The single-player DLC for Watch Dogs brings back one of the very few interesting characters; T-Bone. He was so much better than Aiden Pierce right? It makes you think why didn't they just make T-Bone the playable character in the original game?
The story revolves around T-Bone's on going crusade with Blume and is set after the events of Watch Dogs. Frewer returns, that homeless merchant Aiden met, he's much more interesting here and is an interesting friend of T-Bone's.
The main story spans three acts, it's quite short, but it's a good length. There's a ton of side missions, some you're able to do in coop which makes it way more fun. Unfortunately you can't do them all with a buddy and they do start to repeat.
The story is enjoyable and the chemistry between T-Bone and Frewer is intriguing. There are a bunch of fun missions and the RC car is introduced, you're able to drive around a small car to scout out enemies and it can even stun them too. A cool way to dispatch of enemies was to lure them into a room and then lock the door, it was new and funny, but you could only do it in the first mission which was disappointing.
There was a small dose of Aiden, which is the best kind of Aiden! There is another new character I hated though; Sheila. She was just so random, she was a detective that was someone in contact with T-Bone giving him missions and talking to him like they were really close. It was so hard to believe giving how cautious TB was in the original game, he even tells her his first name. He was a hacker who accidentally killed people and went into hiding, and he's telling a cop his name... Every missions you start, even side missions they have a phone call, even though most times she just says something like "go capture that guy for me", it was so pointless and there was one EVERY TIME. She even gives him a nickname and calls him 'mystery man', I hate it!
The DLC is so much better than the original game though, I enjoyed playing as TB way more and I liked Frewer too. I was skeptical after the first game, but I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel, but I'm still wary.
3.1/5
Monday 31 July 2017
Thursday 27 July 2017
The Walking Dead Survival Instinct (Xbox 360)
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct released in 2013. It's a prequel to the show starring the Dixons brothers and their journey to the start of season one. It was a clever ploy as it was released alongside the show when Daryl and Merle were two of the shows most popular characters.
The Dixon brothers, cooperative, story related. I was hyped. I was already planning on playing it with a buddy of mine.... NO COOP, SHITE STORY AND MERLE KEPT FUCKING OFF SOMEWHERE. Why? Why make this? There is no way anyone liked this game or enjoyed it. Burn all copies, bury it like that ET game and please stop making trashy cash ins like this. Honestly, the devs wasted their time making this, they could've put their time into something more valuable.
In 2013 these are the graphics we're paying for? Are you serious? Games that came out in 2006 have better graphics. Just look at Gear of War. Yes you can tell it's Daryl and Merle, but everything else? What the fuck?! The gameplay is awful, I hated the sprinting, the stealthing, the only thing I liked was the crossbow, that was great. You could easily pick up your bolts back too. The melee combat was an atrocity, swinging mindlessly at the heads of zombies until they fell down. They tried to flesh out the short story with optional objectives that were no fun at all. Simply get this and go here. Usually in zombie games, killing zombies is fun, but the combat was so bad I just wanted to quit the game.
You can meet vacant survivors who are so pointless, you can send them out to scavenge when you're out in missions. There's a risk meter that indicates how likely the survivor is to die. You can give them weapons, they can come back with very little or just die. But I didn't fucking care, I often dismissed them or purposely let them die to get rid of them. The zombies just walk in circles or into walls unto they spot you. If they get close to grab you, you're sucked into the animation were you have to aim a cursor at their head and stab them. They can literally line up one after another like this and constantly grabbing you, it's hilarious how terrible it is. You can stealth kill zombies be creeping up behind them to execute them.
There's a decent selection of weapons and you're able to scavenge for ammo and supplies. You can also store items at your car before missions, there is a limit to the car and how much you can carry, so you want to manage it well. Gas plays a big part here, you're best grabbing canisters whenever you see them. When you get to the car, you're taken to a map and given a choice of three paths to get to your destination. Each way gives you a possible chance of breaking down and forcing you to look for gas, and each way takes a considerable amount of gas. You can also make optional stops to scavenge, it's always good to, but very soon you'll notice these scavenge locations start to repeat. You always know when you're going to make a stop because it's silent when you're on the map, you also know when you're proceeding with the story because Daryl will start to talk with whoever is with him in the story.
