Is there life on Mars? Disappointingly, yes. Red Faction: Guerilla released in Summer 2009 and was my first game in the series. This series features great destruction physics that let you destroy buildings. Blowing up buildings or smashing them down with your sledgehammer is so fun and satisfying, it saves this game from being a forgettable one.
Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game, it just could be so much better. I think it had huge potential that failed to deliver, too much focus went into the destruction, which is the only thing that's really good in this game. I'm yet to play Armageddon which was released after this, but if RF ever came back with the destruction and a more solid story and characters, I believe it could thrive.
Onto the game, you meet up with your brother on Mars (oh yeah, it's set on planet Mars) and you quickly discover that things aren't too swell. The EDF have pretty much taken over and the Red Faction are the resistance that are trying to liberate Mars from their control. Standard story really, except there are no characters. There's a couple named people, some only feature in cutscenes, in which there are only about five total, some can only be heard and some pretty much just suck. Alec Mason, who you play as is probably the best character. He's not really that good though, he's boring really, but he's the only one you ever see. The story is short and the missions are boring. You have to do around three missions to liberate each sector of Mars. The missions are basically hijack this, destroy that, not very interesting at all.
So, apart from the boring story and bland characters what else do we get? Well, we get the empty, dismal planet Mars to explore. There's literally nothing to look at, just rocky mountains and sandy roads. The driving is good and the amass of unique vehicles to drive makes for variety, but driving around is made even more boring when there's no radio or no music playing, you're literally driving around a deserted place with nothing but the sound of your car. You can get a walker which is a machine you can enter that has legs and arms and are a fun way to destroy buildings and enemies quickly. The graphics are very average, the buildings all look the same and the characters that do barely appear are boring or annoying. A lot of work is needed for character development and more cutscenes and story content is definitely needed.
The gun play wasn't to my liking, I hated getting in gun battles and the EDF had a specific gun that felt over powered as it could send your car flipping as they shot it. Thankfully the sledgehammer saves the day, it's powerful and fun to use. The enemies are annoying though as they're constantly running away, leaving you to chase after them. There is a vast selection of weapons including remote mines that you can tactically use to take down structures and plant a few at once, there's also a rocket launcher and land mines. The nano rifle is the most memorable though, a gun that can disintegrate buildings, vehicles and even enemies. The AI are stupidly annoying as they will get in your way and even run you off the road, they're so annoying and even when they're talking, they're not adding anything but more annoyance. They do join you and help you out when you're in a tough situation against the EDF and they even drive a car over to you when you're running on foot for a certain distance. These were nice touches to an otherwise useless group of friendlies.
However, there is a decent amount of content here, there's plenty of side activities which go from destroying buildings, attacking EDF locations, defending bases from assaults and many more. There's also a multiplayer that seems out of place, but it can actually be pretty fun. It has a bunch of backpacks that give off certain boosters like sprinting or shaking the screen to make shooting difficult. It has a bunch of modes to try out and there's also Wrecking Crew, which lets you destroy buildings in creative ways with some friends.
I hate to diss the game, but after playing it all the way through I have to. If it wasn't for the fun of destroying buildings I probably wouldn't have liked it at all, there is so much potential here but with THQ absent these days, there may never be a chance for this potential to be unleashed. I really hope Armageddon can redeem this as that could be the last we ever get in the series. There is life on Mars, I just wish it was a little more lively... and also green! Where were the little green martians?!
6.8/10
Thursday, 8 September 2016
Friday, 2 September 2016
The Warriors (PS4)
"Warriors come out to play". I had never heard of The Warriors back when I played this, I was fairly young and never watched the 1979 film until a few years after. My life revolved around this game once I played it. I was addicted, I loved it. Rockstar turned the movie into an amazing game, if you never played it go buy it right now.
For those unfamiliar with the movie, the Warriors go to a meeting with a number of other gangs, something occurs and the Warriors have to "bop" their way home to Coney Island. Sounds easy, but not when every gang and cop in the city is on their tail.
