2017

I can't believe it's that time again either, the 2017 gaming review! So many games were played this year, some good, some bad, some disappointing and some surprising. So, why not pick a winner for each category? Also, there'll be a best and worst DLC too. If you see a game mentioned that has not yet had a review, they will be coming in the next few weeks. Dont forget; this is a selection of games I played through for the first time, not exclusively games released in the past twelve months. So, onto the winners (and losers) of 2017.

Best game I played in 2017 - Uncharted 4

Runners up: Shadow of War, Titanfall 2

Honestly, once I finished Uncharted 4, there was never any doubt it wasn't going to be my game of the year. Being a sucker for Naughty Dog and a huge fan of the Uncharted series, the fourth in the series not only lived up to my expectations, but surpassed them and became the best Uncharted for me. A great story, fantastic gameplay and graphics, amazing locations and mechanics. It had everything. My one criticism; why didn't they bring back Cutter?! Uncharted was only 0.2 points off equaling my current highest rated game - The Last of Us, the Magnum Opus of Naughty Dog. It's unclear if we'll ever see another Uncharted starring Nathan Drake, but I'll certainly stay hopeful. Excellent work once again.

Worst game I played in 2017 - Hydrophobia

Runners up: Walking Dead Survival Instinct, Dear Esther

Fuck me. First of all, it's part one of what was meant to be three parts, so it's not even a complete game because they never bothered to release the rest on console. Besides the aesthetic look of flowing water, this game had nothing going for it. Don't even get me started on your supposedly whimsical sidekick, who was the most annoying, poorly acted, useless character I've seen in a video game. The story sucked, the voice acting was horrendous and the gameplay was poor. Story, likeable characters and good acting is a must in any story driven game, and here, they all failed MISERABLY. The worst part was that the city you end the game in looked great, if you got to explore that in the second part it may have redeemed itself, but of course this piece of shit ends as it starts to look interesting. GARBAGE.

Most disappointing game I played in 2017 - Watch Dogs

Runners up: Life is Strange, For Honor

Pffft. All I can say is I had huge hype for this back in 2013. Watch Dogs and Quantum Break were two games I genuinely thought could be the best games ever to have come out on this generation of consoles. Both disappointed. Although I quite liked Watch Dogs overall, it was bland in comparison to my expectations. Average looking characters, repetitive, simple gameplay, unimaginative story, it was just average. Also, why does a hacker need a cliché raspy, tough guy voice? All he does is press a button on his phone, he's not Rambo or anyone. I did really like the unique ways of taking out enemies through the cameras, but it wasn't enough. The sequel looks great, but first impressions last.

I'm just gonna throw this out there too; I said in the 2016 review that my most anticipated game to play this year was Amazing Spider-Man 2, because of how much I liked the first... It fucking sucked!

Most surprising game I played in 2017 - SpeedRunners

Runners up: Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, The Escapists

SpeedRunners had no competition here, it was really difficult to come up with 'speed'runners up. (sorry) The sad thing is that I'd never have played this had it not gone free in the Games with Gold program. Hands down the most fun I've had on a game in recent years, if you've got a friend to play this with, do it. I guarantee you'll have a great laugh, I physically couldn't stop laughing my first night on this. It's fun, competitive, cool race maps, great abilities and weapons, fitting music, and there's nothing more satisfying than swinging around on the map to stay in the lead. I will 100% buy a sequel if they make one, and I pray that they do.

The new ones!

Best DLC I played in 2017 - Far Harbor (Fallout 4)

Again, there wasn't much competition. The thing with DLC for me is that it's either really bad or disappointing. This is one of the few that overcomes the DLC stigma, Far Harbor is fantastic. A whole new island, and it's huge, plus there's plenty to do. It's own story and a number of side quests, new enemies, factions and followers. If you're a huge Fallout fan like me, get this DLC if you haven't already. It's one of the few worth getting and you don't feel like they've cashed in.

Worst DLC I played in 2017 - Dark Forest (Dante's Inferno)

Jeez, wtf is this? Seriously. It's one puzzle, split into three sections, with a wave of enemies in between each section. It's even set right at the beginning of the game and has no impact on the story. Remember that guy who killed your wife at the start? Well, you're chasing him, that's the premise of the story. Oh, and it's about twenty five minutes long if you stretch it out. Yeah, they seriously wanted money for this. The puzzle itself is better than most in the full game, but who the fuck wants to pay to play a puzzle section in a hack 'n' slash game? Nobody on Earth that has a functional brain. Yet, I paid for this, so I deserved the pain I endured. 

Here's a list of games I played this year that I didn't review and my thoughts on each.

Toy Soldiers: Cold War (Xbox 360)

Toy Soldiers is a strategy game, I'm not really a fan of these kind of games, and I rushed through its campaign to say I'd done it. That's why I decided not to review it, it'd be unfair as I didn't play the way you're meant to. I like how you could actually control the weapons you planted, and even commandeer tanks and choppers, that made it more fun. The commando who could gun down everything too was fun to play. Ultimately, not my kind of game and only had it due to it being free on the Games with Gold program a few years back.

Disney Pixar Cars (Xbox 360)

ACHIEVEMENTS. That is all.

I would like to say I bought this on PSP back when the movie came out and loved it. I always felt I missed out when I heard the console version was free roam, so I felt I owed it to myself to get that version one day. I definitely didn't miss out.

Mortal Kombat X (Xbox One)

I'm not really into fighting games, but I still always buy them. I'm not sure why, I never put any effort into them and never bother trying to learn moves or master a character. I just button mash and bumble my way through the story modes. How would that be fair to review? I have always had a thing for MK though, probably the gruesome fatalities. I love Scorpion too.

Serious Sam (Xbox 360)

I love the original Doom, it's fun and the music is the best. Serious Sam is a very similar game, except better graphics and constant rushing enemies. Sam is more crazy and you're nonstop shooting. I love the mass amount of different enemies and weapons, but the music pales in comparison and the levels aren't really fun to explore. The puzzles really slow the game down and I just played through the entire game while watching videos on YouTube, paying next to no attention, so no review. I didn't even get an achievement for finishing the game when I was supposed to, so fuck you Sam!

Fable Heroes (Xbox 360)

It's a four player party game I played alone. Basically a hack 'n' slash, it's boring to play alone. It might be fun to play with others, but I doubt it'd be much better. There's something about the Fable series, I always think I love it, I loved two and three back in the day, but when I think of them, it's overshadowed by the boring combat. I'm yet to play the original in fairness, but they brought out some spin off games that didn't go too well. I'm glad Fable Legends got cancelled too, it looked crappy to me. I doubt we'll ever see Fable 4, I'm not sure if I'd like it anyway.

For another year, Last of Us sits pretty as the king of games, despite its close call this  year. There's plenty of big hitters coming out in the next twelve months and I already have some stellar games waiting to be played. Will we see a 9.6/10 or higher? It's certainly possible Hopefully more retro reviews will come out next year and possibly pick the classic game of the year. I'm planning on adding some new topics to my blog over the next few months too, so look out for them. Thanks for reading.

Happy 2018.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Xbox 360)

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is the sequel to the popular Tom Clancy series, it released in 2008.

This is a multiplayer game, that's the selling point here. A popular and enjoyable multiplayer was probably the reason most people played it. The best aspect is definitely terrorist hunt, which is a cooperative horde mode. These are the reasons to play Vegas two, it's an online shooter basically.

Now, the reason I play game; story. BLERGH. Absolutely terrible, if it wasn't coop, I wouldn't have bothered at all. I didn't think the first game was great either, but I at least enjoyed some of the campaign. Here, it's just there to add more to the game, but don't bother, seriously. Cliché, pointless and just generally shit.

Here's my main issue though, this game came out in 2008. That's one year after Call of Duty 4. Just compare these two for a second. Back when they were developing this, they must've realised that was their competition and the heights they had to reach. The graphics are ugly as fuck, the people look like test dummies dressed in SWAT gear. The controls are outdated, they were in the first game and they still didn't update it. The game is boring, weak story and bland voice acting. It's really poor and I was expecting more because I heard so many good things.

I really don't know what else to say. The multiplayer is good but it's not that popular now, terrorist hunt is by far the best and fun with friends, if you can get past the poor controls, the story should just be skipped completely. It's a short review, but in my eyes, that's all it deserves. They didn't even seem to try and beat CoD 4, it's not a surprise that it never became a trilogy and why there was a seven year gap until Siege came out in 2015.

6.3/10

Gone Home (Xbox One)

Gone Home originally released in 2013, it was released in 2016 for consoles. It is a walking simulator, featuring a girl who is returning to her family home after living away for a while.

There is no gameplay besides walking and interacting with objects. You find a note on the front door from your sister, telling you she's left home but not to worry about her. You spend the entire game discovering more about your sister's life and why she actually left.

The game looks beautiful. You feel like you're in a real home. It amazingly designed, so many small features and so well designed. The house was great to just look through. Family photos, old boxes of possessions, detailed books on shelves, there's so much detail and you won't even see most of it.

There's lots of reading involved, reading notes helps guide you around the house and you even discover a number of hidden areas around your house. You find out a lot about the characters faster too, who is a struggling author. You even find a number of post cards your character sent to the family.

The sound work is amazing and so is the voice acting. It's all done perfectly. There were two issues I had, it all felt very sinister. I really wasn't sure if this was a horror game or not, I knew nothing about it when I played it. Hearing the pouring down rain and the thunder, the fact it was night and some of the creepy rooms and secretive notes I found, I thought it was gonna become a horror or discover something disturbing, but there was none of that. It was also really short too, if you didn't explore you could easily finish in less than an hour.