It's just a shit game. The trees float, if you look close at them you can see they're not even mapped to the ground. You'll be sneaking around and there'll be no zombies around, but you'll often hear groans as if one is behind you, or a zombie will have spawned out of nowhere and attack you. The best thing to do is to just stay away from this garbage.
If you like The Walking Dead, watch the show or read the comics, play the Telltale game series because it's more better. Wait for Overkill's Walking Dead game if it ever does come out, just don't waste you're time with this.
5.2/10
The Dixon brothers, cooperative, story related. I was hyped. I was already planning on playing it with a buddy of mine.... NO COOP, SHITE STORY AND MERLE KEPT FUCKING OFF SOMEWHERE. Why? Why make this? There is no way anyone liked this game or enjoyed it. Burn all copies, bury it like that ET game and please stop making trashy cash ins like this. Honestly, the devs wasted their time making this, they could've put their time into something more valuable.
In 2013 these are the graphics we're paying for? Are you serious? Games that came out in 2006 have better graphics. Just look at Gear of War. Yes you can tell it's Daryl and Merle, but everything else? What the fuck?! The gameplay is awful, I hated the sprinting, the stealthing, the only thing I liked was the crossbow, that was great. You could easily pick up your bolts back too. The melee combat was an atrocity, swinging mindlessly at the heads of zombies until they fell down. They tried to flesh out the short story with optional objectives that were no fun at all. Simply get this and go here. Usually in zombie games, killing zombies is fun, but the combat was so bad I just wanted to quit the game.
You can meet vacant survivors who are so pointless, you can send them out to scavenge when you're out in missions. There's a risk meter that indicates how likely the survivor is to die. You can give them weapons, they can come back with very little or just die. But I didn't fucking care, I often dismissed them or purposely let them die to get rid of them. The zombies just walk in circles or into walls unto they spot you. If they get close to grab you, you're sucked into the animation were you have to aim a cursor at their head and stab them. They can literally line up one after another like this and constantly grabbing you, it's hilarious how terrible it is. You can stealth kill zombies be creeping up behind them to execute them.
There's a decent selection of weapons and you're able to scavenge for ammo and supplies. You can also store items at your car before missions, there is a limit to the car and how much you can carry, so you want to manage it well. Gas plays a big part here, you're best grabbing canisters whenever you see them. When you get to the car, you're taken to a map and given a choice of three paths to get to your destination. Each way gives you a possible chance of breaking down and forcing you to look for gas, and each way takes a considerable amount of gas. You can also make optional stops to scavenge, it's always good to, but very soon you'll notice these scavenge locations start to repeat. You always know when you're going to make a stop because it's silent when you're on the map, you also know when you're proceeding with the story because Daryl will start to talk with whoever is with him in the story.
It's just a shit game. The trees float, if you look close at them you can see they're not even mapped to the ground. You'll be sneaking around and there'll be no zombies around, but you'll often hear groans as if one is behind you, or a zombie will have spawned out of nowhere and attack you. The best thing to do is to just stay away from this garbage.
If you like The Walking Dead, watch the show or read the comics, play the Telltale game series because it's more better. Wait for Overkill's Walking Dead game if it ever does come out, just don't waste you're time with this.
5.2/10
Thursday 20 July 2017
Saints Row IV Re-Elected (Xbox One)
Saints Row IV released in originally in 2013 and I loved it, I'm embraced the crazy after previously being skeptical. I thought The crazier the better, Saints Row became it's own game and distanced itself away from the 'GTA Clone' tag. Unfortunately the 2015 remake was an absolute mess.
