoughts

The game is super fun and refreshing. You always have something new to do, and even when you finish the game, the replayability is there.

The game does have negatives though. For example, as with any game that relies on dice rolls, enemy high rolls, or even low rolls on your part can be fatal. There are even some fights that feel unwinnable with the equipment you may have acquired till then. But it’s all in the game.

Nothing stops you from thing again and again and again until you get your perfect build.

Final Verdict

Storyline: 8

Gameplay: 9

Visuals: 8

General Rating: 8/10

That’s it for my review guys, I hope you liked it. If you liked the game leave a comment down below and tell me what you liked the most about this game. See ya in the next article.

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The image(s) I used are from the following site(s):

www.igdb.com

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Pokemon Unite Review

Pokemon Unite Review

The latest trend in Pokemon (or MOBAs maybe?), a collaboration on probably the most profitable franchise there is, and one of the most popular genres as well.

Tencent is here to deliver Pokemon Unite, which, as stated, is a MOBA. Released for Nintendo Switch on June 2021 and then for Mobile Devices in September of the same year.

So, is it worth playing? Should you take this game seriously or casually? Is it popular because of the Pokemon franchise? Find out in this review.

Storyline

This game has (like all Pokemon games under the sun) a Professor who explains the basics to you like location and rules and the such. You know, stuff like you being on Aeos Island and the way battles work there, etc…

But yeah, no Storyline.

Gameplay

Ok, I’m gonna start by explaining basic MOBA rules here because I have a hunch that many players are preteens and actual elementary school children. Not a bad thing in itself, but Ranked queueing can be a literal nightmare when players really don’t have the slightest clue what they’re doing.

As a MOBA, this game has lanes (Top Path and Bottom Path) and the jungle (Central Area). Usually, in this game, there will be 2 Top, 2 Bot, and a Jungler (Central Path).

The game’s rules state that the team with the most points win. And how do you collect points you ask?

Throughout the jungle and the lanes, there will be wild Pokemon for you to kill capture. Each one drops a set amount of Aeos Energy that I’m gonna be calling points. The last player to hit the Pokemon gets the points. Enemies also drop points when dying.

Depending on your level, you will have a different capacity of maximum points you can carry. Indicatively, at the start, the limit is 30 points. If you are carrying the maximum amount, any wild Pokemon you defeat will drop the points to the ground for anyone to pick up. Even enemies.

Every lane has four “control points”. I’ll be calling them zones. Anyway. Each lane has four zones, two for each team. The zone closest to your base is where you’ll be scoring points. Each zone can take a specific amount of points from the enemy team before breaking. Again, as an indication, the first zones need 80 points to pop. There is also the last zone which is right outside each team’s base. That zone has no limits.

There is also the Speed Flux area. Basically, any team’s lane behind an undestroyed zone is the Speed Flux Area. That means that enemies are tremendously slowed while allies are faster. There are also two Sitrus Berries behind the first zones if they are not destroyed that are actually used for healing.

Standing in an allied zone allows you to regenerate more and gain a small shield. You have to walk to the enemy’s zones to score. If anyone trying to score is hit, he is interrupted. The more points you hold (and therefore try to score) the longer the channel required.

Also, if 2 or more allies are standing on an enemy zone, the channeling is faster. Scoring also gives some experience and healing.

Ok, so I’m gonna tell this to the youngsters I mentioned in all caps.

THE GAME IS ABOUT SCORING POINTS MORESO THAN FIGHTING!!!

Fighting is good and all but I’ve seen players who think that this game is just fun fighting and literally, NEVER EVER come even close to the enemies’ zones.

If you’ve grasped just this, trust me you can get to the higher levels.

Now to the second lesson. What MOBA doesn’t have Objectives?

I failed to mention that each game lasts 10 minutes.

On the 7 minute mark (3 minutes into the game as it counts from 10:00 to 0:00) the objectives appear. Top lane has Rotom. Bottom lane gets Dreadnaw.

In the current meta, I cannot stress how important it is for ALL teammates to go bot and take Dreadnaw. The only reason you should be staying top is that 2 enemies (2 not 1) decided to hang top to push. If not, you go bot.

Dreadnaw Gives your whole team 15%-20% of each Pokemon’s health as a shield and almost every time a full level to the whole team. Also 20 Points to the killer.