It ends up being a really well told story, and a nice story at that. I couldn't help feeling let down though, not only was I expecting it to be a different genre, I was expecting something bigger to happen. Although I had a good time playing, mainly because I was waiting for something, this game doesn't really serve much of a purpose, and there's no reason to play it again. It walking, reading and small puzzle solving, but at the end you feel it wasn't worth it.

It not worth buying unless it's really cheap, if you have it already, definitely give it a go and see what you think. You'll at least get a kick out of the brilliant design like me.

6.9/10

FIFA 18: The Journey (Xbox One)

FIFA 18 unsurprisingly has continued the hugely successful Journey mode, following Alex Hunter's story one season at a time is a really good way to approach it and I hope it continues. Spoilers ahead.

The story continues where you left off in the first season. At a very young age Hunter is considered a future star and rumours of Real Madrid making a move to sign him. The rumours get to his head, and even though the club you originally chose to sign for, Hunter suddenly no longer cares and just wants to move to Madrid.

Ultimately the move fails. Hunter has gone down the pecking order after seeking a move to way. He is told he'll be playing in the reserve team to earn his place back. I was happy because I got to stay at the club I chose and thought they were setting up a story of redemption. Sigh. If only that were the case. Hunter gets wind that LA Galaxy are in for a loan deal for him. The next big thing in football goes to America at the age of 18? What were they thinking? Players go to America at the end of their careers.

You spend the first half of the Journey in America trying to win the cup competition, not even the league. I really struggled to stay invested. Leaving the Premier League, the most exciting league for me, to go to the American league which is poor in comparison. While in America, Hunter's father who helped seal the move to Galaxy is now back in his life. Things drastically change as Hunter finds out he has a younger half sister. Like Hunter, she herself is an up and coming young American soccer player making her debut for the national team. I thought this was great, I thought it was even better when we got to play as her for the game.

I didn't enjoy my time in America at all, the highlight was certainly playing as Hunter's half sister and she begins to make a name for herself, and seeing the two start to form a relationship with each other. The cheesy relationship between Hunter and Thierry Henry went on too long, the needless cameo from an NBA star, just to link EA's games together. I play FIFA because I like football, I don't like Basketball, yet they're throwing it in your face during a football game. We should have been given a choice of America or playing in the reserves.

After our time in America, forget about going back to your old club. You do get the choice between three top clubs this time at least. Athletico Madrid, (Spain) Bayern Munich, (Germany) and PSG (France). I chose PSG as they had some huge stars like Neymar and Mbappé (even though he was still at Monaco because of the slow update). A great feature was we were told we needed a strike partner and given a choice of three brilliant players to sign, Dele Alli,  Antoine Griezmann and Thomas Muller. I chose Alli, so him and Hunter had the English pairing and both future stars.

It started to pick up when we moved to a big club, the partnership idea was a welcome addition too. I enjoyed making sure to link up with my new partner as much as possible. Once again you're knocked out of the Champions League, I assume they are saving that and the World for the next game.

After a very short time at your big club, Hunter is hit with a two month injury, his first major injury. It was a good idea, and a good way to keep you playing football even when Hunter couldn't, was to go and play as your best friend, Danny Williams, who now plays for your original club as he was signed as your replacement. He's struggling and you're given a choice to play as him and save his career. I honestly don't know why it's even a choice, why wouldn't you? See? They're capable of giving you a choice, just not when they force you to America. What happened to Harry Kane though? He was the big signing in the first year and he's no longer at your club. There wasn't even any mention of that, just like they pretended it never happened. It shouldn't have ever happened for the record.

My biggest issue with the Journey now, thanks to this year, is that we have played for four different teams in two years. At the age of 18, he's moved about too much. The next couple of FIFA's they need to have you stay for the big club you've just signed for, but will they commit to that? I'll be surprised, you should've stayed at your original club much longer.

If I stay at PSG the whole season and we get a crack at the Champions League, I'll be happy, maybe even an attempt at the World Cup seeing as it'll fall into that year. Keep up the amazing off the pitch story, the relationships between the characters and the performances really are fantastic. Just stop making me change teams constantly. Also, thanks for actually making the good players start this time, I was sick of playing every game with the reserves in the starting eleven. If you could update the squads quicker for the Journey too, so I don't have to play a season with someone who's already left the club, that's be nice.

7.1/10

Spec Ops the Line (Xbox 360)

Spec Ops released in 2012 and was a game I was left wanting from the moment I saw it. It's a third person shooter set in Dubai.

You play as Martin Walker, sent on a scouting mission for survivors after deathly sandstorms hit Dubai. Sent in with Delta squad members Adams and Lugo, their journey to Hell begins. This is a shooter, but it's got a real story, it's shockingly good and has some intense themes.

The landscape is beautiful, it would've been nice to explore the area of Dubai, but it's not that time of game. As shooters go, there's nothing new here really, good mechanics with cover and guns, you're able to crouch down while using a turret and there's a nice supply of weapons. You can use sand as a weapon too, sand trapped behind glass is a great way to dispatch of enemies as the sand sweeps like an avalanche.

Delta squad are toyed with throughout the entire game, by the man on the radio, the voice of the rogue unit occupied in Dubai. Often during your gun battles, he plays fitting music and pumps up the action scenes very well. The three man team must battle with the dangerous locals, as well as the 33rd battalion, who have taken over Dubai and exiled the failed coup members. There is a fantastic twist that is hidden throughout and some very heavy scenes. Story was the focus and they done a brilliant job.

There are choice you can make during the story, ultimately they don't change the outcome of the story or make a big difference during, but they make you think of the consequences. The graphics of the environment are fantastic, amazing sun glare and the sandstorms do a great job of making you feel claustrophobic and blind. The facial graphics aren't too bad either, but the voice acting is sublime. Hearing the tone of your team's feelings change is extraordinary, and how their relationship changes through this devastating journey.

There are very few stealth sections, they let you use a silencer but they're far too frequent. You can also do melee takedowns on downed enemies, but there's little point as they won't be getting back up anyway. You have to play on hard before you can unlock the fourth difficulty, Fubar. It's annoying I couldn't try on the hardest difficulty, but hard was certainly challenging at points, but definitely doable.

I don't want to go into the story too much, because it's worth exploring and it's an excellent story in a game where you wouldn't expect it. This was one of my top games back in 2012, and it still holds up today. If you missed this one, go back to it because it's worth it.

8.2/10

Titanfall 2 (Xbox One)

Titanfall 2 is the sequel to one of the biggest current multiplayer shooters. Released in 2016 and unlike the first, we have a campaign this time. A real fucking campaign.

It's best to start with multiplayer here, it's like the first fun and exciting, good to play with friends, a couple new modes and features. There's a health bar above enemies so you can see how close they are to death. The smart pistol has been removed from the online which is a shame, but I get it and they've also removed weapon challenges, which is my favourite way to earn XP and explore the different guns. Anyway, no matter what I say about the multiplayer you're probably still gonna play it, and you should, so enough about that.

If you played the original Titanfall, you'll know there wasn't a campaign, even if they did try to pass off that multiplayer mode titled 'campaign' as one, but after playing it, you could see how amazing the universe was with all the crazy creatures and things going on in the background that it had huge potential for one. Thankfully they gave us one this time, and it's pretty fucking good. I've always written off multiplayer shooter campaigns because of the decline of Call of Duty's campaigns and Battlefields recent weak attempts. I immediately thought it'd just be a throw away story, but it's really not.

You play as Jack Cooper, a rifleman for the IMC, while on a mission with his captain, they are attacked by the Militia and captain Lastimosa is killed. Before he succumbed to his injuries, he passed control over to Cooper to his Titan BT-7274. Cooper isn't an official pilot and has always wanted to be one, Lastimosa had been giving him pilot training behind closed doors. Cooper and BT have to continue the fight between the IMC and Militia, as well as Cooper learning to be a real pilot and together they build an incredible relationship. BT is adamant that he won't lose another pilot and will do everything he can to keep his new operator alive.

The relationship that builds between Cooper and BT is amazing, especially when it's in a game that originally never had a story and that BT is a machine. He really does care about Cooper's well-being and as a player, I cared a lot about BT. It was surprisingly emotional at times and is great how you can do everything in the multiplier as well as the campaign, the wall running, deploying and controlling a titan, cloaking, it works well.

During the campaign you'll face a number of bosses, each boss is unique and only one or two were not up to scratch as the stronger villians. Each boss has a different titan, so each boss fight is different. Playing the campaign on Master difficulty was incredibly tough, it got much easier as I got used to it, but the Viper boss fight was one of the tougher sections I've played in a game in recent years. During the campaign you pick up cores for your titan, which unlock a new special power. You can only have one active core and have to build up momentum before you can use it, but switching cores is instant.

There is a fantastic mission where you pick up a device that lets you switch between two timelines; past and present. You're navigating your way through a research facility and you have to keep changing through time to make your way through, as the way could be blocked in the present, but clear in the past. Enemies and creatures can attack you in one timeline, but switch and they'll be gone, it's a great way of regenerating your health if you get close to death. The boss fights are also a highlight, they toy with you during your missions and then when it comes to the confrontation, they get really intense and you feel good when you overcome them. (Especially on master difficulty)

You can disembark from your titan whenever it's convenient. There are plenty of times where you're separated from BT, but it's pretty well balanced between being on foot or in your titan. There are also health crates for your titan for when you're on low health, usually at the boss fights. The relationship also gets fleshed out more between the two, they talk to each other a lot, which really adds so much more, it's even better when you get the option to respond and ask BT questions, I loved their interaction. There's also a nice return near the end of the smart pistol, it automatically targets a huge number of enemies and kills all targets in one shot. It was nice to see it back in what was almost a cameo.