Graphics and menus are identical to Saints Row the Third, literally no change, just additions. Re-Elected has practically no difference to IV except it's a thousand times more buggy. You're able to create your character with a tonne of features and clothes. The customization is great, only downside is that th hair and facial hair look painted on. You as the player are attempting to foil a terrorist attack, that ends up with you riding a missile headed for The White House as you disarm it. The end result? You land in the president's chair and become president yourself. As the new president you make some decisions and are soon attached by aliens. After the attackers get the better of you, you're thrown in to a simulated world and you must escape and free your allies from their simulations. Good thing I embraced the crazy right?
I'd advise anyone who plays this to experience it in coop. It's way more fun that way. While in the simulation, you're granted superpowers, you're able to jump ridiculously high, run like The Flash and glide through the air. Who'd have thought this used to be a modern day gangster game? The superpowers make it crazily fun, there's nothing better than sprinting through streets, jumping over building and gliding through the skies. You also unlock abilities throughout the story, freeze blast, telekinesis, air stomps and a few more less useful ones. However, when you leave the simulation you're powerless. It's such a downer not really having the powers. Cars are made obsolete, there's no need to ever enter one. Activities return and are implemented as side missions, it's a cheap way to flesh out a campaign I think. Insurance fraud is back, but it's far too easy due to the powers.
As well as the powers, the best thing about the game is the references to video games. Saints Row pays homage to many games and it's even better when you recognise one, there's so many you'll be constantly looking out for them. Some in particular include Space Invaders, Metal Gear Solid and the whole game plays as a spoof of Mass Effect 2 (one of the best video games I've played). When you're on the ship and out the simulation, it resembles Mass Effect a lot. You can explore the ship, all your crew mates have the own area and you can romance them too, (some romances are hilarious) you can't romance Keith David unfortunately, yes he's in the game as himself!
The characters are great, Terry Crews joins you crew as Benjamin King, who finally returns after the first game. Pierce and Shaundi are back, Shaundi isn't as cool as she was, but original Shaundi makes a return in a surreal mission that has you with both versions of her! Keith David features and Kinzie returns. For some bizarre reason, Matt Miller comes back, the former leader of a rival gang of yours, The Deckers and is now a homie. I never liked him and I still don't. As there are a couple new characters for you to meet. Now, if only Johnny Gat returned.... One of th standout characters was easily Zinyak, the leader of the aliens. He has am English accent, as most villains do, he's hilarious and also a worthy foe. The only downside was he could've been included more.
As I was saying earlier, the game pays homage to some historic video games, it even pays tribute to itself. Saints Row one and two are featured a lot, three not so much, seeing as it's very similar to it already. The default playable characters show up as enemies in a mission, it was a small but great touch. Lots of former characters appear in missions and can be later used as homes.
Despite looking identical to Saints Row the Third, there are new features, a far better story, superpowers, lots of new weapons and upgrades, clothing items and taunts, activities and characters. There's lots of content hear. One of the best weapons is the Dubstep gun, it's shoot music! It's even better with unlimited ammo. Some other great new weapons are the black hole gun and abduction gun. If your favourite taunt is the chicken one, you've definitely not watched Arrested Development. You can shop as soon as you enter stores saving time, the DLC is built straight into the game and ready to start. Unfortunately, some things I didn't like return, the gun combat just gets boring, mainly because the enemies spin and spin forever. You'll most likely use your superpowers instead.
Buggy. Glitches. Problems. There's so many, it ruined it for me. I loved Saints Row IV, but this "remaster" hasn't done the original any justice and only hindered my opinion on Saints Row as a whole. It seems they literally just ported it and thought "yep, it'll be fine, now sell it for money!". Achievements don't always unlock for the coop player, after a bunch of missions my character went bald, civilians driving invisible cars, tank randomly flying up in the air, cutscene glitches, problems inviting and joining friends. It was more of a chore to play than fun.