All nine of the original Warriors feature and all are playable (only Fox is not playable during the story, he's only playable in his Flashback mission). Some of the original cast even voiced their likeness, Cleon, Fox, Swan, Cochise and Ajax all reprised their roles. The game takes place before the movie and most of the story leads to the meeting at the start of the film. It shows how the Warriors got to the meeting and the later missions are featured in the film. The Flashback missions show how all nine members joined and even how the gang was formed, this is a nice added bonus and you get to know each member even more, not many got much screen time in the film so this adds more to each individual.
Graphics look great, if you've watched the movie, you can tell who each character is in the game. The Warriors who never reprised their role are well acted by the new voices. The warchief (whoever you're playing as) is given the ability to order fellow members around as they're currently in charge. The orders you get are 'wreck 'em all', 'scatter', 'hold up', 'mayhem', 'watch my back' and 'let's go' which are all pretty much self explanatory. It heavily features tagging, which is spray painting the Warriors' mark, if you're not a fan, it could get frustrating but it's not that bad when you're used to it.
There are new gangs and even a rival gang that come from Coney Island too. This builds on the story more showing how the Warriors act when they're not being chased all the way back to Coney. There's even some new added Warriors. Rockstar did an excellent job with the new gangs, characters and the story. In the game, the Warriors are a new gang and they're trying to build up their reputation so they can get in on Cyrus' big meeting with every gang in the city.
As well as a story and flashback missions, there's Rumble Mode, free roam and Armies of the Night. Rumble Mode is filled with different game modes for you to try and even lets you create your own gang, where you can hand pick your nine favourite characters to one gang. My personal favourite is Battle Royal, there's nothing more entertaining than throwing each other off of a building and watching the slow motion cutscene and the screams as they fly off, it's honestly the funniest thing ever, as harsh as it may sound. Free roam let's you run around Coney and help out the citizens, while Armies of the Night is an arcade-style beat-em-up.
There is tonnes and tonnes of fighting, thankfully the combat is fantastic. There's combos, finishing moves, takedowns, wall finishers, double team moves, throwing and grappling and rage mode which lets you do brutal finishers. There's even weapons you can pick up like batons and knives. You can also give and take weapons from your buddies. Gang wars are made better when your whole gang is with you and you take on another fifteen gang members, the bigger the brawl the better.
There's a lot of cool features too, you can sort of free run, jumping across rooftops and climbing. You can hide in the shadows from cops and rival gangs when there's too many. You can uncuff any Warriors that have been caught by the cops and even uncuff yourself when you've been taken down. Revive any knocked out buddies with flash, which is a drug that acts as health. The levels have a sort of open-world feel to them, they let you explore and you can even stay in the level as long as you want and build your arcade score very high. There's also training exercises that let you increase your stamina. You can even wear any hat that's been knocked off an enemy or even Cowboy's hat, but he's never happy when you've stolen his hat.
The Warriors are often outnumbered, which leads to some great chase scenes and they feature in the game, along with some new ones. It's pretty terrifying when you know there's a bunch a face painted, crazies chasing you armed with baseball bats. The soundtrack is amazing and true to the film, every song I loved and even the music played during the levels is fantastic. You also have the ability to replay levels and try to beat the high score if you were unable to your first time round.
The dreaded part, the bad stuff. The camera can be really awkward to control and give you a poor angle to play from at times. There's also lots of clipping, you're just trying to sprint and you're caught by the smallest corner, it can become incredibly annoying. Like I said earlier, the tagging but that's preference really, I just felt it featured too much. Thankfully there wasn't much wrong with this game.
Thank you Rockstar for making this game. It's one of my favourite games and I never even heard of The Warriors until I played this. I'm just thankful my friend let me borrow it off him and a week later, buy it off him. If you are crazy and missed this, go buy it on PS4 or even the PS3 if you're on that one. The only question that remains is "Can you dig it?"
9.1/10
For those unfamiliar with the movie, the Warriors go to a meeting with a number of other gangs, something occurs and the Warriors have to "bop" their way home to Coney Island. Sounds easy, but not when every gang and cop in the city is on their tail.