I'm so surprised how good this campaign was, without a doubt one of the best first person shooter stories I've ever played. If you're a multiplayer gamer, stop for a moment and give it a try. If you're a single player gamer and haven't tried it yet, get to it! Titanfall three, bring it on and keep up the stellar campaign.

8.3/10

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor - Game of the Year Edition (PS4)

Shadow of Mordor is the first in a new series developed by Monolith, set in the world of The Lord of the Rings. Released in 2014 and the clue is in the game's title; it's just that, my game of the year in 2014.

You play as Talion, a Gondorian warrior. He is killed alongside his wife and son by Sauron. He is revived and linked to an Elven smith who forged the one ring. Bound together, the only way Talion stays alive, the two seek revenge against Sauron and work to bring the forces of Mordor down.

While playing SoM, I felt it was heavily inspired by a number of quality games, Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Batman Arkham series where they use a similar combat system. All these stellar franchise built into one, plus it's own and best feature; the nemesis system. I don't think there's a better brand new feature than this.

The nemesis system and how it works. It tracks orcs and presents them in a table. Captains dominate the screen, the higher up and stronger orcs are warchiefs and are at the top of the table. Each orc has its own unique name and personality, they also have their own strengths and weaknesses. That can be anything from being immune to certain attacks or even running in terror at the sight of a beast that walks through Mordor. What makes this system so good, is that any orc can be implemented. If you're fighting a bunch of grunts and one manages to get that last hit and kill you, he gets prompted to a captain and gets his own name, strengths and weaknesses. Orcs will always replace the dead ones and means that it can go on forever if you enjoy playing the game. Myself, I found the system addicting and loved it.

As Talion has already died and is now bound to the Eleven Smith, Celebrimbor, he is banished from death and cannot be permanently killed. This means you can die, but you'll always come back to life. An orc killing you is how they get promoted to captains and replace dead ones. If an orc kills you, you will be given a side mission to get your revenge. There are a number of side missions that let you attack other captains, there are even mission that involve multiple captains trying to kill each other. Orcs aren't not so friendly to each other and will often attack each other to increase their chance of becoming a warchief. Every time an orc survives or escapes a side mission, their level increases and they become tougher to beat.

The story is definitely interesting and it's great to be back in the world of Middle Earth, but the missions I found boring when they weren't relevant to orcs and the nemesis system. When I was with the side characters and freeing slaves, I felt deflated and just wanted to stop playing, I wanted to try and kill captains and the orc side missions, there way more fun. The story involves a lot of captain and warchief missions though, so don't worry. Torvin the dwarf has the worst missions, his are all about hunting the wildlife, but he's definitely one of the most interesting side characters. The best side character is Ratbag, a small and weak looking orc, he helps you and in return you help him build his way to the top of the orc clan. The story is far too short and they also throw in Gollum to remind you you're playing in the world of Lord of the Rings.

There's also mission to upgrade your sword, dagger and bow. You unlock runes for each which give off bonus against orcs. There are also liberation missions to free captured slaves. It's open world, there's a lot of empty zones, but there are also plenty of enemy camps filled with orcs, a great way to get around is by taming the wildlife. There are Caragors, which are similar to Sabertooth Tigers and Graug's, which are like giant Cave Trolls, both can be tamed and ridden for faster travelling. There are also Ghul's, they are like small, wild orcs and attack ferociously. There are also collectables and hunting/flower challenges.

So, the combat is similar to the Batman Arkham series. you can use your bow and sword, the dagger is for your stealth. Stealth is pretty easy, you can crouch walk very close to enemies and be fine. You can do attack from ledges and from above to ground targets too. You can also hide in bushes and attract enemies to bring them  to you or lure them away. The stealth works well. You can build up combos and counter attacks, ground takedowns, stealth takedowns. When your combo flashes red, you can do an execution which instantly kills an enemy, besides a captain unless it's a weakness of theirs. There's lots of upgrades too, your red combo can do a number of things if you've chosen the right upgrades. You also have wraith vision, which acts as detective mode and you're also able to recruit orcs and have them on your side fighting for you by branding them. The game of the year edition also includes the DLC's which I've reviewed recently.

This was my game of the year in 2014, it's an amazing first game in what is now a franchise and if you don't appreciate the nemesis system, you really have tried it out enough. It can easily keep you playing the game long after you finish the campaign, you really do grow attached to orcs, even the ones that try and kill you.

8.8/10

Retro Review: Simpsons Hit and Run (PS2)

My first Retro Review with many more to come in the future. Retro Review's in my eyes will be pre-Xbox 360/PS3 generation. Instead of just scoring them on how good they are, I'm scoring each game out of 5 on how well they hold up today.

Simpsons Hit and Run released in 2003 and was developed by Radical Entertainment. This is a game I've always held in high regards, being a big Simpsons fan growing up I played this a lot. It's a GTA clone, more friendly to a younger audience and starring the Simpsons, sounds great, right?

The game spans seven levels, most levels have a new area of Springfield to explore and every level you change character. Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge and Apu are all playable (Homer and Bart star in two levels). Each level you're free to explore by your own means, and it's worth doing. There's lots of detail and you'll recognise so much from the show. Even better, you can enter some of Springfield's well know locations like Moe's and the Kwik-E-Mart. You'll also find lots of your favourite characters out and about too. There's a mass amount of vehicles and you'll remember seeing most of them, the Plow King and Marge's Canyonero are just a couple for you to drive.

Each level has seven missions, most missions are racing, destroy a vehicle and collecting items on foot and in vehicles. There's plenty of missions and most are fun. As well, each level has four races, doing all four will unlock a new vehicle. Each level has three costumes for you to wear relevant to each character and straight from the show. There's lots of collectables to pick up, cards featuring an item from the show, coin boxes and mechanical wasps for you to destroy.

The driving is perfect, easy to control and really fun to do a. Doing bad things will cause the police to chase you down. Fighting, driving into people and smashing objects around the world all contribute. The fine is fifty coins if you get caught. You'll need your money to buy new vehicles and outfits, so drive safely! Each level also has a special mission, featuring a character from the show who gives you a task and you'll unlock their vehicle.

There's so many secrets, hidden areas, gags that are taken from the show and even a zombie level as the final level. Some of the most fun levels are the destruction ones, there's something so satisfying about smashing into a car and blowing it up. Careful though, bang up your own car too much and you'll blow that up. Not to fear though, as you can go to a phone booth, which is where you spawn your vehicle's, and there you can pay a small fee to repair your car. The racing missions can be frustrating, sometimes you feel you did everything you could to win and still come up short.

14 years later, I played Hit and Run and went through all seven levels. I loved every minute on my return. I had as much fun on this as I did over a decade ago. This game easily holds up today, if you never played it, why? Go get it! All we need now is a remaster and a sequel.

5/5

Battlefield Hardline (Xbox One)

Battlefield Hardline released in 2015, it's overall theme is cops and robbers, and for an online multiplayer, it's got great potential!

So, the reason everyone plays Battlefield... Campaign! I'm not gonna got into the plot much. Did you see that old cop movie? The one where the good cop gets framed because he isn't a dirty cop, so after his prison stint he decides to get revenge and bring down the corruption? There's hundreds of them, and thanks to Hardline, there's more! Cliché story equals bland.

The graphics are ok, the facial detail looks great, but the faces on the bodies looks awful. It just doesn't look good at all. Some of the characters are likeable and the voice acting well done, but most other characters are one dimensional and you've seen a thousand times in movies. The angle of being a cop is awesome, and surprisingly it's not something video games do much. Cop chases and arresting is cool, although cuffing criminals gets repetitive eventually.

The stealth is ok, it works most of the time but it's very finicky. You can get stun guns too for the cop approach. You can use a scanner to search for evidence and complete side tasks, but the scanner sucked, it was very poor at detecting objects and was always a chore to use. For some reason there are out of bound zones in the story just like the multiplayer. Instead of letting you walk out the map, use invisible walls like most games. I'd rather that than get stuck out the map and then killed by leaving the area. The missions can really drag, although some are fun. The humour is so flat, but credit for trying, it didn't take itself too seriously.

So the real reason people play Battlefield, the multiplayer! So there's new modes for the cops and robbers theme; Heists is easily the best mode and it's ridiculously fun. The robbers must break into vaults, while the cops defend the areas. Blood Money has players pick up money and take it to their areas, most money wins, you can also steal money from their area and players. Hotwire has players find cars and drive them around while you rack up points, the longer you drive the more points. It's practically vehicle combat and really fun when you have a small army in your vehicle. Other times it can be boring, all players can be just driving around with no gun battles at all. The other two modes were completely dead and I couldn't get in a match.

This game really just feels like an expansion. After playing this, I feel terrible for everyone who paid full price. The story isn't worth playing and although the multiplayer is fun, only Heists is worth doing. Take out Heists and put it in the next Battlefield, don't make a full game around one mode! 

I got this game dirt cheap and all the DLC for free, that was definitely worth it, but when I remember this was a full price game and a season pass, it's criminal. Get to fuck EA, and remember you wouldn't be where you are without us gamers. Don't fuck us over.

7.1/10

Splinter Cell Double Agent (Xbox 360)

Splinter Cell Double Agent is the fourth game in the franchise, it originally released back in 2006. I've never played any of the original trilogy but don't worry, I own the HD trilogy for PS3, but I think it's worth mentioning for this review.

So I first played this back in 2009, me and a friend completed it playing in turns. I didn't remember much from back then. This time I played all the way through on my own, one thing I can say; this game feels really old. It's not aged that poorly, but the controls have a lot. Playing this on hard and trying to get to grips with the control scheme doubled the already challenging difficulty.