I loved Saints Row IV, embracing the change definitely helped, but this made me hate it. I wish I never bothered with the remaster, I forget how much I used to love this game. Every time I think of SR4 now, I think it sucks because of this. SR4 is a great game, and if you haven't played it before, play the original. They're exactly the same aesthetically and the original has a lot less bugs. If I reviewed the original SR4 back in 2013, I have no doubts it would have surpassed an 8, but this? Too much of a mess and an obvious cash grab.
6.5/10
Graphics and menus are identical to Saints Row the Third, literally no change, just additions. Re-Elected has practically no difference to IV except it's a thousand times more buggy. You're able to create your character with a tonne of features and clothes. The customization is great, only downside is that th hair and facial hair look painted on. You as the player are attempting to foil a terrorist attack, that ends up with you riding a missile headed for The White House as you disarm it. The end result? You land in the president's chair and become president yourself. As the new president you make some decisions and are soon attached by aliens. After the attackers get the better of you, you're thrown in to a simulated world and you must escape and free your allies from their simulations. Good thing I embraced the crazy right?
I'd advise anyone who plays this to experience it in coop. It's way more fun that way. While in the simulation, you're granted superpowers, you're able to jump ridiculously high, run like The Flash and glide through the air. Who'd have thought this used to be a modern day gangster game? The superpowers make it crazily fun, there's nothing better than sprinting through streets, jumping over building and gliding through the skies. You also unlock abilities throughout the story, freeze blast, telekinesis, air stomps and a few more less useful ones. However, when you leave the simulation you're powerless. It's such a downer not really having the powers. Cars are made obsolete, there's no need to ever enter one. Activities return and are implemented as side missions, it's a cheap way to flesh out a campaign I think. Insurance fraud is back, but it's far too easy due to the powers.
As well as the powers, the best thing about the game is the references to video games. Saints Row pays homage to many games and it's even better when you recognise one, there's so many you'll be constantly looking out for them. Some in particular include Space Invaders, Metal Gear Solid and the whole game plays as a spoof of Mass Effect 2 (one of the best video games I've played). When you're on the ship and out the simulation, it resembles Mass Effect a lot. You can explore the ship, all your crew mates have the own area and you can romance them too, (some romances are hilarious) you can't romance Keith David unfortunately, yes he's in the game as himself!
The characters are great, Terry Crews joins you crew as Benjamin King, who finally returns after the first game. Pierce and Shaundi are back, Shaundi isn't as cool as she was, but original Shaundi makes a return in a surreal mission that has you with both versions of her! Keith David features and Kinzie returns. For some bizarre reason, Matt Miller comes back, the former leader of a rival gang of yours, The Deckers and is now a homie. I never liked him and I still don't. As there are a couple new characters for you to meet. Now, if only Johnny Gat returned.... One of th standout characters was easily Zinyak, the leader of the aliens. He has am English accent, as most villains do, he's hilarious and also a worthy foe. The only downside was he could've been included more.
As I was saying earlier, the game pays homage to some historic video games, it even pays tribute to itself. Saints Row one and two are featured a lot, three not so much, seeing as it's very similar to it already. The default playable characters show up as enemies in a mission, it was a small but great touch. Lots of former characters appear in missions and can be later used as homes.
Despite looking identical to Saints Row the Third, there are new features, a far better story, superpowers, lots of new weapons and upgrades, clothing items and taunts, activities and characters. There's lots of content hear. One of the best weapons is the Dubstep gun, it's shoot music! It's even better with unlimited ammo. Some other great new weapons are the black hole gun and abduction gun. If your favourite taunt is the chicken one, you've definitely not watched Arrested Development. You can shop as soon as you enter stores saving time, the DLC is built straight into the game and ready to start. Unfortunately, some things I didn't like return, the gun combat just gets boring, mainly because the enemies spin and spin forever. You'll most likely use your superpowers instead.