Rotom, when defeated starts heading to the nearest enemy zone. Once there, it allows any Pokemon to instantly dump dunk points no matter how many there are. Now, this might sound important, but it can be stopped as the enemy team can kill Rotom before it gets there.

Again in all caps for the children.

GO TO DREADNAW NO MATTER WHAT.

Dreadnaw and Rotom spawn every 2 minutes after their death until the 2-minute mark (8 minutes in).

Those 2 minutes remaining, or as the game calls it “The Final Stretch” are literal hell.

First things first, all points scored are doubled.

But the most important thing? Zapdos.

Zapdos spawns at the very center of the map. Whichever team kills it (90%) wins the game. Allow me to elaborate.

The team that kills Zapdos gets many points. 20 for the killer and 10 for everyone else. It also allows you to instantly score (much like Rotom) on every enemy zone. FOR 30 SECONDS. That’s 25% of the remaining game. Combine it with the fact that every Pokemon’s capacity for points at that point in the game is 50, and the team that kills Zapdos will literally score anywhere from 100-500 points. Insane numbers if you consider the fact that most teams score about 200-400 points before the 2-minute mark.

That means that any team can be leading, then they lose Zapdos, and guess what? They are unable to do something as the opponents rush to score.

That’s about the game itself. Let’s move to gameplay.

Generally speaking, the game plays out like most MOBAs; the whole lane thing, teaming up, ganging, and even jungling.

If you have already played MOBAs before you’ll probably get the hang of it in 5 or so games. If not, focus on the basics like farming and contesting farm and objectives, and soon enough you’ll also be playing well.

The only real issue here is how a full 8-minute grind to win can be ruined by losing Zappos, which can happen no matter how well you played or how fed you were.

Now let’s talk about the Pokemon themselves. All Pokemon start with one move and learn an additional move at level 4.

That’s all they have in common.

After that, each Pokemon has different evolution levels (if they have any). They also replace their old attacks with newer and stronger ones at specific levels.

You have a choice between 2 new attacks to replace each of your old ones. Later in the game, you also learn your ultimate attack, which, as with most things in this game, is super unbalanced.

Not only does your ult does something tremendous (like all ults should) but they proceed to give you a stat boost in every stat and makes you so strong that you can easily 1v3 other players who haven’t ulted.

That’s why it’s important to save your ult for the objectives.

Every Pokemon also has three battle items and one held item decided before that match.

The battle items are stat boosts and other minor gameplay effects. The held items are active and are essentially an extra minor ability.

You can also strengthen the battle items but that brings in another point. The currencies.

You have 3 different currencies. One is paid so I’ll talk about the others.

The Aeos coins are mostly used to buy new Licenses. Due to how hard it is to actually get the amounts needed, I’d suggest you hoard like a Dragonite for your favorite Pokémon releases.

The Aeos tickets can be used to buy cosmetics, battle items, or the mini-currency that allows you to upgrade your battle items. Again, hard to get, generally lots of grinding is required.

Now if you think I’m overeating, just know this. Every day you get 20 coins for being sportsmanlike, 50 for playing a game, and another 50 for winning one. 120 coins.

The cheapest Pokemon costs 6000. ‘Nuff said.

Visuals

The visuals in this game are pretty good if you ask me. The moves, the animations, the music, they all scream Pokemon fights.

It’s fortunate that this game is for Switch and Mobile players which means that no one will probably have any trouble running the game.

Personal Thoughts

The game is pretty unbalanced, from the Objectives to the Pokemon themselves. Some teammates will make you lose faith in humanity. You can have your whole efforts wasted by an unlucky Zapdos loss. The currencies are hard to get. I could go on.

But in the end, It’s still Pokemon. Something pretty crazy must happen for the players to lose interest.

Final Verdict

Storyline: –

Gameplay: 7

Visuals: 9

Final Score: 8/10

That’s it for my review. Have you played this game? Who is your favorite character? What about your favorite ending? Leave a comment below.

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Civilization VI vs Crusader Kings 3 – The Definitive Comparison

While the games might be of different genres, these 2 colossal strategy games have one thing in common; you won’t be able to stop playing as days and nights, and time in general, becomes a blur.

That said, you’re probably not gonna be playing both games consistently, it’s not about preference as it is about time.

So, if you’re a newcomer, which game is more worth your time? Find out with this comparison, where we’ll compare storylines, gameplay, and visuals.