Sam Fisher is given a new assignment, going undercover as a terrorist for the JBA organisation. Although he's already a spy, you can make choices of how the story plays out. Do you risk cover and stick to National Security Agency or do you blend in and follow the terrorists plans all the way through.

The stealth is really good, it's certainly imported in the more recent years, but for over a decade old, I enjoyed it. There's lots of items to help you get through missions, smoke grenades, thermal vision, they're all pretty useful. You can turn off lights using your secondary fire on the pistol. Using guns isn't that great. If you get discovered and find yourself in a gun fight, I'd just restart, the gameplay isn't up to scratch for that. The platforming is the same level as stealth, works well and fun to play.

There's optional objectives that add more to the game, the story isn't too long, but finding and stealthy path can take a lot of time. I thought the lock picking sucked, the hacking was slightly better but neither was fun. One huge flaw for me was the lack of tutorial. I struggled to play the game because of the controls and I didn't know if I was picking locks right, I had to look online at how to do it. It was a huge negative.

Even though there are different choices to make, I wouldn't really say there's much replayability. In my eyes there's no reason to play through the game again, unless you really liked it. Once was enough for me. Love the current Splinter Cell series, it's been four years since the last, so, you know, hurry up!

6.4/10

Battlefield 1 (Xbox One)

Don't be fooled by the name, this isn't the first in the Battlefield series, its name is based on the fact the game is set during World War 1. Released in 2016, Dice continue their hit series once again.

Battlefield's priority has always been the multiplayer, but let's put that on hold for now. The campaign is really mini campaigns. Each one has a different protagonist and they're set at different points during the war. The intro is fantastic, you play as all different people and if you die you don't fail, you just keep getting put as a different soldier. The point of it is that not everyone lives, this is a war and people will die.

I won't talk about each campaign too much, just the highlights. Through Mud and Blood is one of the best campaigns, it's vehicle based, but does have plenty moments on foot. You're in a small team in a tank, and you get to know your crew. Your team struggles to survive and features a bunch of tank battles. Definitely the most explored story.

Friends in High Places is probably my favourite campaign. Again it's vehicle based as you play as a pilot who has lied his way into the air force. The flying mechanics are perfect and it's so fun to play. It's not always in a plane like the previous campaign, there's a gun fight on top of a blimp and some great wars in the skies.

Avanti Savioa is a very short campaign, Luca is dressed in heavy armour and seems unkillable as he runs out in the open and guns down his enemies. As the story goes on, an older Luca is telling his daughter the story as he searches for his brother.

The Runner is another strong campaign, you play as an Aussie Runner, who's job is to deliver messages to other squads filled with vital information to warn or inform of enemy tactics. Bishop works alongside an eager rookie who gets into trouble and Bishop must find him and the other captured soldiers.

Nothing is Written is the worst by far in my opinion, I didn't enjoy it much. We play as Zara, the only female playable character, who works for T.E Lawrence as they drive back the threat of the Ottoman. There's plenty to keep you entertained in single player and it's worth trying, even if you're a die hard multiplayer only when it comes to Battlefield.

Obviously, the multiplayer is great. Old and new game modes, there's plenty. Operations is my favourite mode, the matches can be very long. Similar to Rush, one team has limited respawns and must take two objectives and continue to take two objectives each time they take them. War pigeons is another new mode, each team must capture the pigeon and defend the player as they prepare to send a message to signal an artillery strike to win the game.

The multiplayer is fun and addictive, the maps are brilliant, sandy deserts, muddy trenches, really well made. Another way to earn points is to give out squad orders to your online squad, asking them to attack and defend points, successfully completing orders rewards you XP. You're able to also ride horses online, an extra new vehicle for your matches.

The menus are slow and unresponsive at times, frustrates you before you even play. When you join your friends squad online before joining a match, you're not entirely sure you're teamed up. When they find a game with you in their squad, you're not automatically taken to the same game, you're given a small prompt telling you to join your friend. I often missed it as it never stayed and regularly joined a game well after my friend had started. Just put us in the match at the same time, the loading is ridiculous and the game can come close to ending while you wait! Another dumb thing still in the series is pausing the game to look at the scoreboard. Everyone wants to see how they're doing, so why make it a longer process? It should be a quick motion and it used to be a quick motion of pressing the back button. Change it back, it's functional.

Battlefield 1 is a brilliant game, a good campaign and an excellent multiplayer. I'll be surprised if Call of Duty can keep up in the coming years. For online shooters, keep it Battlefield.

8.3/10

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (Xbox One)

Brothers released in 2013 and was ported to the Xbox One two years later. It featured in the Xbox Game Pass, and seeing as I liked it back on the 360 I thought I'd play it again on my free trial.

The story features two boys, Big Brother and Little Brother. Together they work as a team on their adventure as they try to get medicine for their ill father. There is no dialogue, the characters speak in the own language and there's no translation for us.

There is a unique gameplay mechanic, each thumb stick controls each brother, so you can move them at the same time. As well as the sticks, the left and right bumper works for each corresponding brother. It works surprisingly well, it takes a little time to get used to but it works so well.

I won't spoil too much of the story, but you're taken to so many beautiful places on your adventure. You meant so many fascinating characters, giant birds, trolls, turtles and many more.

The game looks friendly but it has lots of dark themes, kidnapping, suicide, betrayal, death, it can get really heavy at times. It's a wonderfully told story, but has extreme levels of emotion. It's a story you'll remember long after you've played it.

The mechanics, the story, the graphics, the emotion, the power, you'll remember it all. The best way to describe this game is memorable. I'll never forget it and how good it is. The problem is that it's so short, literally two hours long which is a big shame. The length allowed the developers to really polish the game, but two hours is always too short for a game.

There are great puzzles to be solved and really well made, there's a great way to climb a tower were you're tied together and you swing from each other to manoeuvre. There's plenty of interactions when you meet people, and they're always worth talking to. The only problem I ran into while playing, was when I died I got stuck in an infinite load screen, and my progress never autosaved despite it saying it did. I never faced that problem again, but I decided to play the whole game in one sitting to be safe.

This is worth playing for anyone who hasn't already, I've played it twice now and both times it was brilliant. Give it a try.

7.8/10

Hitman (Xbox One)

Hitman (2016) is the sixth game in the series developed by IO Interactive. They decided to go with a strange approach this time around, a triple A title going episodic... This isn't Telltale, but Square Enix also publish Life is Strange, maybe this is their new approach.

Hitman has six episodes and a couple of special episodes. The first episode has a training mission, a small mission and then the main mission in Paris. The next five episodes have a big mission, and the two special episodes have a couple of smaller missions. There's a decent amount of content in fairness, and they're really well made as usual. It doesn't feel like a triple A game though, I don't know if it's because it's episodic, there just doesn't feel like there's enough for the price. Hitman is a great game, but even your first time through a mission you can do it quickly, but there's an incredible amount of replayability.

There are now 'opportunities', they offer unique ways to take out targets or set up events to take out a target, there's a bunch per mission. I really liked them, they were great to try, but I felt they made the game to easy. The marker could point you straight to a weapon or a certain room and make you do difficult tasks easy. At the same time, some of these would be incredibly difficult to ever find out on your own just from playing, so it's 50/50 the way I feel about them.

It looks fantastic, it really does. For the amount of people on screen it runs smoothly. The beautiful environments you're taken to through your assassinations, there's so much to explore, there's so many challenges and disguises, so many ways to take out your targets. It's content overload. You have instinct mode, which is similar to detective mode from the Batman series, it works in a similar way and is a huge help in completing missions. There's a quick save function which is a godsend in a game like Hitman.

Unlike Hitman Absolution; if you wear a disguise to someone else in the level, they won't all immediately discover you. Only people in the same outfit with a circle above their head can spot you. Like Absolution; Contracts are back. The ability to create your own missions and play ones other players have made. I'm not a big fan of Contracts though, they are great but I prefer to play the main missions.

Hitman has a story that doesn't really engage you, they link the missions together, but I don't play Hitman for story, no one does, although Absolution had an interesting one. Most of the cutscenes feature people you have never seen before and don't know if they're even relevant. When cutscenes played excluding Agent 47 and Diana, I felt like I was playing a different game all together.

After you've completed a mission you can replay them and there's loads of reasons why you should, you're able to pick a starting location, starting disguises and even your load outs like the old days. These make the same level different every single time you play. The main levels take you to Paris, Sapienza, Marrakesh, Bangkok, Colorado and Hokkaido. Each level is brilliantly made, beautiful to look at and fun to explore. Hitman 2016 also keeps in the light humour the previous games have had, making it even better to explore for these moments.

I'd be interested to see if the next Hitman game continues the episodic format, I'm inclined to say it will as a Game of the Year version has recently released to my surprise. It is an excellent game in all fairness, the quality has definitely stepped up, but the amount feels like it's taken a hit. I'm worried for gaming as we are being charged more for less and it's a current problem. I'm also not a huge fan of episodic games, I was only into Telltale doing it, not triple A games, this can't become the next gaming trend. Anyway, despite it being episodic it's a great game.

8.1/10

Before I go, stop making Hitman films. This series doesn't work as a film. STOP.

Beyond Good and Evil HD (Xbox 360)

Beyond Good and Evil released back in 2003, I never played it on PS2 but I always wanted to. I jumped at the chance to play the HD version on 360 that released nine years later.

I love these kind of games. One of my favourite genres, I grew up on them. Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, they don't make games like this at that level anymore. A cartoony, action-adventure game set in its own universe and has its own creatures. Unique world's with so many possibilities.

We play as Jade an investigative reporter, with her uncle Pey'j a pig-man. The two are involved with the resistance who plan to overthrow an alien conspiracy threatening their world. You meet some interesting characters through your journey and explore some fantastic areas.