Buggy. Glitches. Problems. There's so many, it ruined it for me. I loved Saints Row IV, but this "remaster" hasn't done the original any justice and only hindered my opinion on Saints Row as a whole. It seems they literally just ported it and thought "yep, it'll be fine, now sell it for money!". Achievements don't always unlock for the coop player, after a bunch of missions my character went bald, civilians driving invisible cars, tank randomly flying up in the air, cutscene glitches, problems inviting and joining friends. It was more of a chore to play than fun.
I loved Saints Row IV, embracing the change definitely helped, but this made me hate it. I wish I never bothered with the remaster, I forget how much I used to love this game. Every time I think of SR4 now, I think it sucks because of this. SR4 is a great game, and if you haven't played it before, play the original. They're exactly the same aesthetically and the original has a lot less bugs. If I reviewed the original SR4 back in 2013, I have no doubts it would have surpassed an 8, but this? Too much of a mess and an obvious cash grab.
6.5/10
Thursday 13 July 2017
Darksiders (Xbox 360)
Released back in 2010, I borrowed this from a friend, but it never really got me invested. I returned the game still in the first act. Years later I finally came back and finished it. Was it a coincidence Darksiders 3 was announced while I was playing it? Or did I spawn the third installment?
The Seventh Seal is broken, summoning the Four Horsemen, or so we thought. Only War arrives and later finds out the seal was never broken. The Charred Council, the balance between the war of Heaven and Hell, accuse War himself of breaking the seal. War asks to be given the chance to prove his innocence and find the real culprit, leaving him bound to The Watcher, who has the ability to kill War should he stray from his objective.
Darksiders has a semi open world, your able to explore the areas you enter, but there's not much to do. It's primarily a hack and slash game, you have the ability to upgrade weapons and gain abilities. Each weapon has its own moveset, which you can buy new moves using souls you attained from your foes. Your weapons can also have modifiers, they can upgrade weapons quicker or give you more souls. The sword and scythe were great weapons and worth most of your time. I hated the gauntlet, I didn't find it a useful weapon at all, the pistol was also pretty poor, it was unlimited ammo, but it seemed like it just shot water.
I found the game to be far too serious. There were no jokes and every character seemed angry. The only exception was Ulthane, but he wasn't exactly hilarious. It had Mark Hamill, so how could there be no humour? The voice acting was ok, but there needed to be a more informal tone at times. Another thing I couldn't get over was how small War looked, I felt like he was a giant who'd been shrunken down, it just looked odd.
There was fast travel, but it wasn't really. You'd go to Vulgrim the merchant to fast travel, and it'd take you to floating stairs you'd have to go through to reach the other side, then you travelled to where you wanted to go. It certainly wasn't fast. You have the ability to use Chaos Form, this allows you to turn into a creature, similarly looking like The Balrog from The Lord of the Rings, you're pretty much unkillable and can make short work of most enemies. There's also some platforming, that's very clunky and late into the game, you're gifted a horse, but have limited areas where you can ride it.
There's a huge variation of enemies, most of your first encounters with certain enemies were like mini bosses. They were quite tough the first time. Following that, there are a bunch of actual boss fights. I played on Apocalyptic difficulty, which is the hardest difficulty, I found it pretty tough, but the boss fights weren't too bad. I never spent more than five attempts on a single boss, I think that's pretty good. Something really off putting during the boss fights, was the lack of health bars they had. It ended in a lot of deaths that felt cheap, you could do a crazy amount of damage, but if you're not doing the right thing, you may just waste time and die.
You're able to pick up a lot of items like cars and throw them at enemies, you can dash, but War hesitates after leaving him open to attacks. The executions are really cool, it has realistic graphics, but they're not that great. There was a pretty boring on rail section, where you ride a flying eagle. There characters were just far too serious, the only one I found likeable really was Ulthane. The story was pretty interesting and had some good twists, but I wouldn't recommend this for the story or gameplay. There is also a clear homage/rip off of Portal, you literally shoot orange and blue portals to walk through, you can decide what it is.