All nine of the original Warriors feature and all are playable (only Fox is not playable during the story, he's only playable in his Flashback mission). Some of the original cast even voiced their likeness, Cleon, Fox, Swan, Cochise and Ajax all reprised their roles. The game takes place before the movie and most of the story leads to the meeting at the start of the film. It shows how the Warriors got to the meeting and the later missions are featured in the film. The Flashback missions show how all nine members joined and even how the gang was formed, this is a nice added bonus and you get to know each member even more, not many got much screen time in the film so this adds more to each individual.
Graphics look great, if you've watched the movie, you can tell who each character is in the game. The Warriors who never reprised their role are well acted by the new voices. The warchief (whoever you're playing as) is given the ability to order fellow members around as they're currently in charge. The orders you get are 'wreck 'em all', 'scatter', 'hold up', 'mayhem', 'watch my back' and 'let's go' which are all pretty much self explanatory. It heavily features tagging, which is spray painting the Warriors' mark, if you're not a fan, it could get frustrating but it's not that bad when you're used to it.
There are new gangs and even a rival gang that come from Coney Island too. This builds on the story more showing how the Warriors act when they're not being chased all the way back to Coney. There's even some new added Warriors. Rockstar did an excellent job with the new gangs, characters and the story. In the game, the Warriors are a new gang and they're trying to build up their reputation so they can get in on Cyrus' big meeting with every gang in the city.
As well as a story and flashback missions, there's Rumble Mode, free roam and Armies of the Night. Rumble Mode is filled with different game modes for you to try and even lets you create your own gang, where you can hand pick your nine favourite characters to one gang. My personal favourite is Battle Royal, there's nothing more entertaining than throwing each other off of a building and watching the slow motion cutscene and the screams as they fly off, it's honestly the funniest thing ever, as harsh as it may sound. Free roam let's you run around Coney and help out the citizens, while Armies of the Night is an arcade-style beat-em-up.
There is tonnes and tonnes of fighting, thankfully the combat is fantastic. There's combos, finishing moves, takedowns, wall finishers, double team moves, throwing and grappling and rage mode which lets you do brutal finishers. There's even weapons you can pick up like batons and knives. You can also give and take weapons from your buddies. Gang wars are made better when your whole gang is with you and you take on another fifteen gang members, the bigger the brawl the better.
There's a lot of cool features too, you can sort of free run, jumping across rooftops and climbing. You can hide in the shadows from cops and rival gangs when there's too many. You can uncuff any Warriors that have been caught by the cops and even uncuff yourself when you've been taken down. Revive any knocked out buddies with flash, which is a drug that acts as health. The levels have a sort of open-world feel to them, they let you explore and you can even stay in the level as long as you want and build your arcade score very high. There's also training exercises that let you increase your stamina. You can even wear any hat that's been knocked off an enemy or even Cowboy's hat, but he's never happy when you've stolen his hat.
The Warriors are often outnumbered, which leads to some great chase scenes and they feature in the game, along with some new ones. It's pretty terrifying when you know there's a bunch a face painted, crazies chasing you armed with baseball bats. The soundtrack is amazing and true to the film, every song I loved and even the music played during the levels is fantastic. You also have the ability to replay levels and try to beat the high score if you were unable to your first time round.
The dreaded part, the bad stuff. The camera can be really awkward to control and give you a poor angle to play from at times. There's also lots of clipping, you're just trying to sprint and you're caught by the smallest corner, it can become incredibly annoying. Like I said earlier, the tagging but that's preference really, I just felt it featured too much. Thankfully there wasn't much wrong with this game.
Thank you Rockstar for making this game. It's one of my favourite games and I never even heard of The Warriors until I played this. I'm just thankful my friend let me borrow it off him and a week later, buy it off him. If you are crazy and missed this, go buy it on PS4 or even the PS3 if you're on that one. The only question that remains is "Can you dig it?"
9.1/10
Friday, 19 August 2016
Dead Rising (Xbox 360)
A zombie game set in a shopping mall, I wonder where they got that idea.... Zombies have pretty much been done to death now, Dead Rising however, was near the start of the zombie buzz. Released in 2006 and spawning many new additions, this is truly one of the great current game series around. You play as Frank West, a photo journalist who's covered wars y'know. Frank is dropped off at the mall and is determined to cover the zombie outbreak story and get it out to the world. Frank has three days to get his story, so he can make it out by getting picked up by his choppa buddy, Ed.