It looks great, a remake 9 years later. It looks sharp. The combat is pretty boring, but the game makes up for that with its exploration and story. You can drive across the waters and later fly through the skies, they're fun to travel in. There's plenty of secrets to discover and even merchants to barter with.

During your travels you can discover pearls, they are a form of currency in the game. There's races for you to try and even some minigames for you to play with the locals. You can even subscribe to the news, you'll get notifications about what is happening in the Hilly's world. One big problem was that you were never really introduced to the villains. Besides a video on loop of the leader, I think you see him in two parts and one is the final battle, I felt they needed to be fleshed out more to influence you. The final boss battle is so frustrating, they flip the controls on you and it's difficult to grasp. Right is left, left is right, FUUUUCK.

This world and its inhabitants are amazing, there's just limited things to do, it feels like it's missing a lot. It's semi open world but it's linear, exploring is fun but there's not much to look out for. A big open world and plenty of things to do is certainly needed for the next game, take advantage of this extraordinary world.

This is a great game, the prequel that was finally announced at E3 this year looks incredible. Just the emotion and love the developers had announcing the sequel after so long shows how much they care about this game. I'm expecting big things and I'm counting down the days to when it's finally released.

7.5/10

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Xbox One)

Welcome to the 100th review! I know it's not a spectacular game for it, but let's see why.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a movie based game, that includes very little of the actual movie. I thought the second movie was better, but I think the first game is the stronger one. 

Movie games are often bad, this one doesn't even have the cast or their likeness from the film, so why even have the film's name? Kingpin is the main villain, he wasn't in the film this game is based on in case you didn't watch it. I like the way this and the first game have their own story and have elements from the movies, but they may as well be their own thing. It's even worse that they set up a third game, but obviously this franchise is no longer around and we have a new Spider-Man.

The swinging is better, I hated it at first. The left trigger controls your left hand and right trigger is your right, so you can aim your swinging and make it easier to manoeuvre with each hand. The stealth is way worse, it's been dumbed down to the point where it doesn't work. You have to go about five feet behind an enemy to stealth attack, you're Spider-Man! The guy who can shoot webs far away! Why do you need to be so close? So many glitches that make the game look cheap as fuck.

When you finally have a showdown with Kingpin, it's not over. You're then thrown into boss fights on after the other. The pacing is way off. Here's how it goes; Kingpin fight, Electro fight, Goblin fight and finally, Carnage fight.... Electro appears twice in the whole game and the second time is the boss fight, he's the main villain in the fucking film!

There's very little improvement in the graphics, they still suck ass. The voice acting is ok, I like the voice actor for Peter Parker, he reprised his role. The cutscenes look ridiculous, the way Spider-Man moves in the m is annoying, he's so over the top you have to just skip them, he moves too move and it looks awful. like the amount of villains that feature, Kraven and Shocker show up too, they are just bundled in poorly near the end. There's a bunch of new costumes to wear while you play, most are terrible, but the Carnage-Spider-Man is awesome. 

The story is quite lengthy, not overly long to be fair. There's a bunch of side missions, but once you've done one, you feel you've done them all. Spidey sense is useful, but there's no reason to keep playing once you finish the story. The game sucks. I was looking forward to it, I enjoyed the first game even though it wasn't great, but this one wasn't fun, it was a chore. Spider-Man games have always been fun for me, this is the first one I've played that has failed.

Fuck this game and give us Insomniac's Spider-Man game, it's going to be Batman Arkham tier.

6.3/10

The Evil Within: The Executioner DLC (Xbox One)

The Executioner is the final DLC for Evil Within. It's a stand alone story that puts you in the shoes of the infamous Keeper, one of the deadliest and creepiest of all the bosses.

An unseen man enter the STEM, he takes the form of the Keeper, and is on the lookout for his daughter. He only has the girls diaries to follow in his search, and comes up against plenty of foes, familiar ones at that.

You play in first person, which is very strange. You walk slow and you clip on everything, the Keeper's frame is so big. It can be frustrating to play. It's non stop fighting, you fight small waves of enemies and ultimately a boss. Overall, you're fighting your way towards the next boss fight. Some of the bosses include one of the giants, Joseph and even our old friend, Sebastian.

You pick up coins that you can spend on upgrades for your health, speed and capacity of equipment. Melee combat is your primary weapon. You also have throwable items and can also grab and throw enemies.

It's pretty boring and slow, if you like the dull, constant combat, you'll enjoy it. But why would you? It's basically an homage to an iconic character from the original game. I mean how weak is the story? A random guy, no name and faceless, looking for his random daughter? You can tell a lot of effort went into that... pass on this, unless you bought the season pass.

2.4/5

The Evil Within: The Assignment/The Consequence DLC (Xbox One)

The Assignment DLC is the first of two parts to the story of The Evil Within character, Kidman. It delves more into her part of the story, during the original game.

If you played Evil Within, you'll know that Sebastian's detective friends, Joseph and Kidman go missing quite often, this content tells Kidman's story.

Only two chapters long, the story starts with Kidman getting her briefing from the Mobius company, who want Leslie, as their new STEM project. Kidman's goals our different to Sebastian and Joseph's when they go to investigate the murder. The story starts from the beginning of Evil Within and spans the majority of the story.

The story intertwines with the original game and a lot of scenes will be familiar with you and you'll even cross paths with many faces you've seen before. The game is more stealthy too, in fact you don't even have a weapon and you have health you can only regenerate by standing still. You have to sneak and hide to manoeuvre through enemies, you can even lure enemies by whistling, but I didn't use it much, mainly because the one time I did, the Haunted came right to me and killed me.

The whole time it was dark, you couldn't see much but your torch was very handy. There was a cool way to dispose of enemies, by locking them in rooms, but it wasn't utilised much. The invisible enemies from the original game appear too, but your torch lights them up, so they're a lot more bearable this time.

The best part for me, was The Shade, or the Light Lady, as I called her. She was literally a tall pair of woman's legs in high heels, dressed in a sort of cloak and a spotlight acting as her head, if you were caught in her headlights, run for your life. She was well designed as creepy as fuck. She knew your name and muttered it as she looked for you, hearing her high heels slapping the ground and getting louder as she neared you. It was a panic attack waiting to happen.

Well designed, with new creepy creatures and new locations. Can't forget a new character to play as. It's great how we learn much more from the original story and get more depth.

2.9/5

The Evil Within: The Consequence

Part two of Kidman's story in the Evil Within concludes in another two chapter DLC.

There's not much else to go on here really, much of the same and lots of tie ins. One of the main things, is you lose your torch, and you're armed with flares. Flares can be thrown ahead of you to light up the rooms ahead. You can only have three active flares at a time.

The are some great sections including a running section where you're chased by a dark figure, stealth sections through groups of enemies that are blind but will come running if you make too much noise, an intense boss fight, a fight against two colones of Kidman and a final boss. Sound good?

One thing I have to talk about is the boss fight with the Light Lady. She was the best thing about it and the boss fight was so disappointing. It was super intense hiding from her as she stalked the room for you, but she died in three headshots. Come on, really? If you haven't seen the hidden Easter egg off the Light Lady and the Haunted having a secret rave party, you really need to YouTube it, it's fantastic.

Overall it was a good piece of content, just the disappointing/easy boss fights weakened it. Worth picking up for the cheap price it's valued at now.

3/5

War of the Monsters (PS4)

War of the Monsters released back in 2004, before being ported to PlayStation 4 in 2015. It's a monster fighting game that's an homage to Kaiju movies and a 1950s tone.

I used to play this with my cousin back in the day, beating the crap out of each other with giant monsters. It was so fun. Alas it hasn't aged too well, in fact, I'm surprised it's one of the few games that's been ported to PS4. It's not a bad game, it's just more infuriating than fun now.

The story, if you call it that, begins with an alien invasion, they saucers are stopped, but a radioactive liquid causes effects to creatures and causes them to grow in size and starts a war between the humans and the newly formed giant monsters. You're able to choose which monster to play as, and then stages follow where you fight other giants, sometimes more than one at a time.

The gameplay was so awkward, trying to control the camera and your monster was another fight in itself. If it hadn't been for the target lock, I'd never have won a fight. I had my fun in playing this game with a friend, not the CPU. I only had one controller, so that idea went out the window quickly. You can climb up buildings, pick up cars and other objects to use as weapons. You can also shoot projectiles that cost energy, which you can pick up, along with health pick ups.

There's lots of characters to play as and they have alternate costumes. You could play as a giant ape, praying mantis, a golem and many more. a bunch of maps to have your brawls on and there were minigames, in case fighting got boring. You had to spend token to unlock the minigames, outfits and new characters. You have to play a ridiculous amount though if you want that stuff because the token allocation is miniscule in comparison to what you need.

Unless you're playing with a friend, it gets old quick to be frank. At times it can be fun, but the awkward gameplay just makes it a chore. I hope PlayStation continue to port PS2 games to PS4, it's great to relive some old games, even if the nostalgia has worn off.

6.5/10

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (PS3)

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time originally released in 2003, and then the HD trilogy released in 2010. It was developed by Ubisoft.

I was at a friend's house the day they got this game, close to its release date. I remember this was the biggest game in the world, everyone wanted it, myself included. Just watching him run across walls and the platforming, it was amazing. It defined platforming for me and helped make it what it is today.

The story follows an unnamed prince, who's seemingly telling the player the story, acting as the narrator. The Prince finds a dagger, that allows him to rewind time. He is tricked into releasing the Sands, thus turning people into sand creatures. The Vizier who tricked the prince attempts to take the dagger, but the prince escapes and has to right his wrongs by preventing the sands he released from covering the world. He is aided by a young woman called Farah, but her loyalties are doubted with her true intentions unknown, the prince trusts her, for now.