It's not the best game, but playing as Death in the sequel seems very interesting and I will definitely be playing, and keeping a close eye on the third. Hopefully a less serious and more humorous game follows.
7.3/10
The Seventh Seal is broken, summoning the Four Horsemen, or so we thought. Only War arrives and later finds out the seal was never broken. The Charred Council, the balance between the war of Heaven and Hell, accuse War himself of breaking the seal. War asks to be given the chance to prove his innocence and find the real culprit, leaving him bound to The Watcher, who has the ability to kill War should he stray from his objective.
Darksiders has a semi open world, your able to explore the areas you enter, but there's not much to do. It's primarily a hack and slash game, you have the ability to upgrade weapons and gain abilities. Each weapon has its own moveset, which you can buy new moves using souls you attained from your foes. Your weapons can also have modifiers, they can upgrade weapons quicker or give you more souls. The sword and scythe were great weapons and worth most of your time. I hated the gauntlet, I didn't find it a useful weapon at all, the pistol was also pretty poor, it was unlimited ammo, but it seemed like it just shot water.
I found the game to be far too serious. There were no jokes and every character seemed angry. The only exception was Ulthane, but he wasn't exactly hilarious. It had Mark Hamill, so how could there be no humour? The voice acting was ok, but there needed to be a more informal tone at times. Another thing I couldn't get over was how small War looked, I felt like he was a giant who'd been shrunken down, it just looked odd.
There was fast travel, but it wasn't really. You'd go to Vulgrim the merchant to fast travel, and it'd take you to floating stairs you'd have to go through to reach the other side, then you travelled to where you wanted to go. It certainly wasn't fast. You have the ability to use Chaos Form, this allows you to turn into a creature, similarly looking like The Balrog from The Lord of the Rings, you're pretty much unkillable and can make short work of most enemies. There's also some platforming, that's very clunky and late into the game, you're gifted a horse, but have limited areas where you can ride it.
There's a huge variation of enemies, most of your first encounters with certain enemies were like mini bosses. They were quite tough the first time. Following that, there are a bunch of actual boss fights. I played on Apocalyptic difficulty, which is the hardest difficulty, I found it pretty tough, but the boss fights weren't too bad. I never spent more than five attempts on a single boss, I think that's pretty good. Something really off putting during the boss fights, was the lack of health bars they had. It ended in a lot of deaths that felt cheap, you could do a crazy amount of damage, but if you're not doing the right thing, you may just waste time and die.
You're able to pick up a lot of items like cars and throw them at enemies, you can dash, but War hesitates after leaving him open to attacks. The executions are really cool, it has realistic graphics, but they're not that great. There was a pretty boring on rail section, where you ride a flying eagle. There characters were just far too serious, the only one I found likeable really was Ulthane. The story was pretty interesting and had some good twists, but I wouldn't recommend this for the story or gameplay. There is also a clear homage/rip off of Portal, you literally shoot orange and blue portals to walk through, you can decide what it is.
It's not the best game, but playing as Death in the sequel seems very interesting and I will definitely be playing, and keeping a close eye on the third. Hopefully a less serious and more humorous game follows.
7.3/10
Monday 10 July 2017
Fallout 4: Nuka World DLC (Xbox One)
The final add-on for Fallout 4, meaning? There's nothing left to do but wait for Fallout 5! Welcome to Nuka World, the theme park to threaten Disney World as the greatest.... and now deadliest.
We are taken to a whole new area, a theme park... filled to the brim with raiders. Believe it or not, they're actually not that hostile towards you. That's because you took out the Underboss and became the new one, leader of the raiders inhabiting Nuka World.
The theme park is split into a number of themes, space, western, renaissance and a couple more. There are also three raider gangs; The Pack, The Disciples and The Operators. You're tasked with taking over each part of the pack, whether you're taking it from ghouls, robots or the new creatures, bloodworms. When you take over an area, you get to decide which raider gang takes over. Not every gang will be happy, especially if they don't get the territory.