The game has a 'if you can pick it up, you can use it' approach, meaning whatever you can pick up can be used to kill zombies, benches, boxes, baseball bats, you name it! Things that don't start with a B can also be used too! Zombies aren't the only thing to fear, psychopaths are even worse. People who have gone crazy due to the outbreak, they often have survivors held captive, but they are hell-bent on killing you. The battles are often good, but always cheap, striking you while you're already down and taking plenty of health from one attack. You do feel like you've accomplished something when you take them down. You level up through the game and unlock new moves and such throughout, you can level up by bringing survivors back to the safe room and killing zombies of course. Otis, a mall security officer gives you your side missions and let's you know when there's a survivor or a psychopath around, he calls a lot and is really annoying, but you can't help but love the guy.
The game has multiple endings and will probably require a couple playthroughs too. After completing the main story, there's Overtime mode, which sort of extends the main story. You also get 5 day and 7 day survivor mode, which has you try and hold off for longer than the original 3 days. Plenty of extra modes to try once you're all done with the story. I was genuinely quite frightened by this game back in the day, maybe it was because I was pretty young, but I was always weary watching the cutscenes waiting for something bad to happen. I always panicked when I would run into a psychopath. Sadly, future DR games never had me feel the same way, infact they tamed the games down way more. If you killed Adam the clown, you'll know how violent this game was. The psychopaths are great though, they're memorable and very disturbing to watch in the cutscenes, a lot of their death scenes are so brutal to watch too. As well as a chainsaw wielding clown, you have a raincoat cult and convicts driving around in a car with a gun turret.
The map is a decent size, numerous places to go and a whole bunch of shops to explore. Likeable characters and a great performance from Frank West, most of the other characters weren't portrayed as well. A good story that actually has a good zombie outbreak, most zombie related outbreaks are just contaminated food products or some virus got out. An unclear ending though, if you complete overtime mode if you ask me.
This is one of the most frustrating games I've ever played, yes the boss battles are cheap and annoying, but nothing comes close to the dumb AI survivors. You'd think they don't want you to save them. Sometimes when calling them they just stop and you have to call them again to get them moving. You can give them weapons but they're more likely to hit you than zombies. They'll walk in front of you as you're about to clobber a zombie, you'll clear a path for them but they'll run up to the one zombie you missed and there could only be one around and they could get grabbed by it, meaning you have to go back to them to smack the zombie off them.
The game is old and with that comes poor controls, how I longed for aiming and shooting with LT/RT, instead we had aim with RT, fire with X, disgusting right? Only one save, if you screwed up and left yourself with no time to get to the next case mission, you done fucked it up, buddy! Also, manually saving by having to find a bathroom, the amount of times I would die and have to go so far back was depressing, I'm used to autosave, we really do take that guy for granted. Dialogue only exists in cutscenes, when you get a call from Otis, it shows up in a damn text box, nothing makes good gameplay by trying to read a phone call with literally hundreds of zombies around you!
A nice touch was that some of the zombies you see are fallen survivors, they will look familiar as they were people you've came across, I thought that was a good small detail. You can drive vehicles and take out multiple zombies at once and you can even ride skateboards indoors to traverse more quickly. The photography is annoying at times but it's necessary to the game seeing as Frank's a photo journalist. The game has lots of hidden secrets that you most likely didn't even think of, you can blend food items together to create consumables that give off effects such as, running faster or invulnerability. The graphics were pretty good for the time but they come across as cartoony now. Being constantly grabbed by zombies as you try to get by is the worst, especially when you think there's enough distance to walk past, only for them to suddenly leap onto you. The game is funny and most importantly, fun. There's nothing like being dressed up as a woman and putting teddy bear masks on the zombies, actually makes the outbreak look less frightening when they all look like slow, friendly bears!
This game is "faaaaantastic". There's so much to do and so much to explore, you nev- *transceiver rings* - hang on. - *answers call* - GODAMMIT OTIS, WILL YOU STOP CALLING ME EVERY TWO MINUTES, I'M TRYNA REVIEW THE GAME.