Without further ado:

Storyline

Neither game has any storyline. Both games follow the logic of “build your own story”. In other words, what you do and the choices you make are essentially your story, because believe me, once you’re done with a playthrough, you’ll have stories to tell.

However… Crusader Kings definitely has more affinity with that. Crusader Kings is more than a simple strategy game. It’s actually an RPG as well, as you have your own character (which you can create and edit if you want), and you must keep your family’s legacy alive through heirs, as your character eventually dies.

That means that the “build your own story” is actually literal here, as every character you have will have various stats and traits, which can be changed by various random events. Talk about unique!

Gameplay

As I mentioned, the 2 games are of different genres. Let’s dig into that.

Civilization as a series has always been a 4X game. 4X games are a strategy sub-genre that goes more in-depth with every aspect of your empire.

That means that, besides managing your armies, attacks, and economy, you also have to look out for things like scientific and cultural advancement, or religion, or even how to keep your people happy and well-fed.

These aspects exist because simply put, they are essential to victory. In Civilization, you can certainly win by becoming the world’s superior power and conquering everything in sight, but there are in particular, 4 more ways to win (plus the default one if you run out of time, but that can be disabled).

By being scientifically advanced, culturally superior, a world diplomat, or by spreading your religion across the corners of the world. These, plus being a warmonger, are all the ways you can seek victory.

In fact, many different factions have different advantages that give them an affinity of some sort toward 1 or 2 of the aforementioned ways.

Crusader Kings is a grand strategy game, but with an RPG twist.

Essentially, you only win through score once the timer expires, but you could theoretically conquer everything, though that’s easier said than done.

From trying to hold your empire together (even if you begin as a county) to keeping good relations and well-managed armies, you’ll play dozens of games before you know what you’re doing.

That is a key difference between the games; while both complicated, Crusader Kings far surpasses Civilization, as you pretty much must micromanage almost everything, from people in your court and wife and tutors for your children to your council seats and vassals.

I won’t go into much detail about their gameplays lest this article becomes too big.

A word about their SFX before we move on.

Civilization has an undeniably unique and awesome soundtrack. Every country has its own theme that derives from the country’s culture and becomes more and more synthesized as you move technologically to show you this progress.

There are voice actors for every leader, and every leader speaks in the country’s native language, even if it doesn’t exist today.

Crusader Kings has an (equally) awesome soundtrack that loops as you play. If you’re a metal fan you’re in for a blast. If not, I think you should try listening to the songs anyway.

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Visuals

Civilization’s visuals are top-notch. It is, after all, considered an AAA game. Even in the lowest settings, any old PC won’t be able to run it. Most bad specs PCs may run it, but expect long-timers toward the end of the game, as it has lots to process.

Crusader Kings 3 has even better graphics this time around. Crusader Kings also feels more realistic and allows you to fully edit your character’s appearance like any true MMORPG would.

Final Thoughts

If anyone has the time to play and master both games, I urge you to do so.

However, we’re here because almost no one has the time.

Let’s get the easiest out of the way.

If you want complexity or more of a focus on your actions and choices, or if you generally want an RPG to feel to your strategy game, definitely go for Crusader Kings 3.

If you want stunning visuals (and can handle them), or more variety than just war, then Civilization VI is your choice.

For those of you that can’t decide, I’ll give you my personal experiences.

Crusader Kings is overwhelming at the start, and even as an advanced player, you still won’t have an “optimal way” to play.

In fact, as I said, you’ll hardly make it past 3 centuries at the start, as always something happens, and your family gets killed.

But the game is certainly worth it, as you can find a base strategy to survive early and learn from there.

Multiplayer is also more fun in Crusader Kings as well, in my humble opinion.

Civilization is also more complex at the start, but there is a good learning curve there, where, as you scale the difficulties, you learn more and more.

Plus, Civilization also has the aspect of map mastery. Every map is different, and you always have to think differently about how to exploit it. The same goes for the grounds within your empire.

Take these into account before deciding what to play.

If I had to decide, I’d choose Civilization if you wanna play solo, or Crusader Kings if you want to play with company and friends. As always, this is my personal opinion.


That’s it for my comparison. Have you played both games? If so, which do you prefer? You can tell me your opinions below.

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Plague Inc. Review

Plague Inc. Review

Have you ever wanted to play a strategy game that’s not all about commanding a group of people?
Whether it’d be a faction, civilization, town, and anything among these, you’ve seen it all.