The story is relatively short, it's essentially kill the Underboss (definitely the best part), take over all the districts and the final mission. There's a small amount of side mission, some even spill over into the Commonwealth. You can also turn settlements you had beforehand into Raider camps. Be warned, because Fallout certainly didn't warn me, Preston will hate you and you will lose him as a follower of you continue the story. It's a shame the DLC didn't stay as strong as the beginning.
As well as new story and a new location, we get new enemies and new Nuka Cola flavors, each one has its own effect and you can brew them yourself. There's also an arcade where you can play the games, and spend your tickets on prizes. You can also fight in the arena against anyone who tries to take your title of Underboss. I will give a special mention to the fun house in the story, a lot of effort went into that and it's cool as fuck.
This is a great DLC, but it's also disapointing. I had super high expectations just from the premise, although it didn't fail to deliver, it didn't excel either. Unfortunately not my DLC of the year as I predicted, but no doubt one of the best.
4/5
We are taken to a whole new area, a theme park... filled to the brim with raiders. Believe it or not, they're actually not that hostile towards you. That's because you took out the Underboss and became the new one, leader of the raiders inhabiting Nuka World.
The theme park is split into a number of themes, space, western, renaissance and a couple more. There are also three raider gangs; The Pack, The Disciples and The Operators. You're tasked with taking over each part of the pack, whether you're taking it from ghouls, robots or the new creatures, bloodworms. When you take over an area, you get to decide which raider gang takes over. Not every gang will be happy, especially if they don't get the territory.
The story is relatively short, it's essentially kill the Underboss (definitely the best part), take over all the districts and the final mission. There's a small amount of side mission, some even spill over into the Commonwealth. You can also turn settlements you had beforehand into Raider camps. Be warned, because Fallout certainly didn't warn me, Preston will hate you and you will lose him as a follower of you continue the story. It's a shame the DLC didn't stay as strong as the beginning.
As well as new story and a new location, we get new enemies and new Nuka Cola flavors, each one has its own effect and you can brew them yourself. There's also an arcade where you can play the games, and spend your tickets on prizes. You can also fight in the arena against anyone who tries to take your title of Underboss. I will give a special mention to the fun house in the story, a lot of effort went into that and it's cool as fuck.
This is a great DLC, but it's also disapointing. I had super high expectations just from the premise, although it didn't fail to deliver, it didn't excel either. Unfortunately not my DLC of the year as I predicted, but no doubt one of the best.
4/5
Friday 7 July 2017
Wolfenstein The Old Blood (Xbox One)
Released about a year after The New Order, it's also a prequel to that story. You again play as BJ, and the story ends where New Order begins.
A relatively short experience, spanning nine chapters. It starts off very strong, you and Wesley make your way to Castle Wolfenstein and attempt to infiltrate it in disguise. Things quickly go awry and we're introduced to one of the main antagonists, Rudi Jager. Rudi is a very big fellow, armed with his ferocious companion, a mechanically augmented pooch that feeds on human prisoners. Along the way, BJ gets help from a few friends while being in a tussle with Helga, an German archaeologist who has a folder containing the location of General Deathshead himself.
The story itself didn't have me hooked, however, Rudi Jager was a fantastic villian who had me on the edge of my seat whenever he was on screen. He was a great villian, it was just a shame he wasn't the main villian, sort of the way that Vaas from Far Cry 3 wasn't the main antagonist. Helga herself was pretty terrifying, but she appeared late and hardly featured. Then out of nowhere.... Zombies?! This baffled me. I had no idea how they turned up, or why they didn't feature in The New Order. Apparently the zombies appear from the Nazi's opening a vault that releases a gas, the gas causes anyone that dies in the vicinity to become zombified.