Sorry about that, Dead Rising 4 is out later this year with a Christmassy trailer, I for one am looking forward to killing more zombies in hilarious ways with my good buddy, Frank.
8/10
The game has a 'if you can pick it up, you can use it' approach, meaning whatever you can pick up can be used to kill zombies, benches, boxes, baseball bats, you name it! Things that don't start with a B can also be used too! Zombies aren't the only thing to fear, psychopaths are even worse. People who have gone crazy due to the outbreak, they often have survivors held captive, but they are hell-bent on killing you. The battles are often good, but always cheap, striking you while you're already down and taking plenty of health from one attack. You do feel like you've accomplished something when you take them down. You level up through the game and unlock new moves and such throughout, you can level up by bringing survivors back to the safe room and killing zombies of course. Otis, a mall security officer gives you your side missions and let's you know when there's a survivor or a psychopath around, he calls a lot and is really annoying, but you can't help but love the guy.
The game has multiple endings and will probably require a couple playthroughs too. After completing the main story, there's Overtime mode, which sort of extends the main story. You also get 5 day and 7 day survivor mode, which has you try and hold off for longer than the original 3 days. Plenty of extra modes to try once you're all done with the story. I was genuinely quite frightened by this game back in the day, maybe it was because I was pretty young, but I was always weary watching the cutscenes waiting for something bad to happen. I always panicked when I would run into a psychopath. Sadly, future DR games never had me feel the same way, infact they tamed the games down way more. If you killed Adam the clown, you'll know how violent this game was. The psychopaths are great though, they're memorable and very disturbing to watch in the cutscenes, a lot of their death scenes are so brutal to watch too. As well as a chainsaw wielding clown, you have a raincoat cult and convicts driving around in a car with a gun turret.
The map is a decent size, numerous places to go and a whole bunch of shops to explore. Likeable characters and a great performance from Frank West, most of the other characters weren't portrayed as well. A good story that actually has a good zombie outbreak, most zombie related outbreaks are just contaminated food products or some virus got out. An unclear ending though, if you complete overtime mode if you ask me.
This is one of the most frustrating games I've ever played, yes the boss battles are cheap and annoying, but nothing comes close to the dumb AI survivors. You'd think they don't want you to save them. Sometimes when calling them they just stop and you have to call them again to get them moving. You can give them weapons but they're more likely to hit you than zombies. They'll walk in front of you as you're about to clobber a zombie, you'll clear a path for them but they'll run up to the one zombie you missed and there could only be one around and they could get grabbed by it, meaning you have to go back to them to smack the zombie off them.
The game is old and with that comes poor controls, how I longed for aiming and shooting with LT/RT, instead we had aim with RT, fire with X, disgusting right? Only one save, if you screwed up and left yourself with no time to get to the next case mission, you done fucked it up, buddy! Also, manually saving by having to find a bathroom, the amount of times I would die and have to go so far back was depressing, I'm used to autosave, we really do take that guy for granted. Dialogue only exists in cutscenes, when you get a call from Otis, it shows up in a damn text box, nothing makes good gameplay by trying to read a phone call with literally hundreds of zombies around you!
A nice touch was that some of the zombies you see are fallen survivors, they will look familiar as they were people you've came across, I thought that was a good small detail. You can drive vehicles and take out multiple zombies at once and you can even ride skateboards indoors to traverse more quickly. The photography is annoying at times but it's necessary to the game seeing as Frank's a photo journalist. The game has lots of hidden secrets that you most likely didn't even think of, you can blend food items together to create consumables that give off effects such as, running faster or invulnerability. The graphics were pretty good for the time but they come across as cartoony now. Being constantly grabbed by zombies as you try to get by is the worst, especially when you think there's enough distance to walk past, only for them to suddenly leap onto you. The game is funny and most importantly, fun. There's nothing like being dressed up as a woman and putting teddy bear masks on the zombies, actually makes the outbreak look less frightening when they all look like slow, friendly bears!