Puzzles, platforming and fighting. The gist of the game. The platforming is stellar though, running up and across walls, wall to wall jumping, swinging from poles, shimmying, beam balancing. This is were platforming was introduced to me, many games use these exact sequences today and they're not much different from a 14 year old game. That's how ahead of its time it was. The puzzle rooms where fantastic, well designed, great camera shots to show the whole area. They were made so well.

The combat is ok, not on par with its platforming. You could block, vault enemies and roll away, but most rolls ended up with you attempting to vault over an enemy that pushes you back. The camera was awful during fights, you couldn't control it well and it caused a lot of cheap hits. You know when you're safe from enemies, because the prince will sheathe his sword in a small  scene. If a fight didn't go so well, you could heal yourself by drinking from fountains, the longer you hold down the button to drink, the more health you recovered.

You can rewind time. Need I say more? I never played a game that allowed you to do that before, it was unbelievable. Fell to your death? ⏪ a timed door closes before you get there? ⏪ Got caught with a cheap hit in a fight? ⏪ Cool right? Obviously you couldn't do it any time you wanted, you have a limited amount of rewinds, they eventually refill and finding collectables earns you more rewinds. You also got future visions, they literally gave you small scenes of things you were going to soon be doing. It was great, it was a teaser of what was to come.

The voice acting was ok, there was a good amount of humour throughout, giving a lighter tone. The music was really fitting and I enjoyed the story telling aspect. It was annoying however every time you paused being asked "Should I continue?", hang on mate, I need a piss! There were some really awkwardly placed save points, were you couldn't help but enter them as you tried to pass them. Near the end, there's a long platforming section were you can't fuck up or you'll have to do it all again, even worse, you can't rewind in case you mess up. There's a decent one on one boss fight at the end to make up for it though.

Without sounding weird I like how he loses more clothing items as you play... Let me explain, you ultimately lose your hat and shirt completely, he does it in stages though. Like the sleeves go first and such. He starts off as just a prince, but ends as a warrior. It's great character development and it's a visible transition too. Sounds a lot less weird now right?

This game introduced me to platformers, I'd never been so impressed with a game after seeing the wall running. When it came out, it was my top priority to get it. I saw my cousin complete the game, but only now I've played through the entire game myself and it was a fun experience, even fourteen years later.

7.8/10

The Evil Within (Xbox One)

The Evil Within is a survival horror game, developed by Tango Gameworks and released in 2014.

Detective Sebastian Castellanos, along with his compatriots, Kidman and Joseph are investigating a murder at a mental hospital, and soon find themselves in a world of destruction. After seemingly see the world falling to bits, Sebastian awakes and finds himself strung upside down on a meat hook, while a human-like beast is butchering bodies. Sebastian attempts to break free and escape, before delving into a world full of even more disturbing situations. It's one of the best video game opening sequences I've played in quite some time.

Sebastian encounters Dr Jimenez, who his looking for his patient, Leslie. Separated from his partners, Sebastian learns more information about what is happening around him through Jimenez, learning more and more about a powerful being, Ruvik. Dressed in rags and the ability to kill you in a instant, your best option is to run when Ruvik pops up. There's plenty more to fear though, Laura, a spider-like woman whose constant shrieking is enough to freak you out for life, never mind her introduction that comes out of nowhere. Sebastian, his fellow detectives, Dr Jimenez and Leslie must fight for their lives to escape the madness they find themselves trapped in.

The creepy tone is carried throughout, the screen is shortened due to the black bars at the top and bottom of your screen, restricting your view. Cinematically it looked good, but for gameplay it was hindering. There is a constant Resident Evil 4 feel to it, like the whole game is a homage to the horror classic.

You travel to lots of creepy environments, they looked great, they're intense to navigate through. You want to explore, and you should, there's plenty of secrets and you need to scavenge for ammo anyway. The gameplay is fun, the shooting can be difficult, but the actions scenes are great to play. You can stealth by throwing bottles as distractions and get up close for sneak kills.

You have a huge arsenal at your disposal, but ammo is very scarce. You can also find melee weapons that are only usable once and you have a crossbow with different types of bolts; freeze bolts, explosive, fire and a few more. I took a while to get into Evil Within, once I realised I couldn't shoot everyone in the head and played correctly, it was fun. The Haunted, the standard enemy of the game, can survive head wounds. The most effective way to kill, is to shoot them in the knee and drop and match on them when they fall. Matches are more damaging than bullets.... Seriously!

The creatures in this game are fucked up. Probably nothing compared to Silent Hill, they're pretty messed up too, but still. But I love that. I love the uneasy feeling you get from Evil Within, it's not something you get from many games. I was always looking forward to seeing the next boss introduction. The boss fights were always intense and well done. The Keeper is another stand out boss, a brute with a sledgehammer and a locked safe for a head? Did I mention he can kill himself to teleport closer to you? It's freaky and even worse as he respawns in front of you from the ground.

Survival difficulty is the normal difficulty, but you could get your ass kicked. If you were caught with a hit, you'd feel it with your health bar. You can upgrade your abilities, weapons and stock. Upgrade your stock for matches... trust me! You can also unlock safes by finding keys hidden in statues, you can get some wonderful items when you unlock them; upgrade gel, ammo, bolts, it's addicting unlocking them. You have a sprint bar, that's miniscule unless you upgrade it. The problem is, when you sprint, you come to a complete stand still when the bar empties as you recover, but you stop running before the bar runs down and can fuck you. The graphics were quite a let down too, ultimately they were good on the monsters and locations you went to, but the people looked like they came straight from the 360. This was one of the first games I played on the One and it was a disappointment.

I'm not a huge fan of horror games, I'd liked to be, but I'm often too scared to get into them. Evil Within is certainly one of the creepiest horror games around, but it's very entertaining and a really good game. I'm definitely getting the sequel and look forward to the next barrage of crazy enemies.

7.9/10

Life is Strange (Xbox One)

Life is Strange is an episodic adventure game, spanning five episodes. Developed by Dontnod Entertainment and all five episodes released in 2015. If you search LiS on the internet, you'll hear endless good things, I'm here to tell a different story.

The story focuses on Max Caulfield, a photography student at Blackwell Academy, in Arcadia Bay. While in the school's bathroom, a boy named Nathan enters, and seems aggravated, Max hiding behind one of the stalls out of sight. Another girl enters and has an argument with Nathan, it all goes badly and the girl is accidentally shot. Out of nowhere and unbeknownst to Max, she's able to (somehow) rewind time and save the girl, who turns out to be her childhood best friend, Chloe. They reunite and become friends again, Max quickly tells Chloe about her new found time powers. She is also experiencing visions of a storm hitting the town, looking to be the destruction of the town.

Characters are really the most important thing in a video game for me, well in story based games that is. After playing all five episodes, I'd say there were three characters I actually liked, none of them were the main two... Max was boring and plain. She was shy and desperately trying to be indie it hurt, then all of a sudden she grows some balls and thinks she can be a tough girl. It's poor development from my eyes. Chloe. OH. MY. GOD. I absolutely, fucking despise Chloe. That's not saying she's a bad character, she's just annoying as being asked "why?" all the time. She's a young adult, who acts like a spoilt five year old. Made a decision that doesn't benefit her? Acts like a bitch. Made a decision that benefits her? Acts like a bitch. Made a decision that helps other people? Acts like a fucking selfish bitch. You can not win. Bear in mind, this is a friend you haven't seen much of in years, and yet it's all your fault. She didn't try and make an effort over the years, it's just constant whining and you're given no reason to care for her, but the game forces you to be her friend.

The side characters are interesting and much easier to like. Even people you think you hate, you start to like later on. The story is good, it's engaging. My problem was, I was only engaged in episode one and five. The middle episodes were just filler to me, I just wanted to see how it all panned out. You'd think that rewinding power would be awesome, but it's a huge annoyance. There's a few times during the story were you having conversations that are about three parts long, you have to get all the segments right to carry on. You're given four choices for each, but if you pick the wrong one, you're in endless cycles of rewinding until you get it right. Even worse, I badly screwed up on a part, and what do you know? No more infinite rewinds. They're only there when you don't want them.

You're made to feel like your choices matter. There's a pretty drastic change, that's literally life changing. I was happy to proceed with the story, but Max wasn't, so she decided to undo everything I chose to do, and everything just went back to normal.... Are you kidding me? The game literally wastes your time and undoes your doing. Thanks, I really felt like I chose how the story played out. People can die in early episodes, who can actually make it to the end. That's cool, although I think it's literally one or two people.

The performances are really good, can't lie there. The music fits really well and the location is beautiful. I really wish I was given more freedom to just explore. You can roam fairly freely, but in a different type of game we could've explored more. I like the style of graphics, quite arty and comic book-like. The story even strongly ties in real life issues, and it can be pretty devastating how easily people's lives can be destroyed. Bullying, depression, drugs and even more heavy shit.

Later on in the episodes, there's a part where you hoping through older photographs of Max, so she can travel to that moment of the picture. That was easily the best part of the whole series. The end bad guy made no sense to me, I thought their motives were dumb and they tried so hard to be intense and scare you, but I just cringed. It's like the threw it out you to try and create a big twist, but it just made it even worse for me. You're also given a choice at the end, it's meant to be difficult and leave you pausing the game while you try and decide. Easiest choice I've ever made in a game, I didn't hesitate at all. Ultimately for me, this games tries a lot and fails most of the time for me.

This is not a bad game. contrary to everything I've said, it's really not. It's just not this masterpiece everyone is saying it is. Now we're getting a pointless prequel to cash in on its success. Great! A prequel full of characters I don't care about and I know how their story goes. Can't wait.