The graphics and gameplay carry over, which is great, I just wish they didn't make you spam the X button to pick up all the ammo, it's still clunky. The intense scenes are back, and the introduction to Rudi is easily one of the best during both games. Pipes were introduced as a melee weapon and a way to climb up paths. There were also new weapons and some new perks, I loved the perks in both games, they were addicting to get. You were also given a choice to save one of two companions, but I didn't care for neither, they just weren't fleshed out enough for me to really care. You were forced to control an annoying and slow mech, I hated it. What made it a bit more interesting was that zombies could climb up it and you'd have to shoot them off. I thought it was easily the worst part.
I thought this was a spin off game heavily featuring zombies, but it wasn't. It was a prequel and zombies showed up in chapter seven out of nine. There was a supernatural boss fight at the end I didn't really like, I'd much rather preferred to have a boss battle with Helga, especially as the Rudi one was brilliant. I thought The New Order was a more serious game, as Wolfenstein 2009 seemed quite supernatural, whereas The Old Blood sort of combined them both. I honestly think this one was kinda pointless, not bad, just pointless. That being said, I really liked Jager, even if he's the only reason to play the game.
A nice homage to the original was that it let you play some of the old missions, in their original pixel graphics and you played them in the modern gameplay, it was weird blending old and current graphics together, but it was cool. Play this if it doesn't harm your wallet, plus Rudi is worth it, but don't go out of your way for it. If you want more Wolfenstein though, Wolfenstein 2 will be out later this year and I'm chomping at the bit!
7.3/10
A relatively short experience, spanning nine chapters. It starts off very strong, you and Wesley make your way to Castle Wolfenstein and attempt to infiltrate it in disguise. Things quickly go awry and we're introduced to one of the main antagonists, Rudi Jager. Rudi is a very big fellow, armed with his ferocious companion, a mechanically augmented pooch that feeds on human prisoners. Along the way, BJ gets help from a few friends while being in a tussle with Helga, an German archaeologist who has a folder containing the location of General Deathshead himself.
The story itself didn't have me hooked, however, Rudi Jager was a fantastic villian who had me on the edge of my seat whenever he was on screen. He was a great villian, it was just a shame he wasn't the main villian, sort of the way that Vaas from Far Cry 3 wasn't the main antagonist. Helga herself was pretty terrifying, but she appeared late and hardly featured. Then out of nowhere.... Zombies?! This baffled me. I had no idea how they turned up, or why they didn't feature in The New Order. Apparently the zombies appear from the Nazi's opening a vault that releases a gas, the gas causes anyone that dies in the vicinity to become zombified.
The graphics and gameplay carry over, which is great, I just wish they didn't make you spam the X button to pick up all the ammo, it's still clunky. The intense scenes are back, and the introduction to Rudi is easily one of the best during both games. Pipes were introduced as a melee weapon and a way to climb up paths. There were also new weapons and some new perks, I loved the perks in both games, they were addicting to get. You were also given a choice to save one of two companions, but I didn't care for neither, they just weren't fleshed out enough for me to really care. You were forced to control an annoying and slow mech, I hated it. What made it a bit more interesting was that zombies could climb up it and you'd have to shoot them off. I thought it was easily the worst part.
I thought this was a spin off game heavily featuring zombies, but it wasn't. It was a prequel and zombies showed up in chapter seven out of nine. There was a supernatural boss fight at the end I didn't really like, I'd much rather preferred to have a boss battle with Helga, especially as the Rudi one was brilliant. I thought The New Order was a more serious game, as Wolfenstein 2009 seemed quite supernatural, whereas The Old Blood sort of combined them both. I honestly think this one was kinda pointless, not bad, just pointless. That being said, I really liked Jager, even if he's the only reason to play the game.
A nice homage to the original was that it let you play some of the old missions, in their original pixel graphics and you played them in the modern gameplay, it was weird blending old and current graphics together, but it was cool. Play this if it doesn't harm your wallet, plus Rudi is worth it, but don't go out of your way for it. If you want more Wolfenstein though, Wolfenstein 2 will be out later this year and I'm chomping at the bit!
7.3/10
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