Here comes your chance to play a strategy game that makes you control a disease that tries to kill humanity!
Plague Inc. Evolved, the evolution of Plague Inc. will give you a whole new challenge to tackle in this real-time strategy game.


This review, as always, will have a storyline, gameplay, visuals, and personal thoughts section. Without further ado:

Storyline

There is no storyline in this game besides the fact that you want to kill off the world.

Gameplay

As with all strategy games, you start slowly to build into something greater. However, that starting part in this case is usually the easiest. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though.


You begin by choosing your pathogen (microbe) type. Every pathogen has different strengths and weaknesses.
After that, you have to pick 5 powers called Genetic Code. Generally, Genetic Code helps you with ways to transmit your disease in various climates or get more DNA, which is this game’s resource.


Of course, not everything will be unlocked in the beginning, you have to play and win to unlock more and more Genetic Code.


Afterward, you pick your difficulty and you’re off. Of course, there’ll be a tutorial to help you with all this the first time.
So you’re off. Just need to pick your starting country and your disease starts spreading. At the start, it will be transmitting in your original country only. You’ll be getting DNA Points to spend on your disease.


DNA is the resource you use to buy upgrades. You can buy upgrades to boost one of three stats: Infectivity, Severity, and Lethality.


Infectivity is the efficiency and speed at which the disease spreads.


Severity is how bad it is. To put it bluntly, the higher the Severity, the more people will become afraid and the more scientists will seek out a cure for your disease.


Lethality is your virus’ ability to kill. It starts at 0 and most starting upgrades don’t raise it so you can stay undetected longer.


Besides these three stats, you can upgrade either a Transmission, a Symptom, or an Ability.


Transmissions are self-explanatory, they help you transmit your disease more effectively. You have to pick them wisely as some are better at transmitting at hot climates, cold ones, rural areas, urban areas, etc.


As your disease spreads more and more, you’re gonna have to see where it struggles and upgrade accordingly.


Symptoms are for Transmission as well but also increase Severity. The reason you’ll want to upgrade them is that it’s the only way to increase Lethality. Only high tiered Symptoms can increase Lethality.


Abilities are the most unique of the three choices. For the most part, they are about the same with upgrades that help in hot or cold climates and upgrades that make your disease stronger against the cure.


But every pathogen type has its unique abilities as well. I’ll let you discover that on your own.


Anyway back to the map. As your disease spreads, it’s bound to spread to other countries. Once that happens, a red bubble appears in that country. You click it and earn some bonus DNA.


Some already infected countries might also pop an orange bubble. Again, you pop it for DNA.
You also gain DNA passively by spreading your disease and killing people.


At some point, the doctors will notice your disease and start working on finding a cure. That’s where the hard part begins.


You’re gonna have to balance transmitting your disease, with making it harder to cure, with killing people to make it harder to research a cure. A dead country can’t find scientists after all.


If you focus too much on any of the above without balancing the others you’re in for a ride.


For example, if you start raising your lethality too much, the newly infected countries will start losing people faster than the rate at which your disease spreads.


Most countries will also close off their borders, airports, and ports completely. If a country has no infected people towards the end of the game, you will lose.


That’s really all the basics. It’s not that complicated once you get the hang of it.

The game also has some official scenarios that either change an aspect of the game (for example the temperatures in the countries are reversed) or allow you to play something brand new (like spreading your very own conspiracy theory).


Of course, through DLCs, there are many more things, like for example playing as the cure to name one of them.
I won’t get into too many details here as this is a review for the main game mostly.

Visuals

There’s not that much to mention the visuals either, the game’s main focus is its gameplay.
I will say however that the visuals are decent altogether. They are nothing too special and nothing too bad.

Personal Thoughts

Plague Inc. is very fun to play for sure and one of the more unique strategy games around. I highly suggest a buy if you find it on sale.

And if you ever find the disease part boring there are loads of interesting unique scenarios to keep you entertained.

If you are the completionist type expect a lot of grinding, and it’s definitely gonna require patience. The problem is that it requires quite a bit of luck in certain parts of the game, something that I hate as it doesn’t allow for any creativity or skill expression.

Final Verdict

Storyline: –

Gameplay: 8

Visuals: 8

General Rating: 8/10

That’s it for my review. Have you played this game? Who is your favorite character? What about your favorite ending? Leave a comment below.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page, and sharing our articles.