I think Dontnod Entertainment are going to be a big name developer in the near future. although I don't agree with it's acclaim that much, it's an amazing start for them. They also developed Remember Me, a game I can't wait to try and the upcoming Vampyr, which is one of the games I'm most looking forward to. They also have a second season of Life is Strange to come, but they aren't the developers for the prequel story.

I'll play Life is Strange's next season, hopefully it will be the masterpiece everyone said the original was.... but I doubt it!

6.5/10

The Club (Xbox 360)

The Club is a third person shooter, survival game. The Club itself, is ran by The Secretary, wealthy people place bets on the competitors on whether they will survive their visit. The 'gladiators' aren't volunteering to be combatants at The Club, they're fighting for their survival.

There are eight playable characters, two are unlocked through gameplay. Each character had their own back story and ending cinematic. My favourite was Finn, a gambling addict who clearly has a lot of debts to pay, as he's getting beating up in his opening cinematic. Each character has their own stats too, there health, speed etc. so you're best playing around and see who fits you best.

There are eight tournaments in total and each takes you across the world. Each level is really well designed, if I wasn't always timed in the events, I'd have explored and taken the chance to look around. You're taken to some great places to kill some dudes, prisons, abandoned ocean liners, bunkers, manors amongst others.

There are six modes throughout the game. Most are timed, but one or two are more relaxed. There's a survival mode, get to the exit as quick as possible, running laps of the map and killing for extra time and more. You can also pick which map and mode you'd like to play outside of the tournaments. The scoring system is fun, and it's really addictive trying to climb up the leaderboards. Unfortunately the multiplayer is dead, not surprising since the game is nine years old. I would've loved to have had some fun on the multiplayer, I think it could've been addicting.

The gameplay is really good, the running and gunning is very fun. People actually died when you shot them, none of this bullet sponging bullshit, if you shot a guy in the head, don't worry about him anymore. If you got pretty good at the shooting, you could drop everyone with one headshot. You have melee and grenades too, but I didn't use them much. There are hidden skulls that add to your score if you shoot them, but when you get to the finish line, you have to crash through the barricades to end the level.

The premise is simple, the gameplay is excellent and the characters are cool. When I looked up this game, I was surprised to see it had lots of 7/8s, but when I thought about it, it kinda made sense. All that was missing for me was the fun looking multiplayer, obviously it didn't get to gain any points from me for that. It's pretty addicting and plays great, but arcade style games have their limits for me and I can't play them forever, I'm a story guy, and there isn't much of one here.

I enjoyed my time with The Club, but I don't think I'll be renewing my membership.

6.9/10

Family Guy Back to the Multiverse (Xbox 360)

Family Guy Back to the Multiverse released in 2012 and was developed by Heavy Iron Studios, who are experts in developing games based on cartoon shows and animated movies.

I'm going to say straight away, you will only like this game if you're a fan of the show. I am a fan of the show, but much less than I used to be. I haven't seen a new episode since about 2013. The game stars Brian and Stewie and is heavily based on the episode "Road to the Multiverse". Brian and Stewie bounce around alternate universes, as they chase down Stewie's rival, Bertram.

The levels are pretty fun to navigate, each one is different and has tonnes of nods to the show. Most levels have a boss battle and relevant enemies to each universe. Crippletron makes a return as a boss fight, there's a level heavily based off the Alien franchise, and probably my favourite level was a fight between Peter and the giant chicken, it was fun to control one of their fights after seeing so many in the show.

Ultimately, it gets boring quite fast. The best part is seeing where each level takes you, but soon has you wanting to move to the next. The gameplay sucks in all honesty and the shooting is bland. There's melee and throwable items, one being a giant chicken that fights enemies for you, but he doesn't really do much. Only the level design was the interesting part of the game. The boring gameplay wasn't enough to keep it entertaining.

There's local multiplayer which is quite fun to play with a friend, there's a bunch of characters from the show to play as, and lots of outfits to buy for each. There are some fun game modes to play too, like 'Capture the Greased up Deaf Guy', which was practically capture the moving flag. One problem was you could spawn in the same place over and over, leaving you to be spawn killed.

The whole game is playable in coop, which is a much better way to play, it's a whole lot less boring with a friend along, and kinda fun. There's a great selection of weapons for both Brian and Stewie, so you'll definitely find one that's suitable for you. There are also some costumes for each you can purchase and wear throughout the story. There are also optional objectives that definitely add to the game and a challenge mode that offers you the chance to earn money.

The game looks ugly in 3D. Cartoon shows don't really look great when video games turn them into 3D, South Park: The Stick of Truth worked perfectly because it was just like the show. When your character is low on health, they look really beaten up, that was a good aesthetic look. To add to the boring game, the constant and irrelevant quotes from the show will drive you insane. Brian or Stewie will constantly say quotes taken from the show and say them over again, most of the time they don't even fit the situation.

Like I said, your best bet of enjoying this game is liking the show. I think if you were to pick a Family Guy game to play, you're better off with Family Guy Video Game released in 2006, I had way more fun on that one, bear in mind I was massively into the show back then, but it really was more fun.

6.3/10

The Escapists DLC Bundle (Xbox One)

The Escapists was developed by Team17, the creators of the Worms series. I had a lot of fun with the base game, and you can find my full review prior to this one.

A bunch of DLC prisons were released and here you find a review for three different add ons.

The Escape Team

This was easily my worst prison. It's effectively The A Team spoof. There are only four prisoners (The A Team gang). The prison is sort of an army base, there are a bunch of guards and the prison is far too big, seeing as there's only four prisoners. It was a nightmare to navigate through.

As the prisoners are basically The A Team, you don't really get into any scraps with the other inmates, because they're friends. There's only really one way to break out, and that's by a tank. You spend most of your time trying to rebuild the tank, and then you and your buddies all jump in and escape.

I got very bored because it took an overly long amount of time to escape. I hated the size of the prison, I kept making wrong turns and getting lost. Easily my least favourite.

2.9/5

Duct Tapes are Forever

DTAF was definitely one of the harder prisons. As you may be able to tell by the title, it's a James Bond spoof. All the prisoners are agents and they're appropriately titled with puns of real Bond actors. The prison itself, is an evil villain's lair. The security is pretty tight too, cameras in every prisoners room, metal detectors and colour key doors.

I enjoyed this prison quite a lot, it was a tough one, a humorous take on James Bond and an enjoyable break out. Again, there is only one way out, and that's to use the broken down rocket. You spend your time getting the rocket to work again, before finally launching to freedom.

Everything was enjoyable in this prison. I took a long time to escape and that was due to the tight security. Definitely an upgrade on the DLC.

3.4/5

Santa's Workshop

A prison full of Elves and their attempt to break out of Santa's Workshop, genius!

Elves are sick of cleaning up reindeer muck and tired of toy making. Definitely one of my favourite prisons. It was a great environment too, snow, presents, Christmas trees. It was hard to believe it was a prison!

This was a pretty tough breakout, again only one way and that was by decorating the Christmas tree with lights and presents, and then fly to freedom.

Even in the base game I'd probably say this was my favourite prison. I took a very long time to escape as it was easily to mess up, but I persevered and can definitely say it's my favourite!

4.1/5

The Escapists (Xbox One)

The Escapists released in 2015 and is a pixelated, prison break-out, strategy game. Can you break out of all the increasingly difficult prisons?

I'll be the first to say it, I'm sick of current game developers releasing games with 8 bit graphics. I get it's where games started and it's nostalgic, but what's the point of having amazing capabilities if they're just gonna stay in the 80s? That being said, it completely works for The Escapists. Considering its whole purpose is to break out of prisons, it has such a lighthearted tone. It's so bright and colourful, it has fantastic music that you'll have a joy listening to and it's really fun.

It can be quite overwhelming at first, there's so many possibilities to break out of each prison and your hand is never held. You're able to craft equipment to help you break out, but you have to experiment to find out how to make specific items. You can create tools to help you break out, shovels, pickaxes and weapons to fight off guards and inmates.

You can become friends with inmates and get guards on your good side. It's always good to keep everyone friendly so they don't constantly try to fight you, it can be annoying. You can do favours for the inmates and receive money and friendship. Some inmates are also merchants and sell you useful items, you can also loot sells to get them for free.

While you're planning your escape, you have a schedule you have to keep up with so the guards don't come looking for you. This includes roll calls, dinner times, exercise periods and shower time. You can upgrade your intelligence, strength and speed stats to make you better in fights, move faster and make more rare items. Every prison also has jobs for you to do, there are different jobs in different prisons too. You can do laundry, make clothes, deliver mail amongst others.

There are six total prisons to break out of, each prison has a unique layout and its own schedule so you never feel like you're doing the same thing over and over (besides when you're getting your stats up). Each prison also has obstacles you need to deal with, some have cameras in inmates' cells so you can't just get all your gear from looting them, some have Metal detectors so you can't always carry contraband. You can never get used to something you're comfortable with, because it may be difficult to reciprocate in the next prison. So your play style changes each prison.

If you start a fight with a guard and lose, or steal something from a guard and they wake up, you're sent to solitary, which skips three days. You can steal keys from guards, and make a copy of their key. You must give the key back to the incapacitated guard before the regain consciousness, or it's straight to solitary! You're able to customise your prisoner and change your name, same goes for other prisoners. A few times, some prisoners had the same name, which was annoying when you had a favour to do with a certain inmate.

As all the prisons are different, your escapes are different. Thankfully there are many ways out, I had a number of different escapes, but some prisons have only one way out. I've dig tunnels, smashed through walls and even ran through the front door. There's many ways to get freedom.