This game is "faaaaantastic". There's so much to do and so much to explore, you nev- *transceiver rings* - hang on. - *answers call* - GODAMMIT OTIS, WILL YOU STOP CALLING ME EVERY TWO MINUTES, I'M TRYNA REVIEW THE GAME.
Sorry about that, Dead Rising 4 is out later this year with a Christmassy trailer, I for one am looking forward to killing more zombies in hilarious ways with my good buddy, Frank.
8/10
Saturday, 13 August 2016
Homefront (Xbox 360)
'Home is where the war is'..... As long as it's not where this game is! Homefront released in 2011 and I remember how massive the hype was for this game, a hype I never got myself sucked into. I rented this game when it came out because I didn't think it'd be worth a purchase. The game is set in the near future, where North and South Korea unite and a war begins with the US. A war with the US you say? I'm shocked too!
You play as Jacobs who... who's... I'm not even sure. I'm some guy anyway, who has got some sort of military background. While on a bus being driven by Koreans, some geniuses come up with the escape plan to drive into the bus you're on to free you. You're the only survivor on the bus, gee, that was lucky! The Resistance, as they referred themselves, tell you that they read your file, you're really great and want you on their side... How did they get the file? How did they know Jacobs was on that bus and that route? Does Jacobs even want to be part of the Resistance? Surely he would've already signed up by then. The game is ridiculously short and has only seven forgettable missions, baring some sections. It has to be said, the Call of Duty esque intro is very memorable and brutal, you should probably witness it for yourself. The story is ok, but there are so many close calls and you survive every one of them, this includes falling off a bridge, falling out of a tower and even a white phosphorus mortar aimed on top of you, now that in itself is just laughable.
The shooting is probably the best part in the game, the M4 is outstanding. The Goliath is a really cool idea, getting to commandeer a vehicle that can target enemies and wipe out groups at a time is really handy, sadly there isn't much with the Goliath. The AI actually do kill, but they get in your way more than they help. If you're scavenging for ammo or looking for collectables, orders are barked at you to go somewhere and the dialogue is constantly repeated until you carry on the story. The Guerilla difficultly wasn't too hard but there were some challenging sections, definitely not for casual gamers. Did you notice how small the good section was and that it probably had more flaws mentioned than good?
This game has lots and lots of problems, incredibly slow loading textures and plenty pop in and out as you move. There was a vehicle that blocked the way and as I got close to it, it just completely disappeared and you could see the next area that the vehicle was meant to block. The game is really slow and clunky and the melee is crap, there is no reason to ever use it. It never even gave me an option to pick a difficulty when I started, I wanted to play on the hardest difficulty, but to do it, you have to change it in the options before you start the game. One of the most buggy games I've played, there's a part where you run across the street to hide from a tank, I ran right across an enemy, a foot away from me and he never saw me somehow! I was also hit in a section where there wasn't any enemies, but I lost health and was hit by a bullet. I couldn't shoot through a space because there was debris too close to it, yet I was shot while talking cover behind a plane for Christ sake! The game looks so bad at times I wasn't sure if it was a PS1 game, it's hard to believe it was released in 2011. Enemies would just walk past the AI to get to me and they would let them! One more thing that frustrated the Hell out of me, I got to the objective to end the mission but the new objective hadn't set and I was almost killed waiting for it and the worst part was that it's the hardest part of the game. You have to kill a bunch of enemies and GET TO DA CHOPPA (couldn't resist) but the enemies are infinite and on the hardest difficulty, it really was... well, difficult.
This part gets its own paragraph because it was so bad.... the characters. Oh my God, the characters. Are we supposed to like them? We're actually meant to care about them and they try and make you feel sad about a certain individual near the end, I couldn't give a shit about them! Connor is one of the worst characters I've ever seen in a game, he shouts everything and is always bossing you around, he's so unlikeable and even tells a hungry kid to go away. Fucking dick. Can't forget Jacobs, the guy you play as, no face or voice, he's just a silent protagonist who's meant to be great, but he doesn't do anything and has no story. Don't get me wrong, not all the characters are bad, Boone and Hopper are likeable.