The Escapists is an incredibly fun game, it has a tonne of replayability and is an fantastic experience. The sequel has recently released and I'll soon be getting my orange jumpsuit back on!

7/10

Murdered Soul Suspect (Xbox One)

Murdered Soul Suspect released in 2014 and was the very first game I ever played on the Xbox One. You play as ghost detective, Ronan O'connor. He's on the tail of the infamous 'Bell Killer', only to be killed by him.

Now a ghost, detective Ronan must find out who killed him and get justice for himself and all the other victims of the Bell Killer. Seeing as you're a ghost, you're pretty limited as to what you can do now. But, you're able to do things you can in other games. You can walk through walls. What other game can you do that where it's not a glitch? You can posses people and cats, they help you navigate around a tight area, teleport and his own version of detective vision.

The story is very short, but there are a bunch of side investigations to add to the game. You can help fellow ghosts find out how they died, giving them peace and be able to pass on. The short story is a very interesting one, investigating your own death, with an excellent twist I never expected. The characters beside Ronan aren't really that interesting. Another huge problem is the lack of characters, for a game that has you trying to guess who the real killer is, you're options are very limited.

There are a tonne of easy collectables to find and they give you more information about the town of Salem and the Bell Killer. They're so easy to find, you can see most from afar, you'll find yourself leaving the story because there's so many collectables in sight. There aren't too many areas you're taken to, but they are well designed and interesting to explore. You can travel around the town of Salem, you're able to go to a church, a police department, a graveyard, a mental asylum, an apartment block and your own murder scene. Each place has their own side story to complete too.

As you're a ghost, there's not much harm that can come to you. However, there are demons that pop up from time to time. They can kill you, as well as demon pits. They're pretty easy to avoid, if you do get scene you're able to teleport into hiding spots, and switch between them as the demon looks for you. You can also distract the demons by using crows, their caws get the attention of the demons.

There's plenty of investigations for you to work out by collecting clues. You don't have to collect all clues, but you do need to find the ones that complete the investigation. They were too simple, once you found all clues you had to pick the correct ones to complete it. The problem was, you were fooled into thinking you couldn't make three mistakes or you'd fail. Turns out, once you get three wrong, you're just taken off that screen, you're able to go back to it and just keep picking the clues until you get it right.

This game was panned, I understand based on what many reviews said, but they clearly expected the game to be different to what it was. You're ultimately a ghost, ghosts can't be shot or detected to fail missions, so to say the game was too easy is silly, the only easy thing was not being able to fail investigations. The story was short, but it was good, it was interesting and had my attention the whole time, and the twist was so unexpected. The real problem with the story was the bland characters and lack of them to delegate who was the killer.

It's not a bad game. It's not a great game. It's a game you should play, it's unique, I can't think of another game like it. What else game has you play as a ghost finding out his own killer. Play this game, it's cheap!

7.2/10

LA Noire (Xbox 360) - Guest Review

In light of the news of LA Noire coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One, here is a guest review of the Xbox 360 version, by The Purple Viper.

How can I help, reader? LA Noire is an open world game which revolves  around the playable character, Cole Phelps who at the start of the game is a beat cop who has come home from serving in the second world war. Set in the 40’s, you go with Cole as he moves up the ranks in the police force (desks) and solve cases. A point to note is that as with most open world games, especially Rockstar, the player is usually on the wrong side of the law, this flips that upside down and even penalises you for behaving in a bad way. It does this naturally and it feels bizarre you ever wanted to break the law on the limes of GTA.

Primarily the game whilst being open world, features linear missions in the way of “cases”. These cases are typically, there is a body and you then analyse the crime scene with your partner for clues which take you around LA to new locations and more clues usually, which enable you to discover who has done the crime. The way you do this is to pick up evidence and then use either the forensic department to find the best place to go to find out more about objects, or you find addresses in things on victims, such as wallets. At locations, you then can interrogate people when you ask them questions and call them either liars (backed up with proof) doubt what they say or believe them, by choosing the right option, you can discover more clues or even solve the case by getting people either to tell on others or confess themselves. When it was released, one of the main focal points of the game was that the rendering of faces was the most lifelike and accurate in any game to date and even though I only played it recently and practically lifelike graphics is the norm now, I can appreciate that this must have changed the whole game when it came out. The faces and expressions are so good, there is no difficulty in telling whether people are lying or not, much to the games credit (not to say the game is easy, but what it sets out to do with characters conveying expression, works more than perfectly).  When cases are complete you get a ranking, based on how well you did the case, such as questions wrong and damage done to the environment, this makes it more rewarding when you get the maximum stars avaliable. 9/10

The story was overall brilliantly put together, rich and long (but not too long) with cases feeling more rewarding for solving them as you progressed through LAPD, there was a bit of repetitiveness at times (especially on one desk, which was frustrating but in context it made sense at the end of that desk) the only faults are something that happens at the end of one of the desks which essentially voids all the conclusions (NB deductions from the player or even some confessions from “culprits”) which I found to be rather bizarre, but the story did work when it was explained (to an extent) so it didn’t ruin the story. The only other fault from an otherwise great story is that something towards the end happens, which whilst introducing us to another playable character, who is well played just like Cole, comes out of nowhere and to me seemed like a badly thought out excuse to bring the new character in for a bit. Other than these two points however, the story is one that I personally found to be very good and it had me hooked for the two weeks I played it on and off 9/10

In the way of side activities, there are also cars to collect, that is, get in and drive them (they then count as collected) and then when you get all of them, an achievement will be unlocked. The best side activity is the other one, which is radio dispatch, for each desk there are a number of calls that will come through on the police radio which are optional for the player to go and see to. Each one of these however provides not just a good side mission (most are not massively long, which I found good as you could do them and then get back to the gripping story) but provides more of a structured experience of this amazing game world that has been created. 8/10

The game world itself is very large and has plenty of character and detail, just driving around and looking at the buildings from a time long gone had me in awe, but also the NPC’s going around their day to day lives and the random chatter you can overhear, this coupled with the radio with music from that time (reminiscent of Fallout 3's Galaxy News Radio) made even driving idly round, very fun. 8/10

The few bugs that I came across were just minor nuisances such as the character moving in a bizarre fashion and making it hard to accomplish something but these were only seconds long and hardly a huge hindrance. The other one was when selecting evidence items, more often than not it would fly over to the opposite one I wanted at the slightest touch of the analogue stick, but again, this hardly ruined the game and is trivial really. 8/10

In conclusion, LA Noire is a brilliantly crafted game, with a huge, beautiful open world to explore and whilst apart from the missions it doesn’t seem like there is lots and lots to do, there is indeed, enough. The story is fantastic with only really one complaint toward the end however it was a gold way to engineer the final act of the story so it is hardly something that should put people off playing. What was one of the main features, is executed perfectly and the facial expressions are so good, it made me feel rewarded at times for reading the faces as if it was a real person in front of me. The occasional car chases could be boring and a pain, but I'm not a driver particularly so I imagine that was down to me as an individual, there is the option to stick. Overall an amazing game which I would strongly recommend to anyone into crime and open world.

8.4/10

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (Xbox One)

A New Frontier is the third season of Telltale's Walking Dead series. It's continues the story of the previous two seasons and the first two episodes came out at the very end of 2016.

Season two's finale gave you a very big choice, I was eagerly awaiting the third season to see the impact of my decision. I was left bemused at first. We were introduced to a whole new character and not an immediate follow up to the previous series. I was very disappointed to see the game fast forward the story from my last decision, leaving me to think whatever I chose would give me the same story. A feeling I've had a lot with Telltale's so called "tailored to your choices" tagline. That being said, they've made plenty of stellar games.

The story starts with new characters, Javi and his family. For the first time in the series, the story starts at the beginning of the outbreak. We see Javi deal with the beginning firsthand and seeing it devastate his family. Javi has a lot of tension with brother whom he always seems to disapoint. The story fast forwards to the present, Javi, his brother's wife, Kate and his nephews, Gabe and Mariana have been travelling the roads together in their minivan and have been on the road for the majority of the outbreak. During the story, Javi crosses paths with our friend Clementine, (our previous protagonist) and we find out what actually happened after our final choice from season two. We learn there's a group of survivors called The New Frontier, Javi gets in a feud with them and must get him and his family safely out of their crosshairs.

The graphics are updated, they still have the comic book look, but looks much sharper. Once again we have a story that hooks you and makes you think carefully about every choice you're given. The new characters are likeable, some not so much, but that's because they're doing their job of making you dislike them and not because they are poor characters. The voice acting is excellent and shows why this is one of Telltale's strongest series.

There was one relationship they really forced you into during the story, I rebuffed every advance and even after all that, I still pissed off someone, despite doing the complete opposite of what another character thought just because of how much they forced it. It really annoyed me, I had to pay the consequences for something I never chose to do. There was another part where I was given an ultimatum, it was practically a choice of getting attacked or not, I quite clearly chose to not get attacked, and even so, another character disregarded my choice, thus I got attacked. These two 'consequences' came from choices I did NOT make, so why they happened is beyond me. This is what continues to lead me to believe you aren't given as much choice as you're constantly told. If they didn't push so hard that your decisions matter, I wouldn't get so frustrated by it.

I really enjoyed the season three, it was great to introduce a new character and keep the story going with the old ones. Overall I do think the three season are declining as they go on, but this is still a great season, don't forget how amazing the first was. Javi was definitely one of my favourite characters across the series. I really cared about his story and made choices I thought he'd make. He was a great character to take charge of.

This had once again been a great season, the next season has been announced and it's also been confirmed as the final season. This is definitely a great decision by Telltale to wrap it up, it's best to bow out in style rather than get stale. More good news is that season three set up to carry on as Clementine. See you for one last adventure Clem.

8/10