I think most of the effort went into the multiplayer, I wasn't interested in it back when I rented it and by the time I played it again, the servers were gone due to THQ's closure. This game somehow managed to get a sequel, well, more of a reboot so I hear. I am willing to give it a chance, despite my hatred for this game I think it has potential with more focus on the characters and a longer story. However this was a disaster. Just before I go.... FUCK YOU CONNOR, I HATE YOU.
5.2/10
You play as Jacobs who... who's... I'm not even sure. I'm some guy anyway, who has got some sort of military background. While on a bus being driven by Koreans, some geniuses come up with the escape plan to drive into the bus you're on to free you. You're the only survivor on the bus, gee, that was lucky! The Resistance, as they referred themselves, tell you that they read your file, you're really great and want you on their side... How did they get the file? How did they know Jacobs was on that bus and that route? Does Jacobs even want to be part of the Resistance? Surely he would've already signed up by then. The game is ridiculously short and has only seven forgettable missions, baring some sections. It has to be said, the Call of Duty esque intro is very memorable and brutal, you should probably witness it for yourself. The story is ok, but there are so many close calls and you survive every one of them, this includes falling off a bridge, falling out of a tower and even a white phosphorus mortar aimed on top of you, now that in itself is just laughable.
The shooting is probably the best part in the game, the M4 is outstanding. The Goliath is a really cool idea, getting to commandeer a vehicle that can target enemies and wipe out groups at a time is really handy, sadly there isn't much with the Goliath. The AI actually do kill, but they get in your way more than they help. If you're scavenging for ammo or looking for collectables, orders are barked at you to go somewhere and the dialogue is constantly repeated until you carry on the story. The Guerilla difficultly wasn't too hard but there were some challenging sections, definitely not for casual gamers. Did you notice how small the good section was and that it probably had more flaws mentioned than good?
This game has lots and lots of problems, incredibly slow loading textures and plenty pop in and out as you move. There was a vehicle that blocked the way and as I got close to it, it just completely disappeared and you could see the next area that the vehicle was meant to block. The game is really slow and clunky and the melee is crap, there is no reason to ever use it. It never even gave me an option to pick a difficulty when I started, I wanted to play on the hardest difficulty, but to do it, you have to change it in the options before you start the game. One of the most buggy games I've played, there's a part where you run across the street to hide from a tank, I ran right across an enemy, a foot away from me and he never saw me somehow! I was also hit in a section where there wasn't any enemies, but I lost health and was hit by a bullet. I couldn't shoot through a space because there was debris too close to it, yet I was shot while talking cover behind a plane for Christ sake! The game looks so bad at times I wasn't sure if it was a PS1 game, it's hard to believe it was released in 2011. Enemies would just walk past the AI to get to me and they would let them! One more thing that frustrated the Hell out of me, I got to the objective to end the mission but the new objective hadn't set and I was almost killed waiting for it and the worst part was that it's the hardest part of the game. You have to kill a bunch of enemies and GET TO DA CHOPPA (couldn't resist) but the enemies are infinite and on the hardest difficulty, it really was... well, difficult.
This part gets its own paragraph because it was so bad.... the characters. Oh my God, the characters. Are we supposed to like them? We're actually meant to care about them and they try and make you feel sad about a certain individual near the end, I couldn't give a shit about them! Connor is one of the worst characters I've ever seen in a game, he shouts everything and is always bossing you around, he's so unlikeable and even tells a hungry kid to go away. Fucking dick. Can't forget Jacobs, the guy you play as, no face or voice, he's just a silent protagonist who's meant to be great, but he doesn't do anything and has no story. Don't get me wrong, not all the characters are bad, Boone and Hopper are likeable.
I think most of the effort went into the multiplayer, I wasn't interested in it back when I rented it and by the time I played it again, the servers were gone due to THQ's closure. This game somehow managed to get a sequel, well, more of a reboot so I hear. I am willing to give it a chance, despite my hatred for this game I think it has potential with more focus on the characters and a longer story. However this was a disaster. Just before I go.... FUCK YOU CONNOR, I HATE YOU.
5.2/10
Tuesday, 2 August 2016
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)
Welcome to the start of the charismatic story of Nathan Drake. Released all the way back in 2007, it was one of the first big hits on the PS3. It's went on to spawn three more major releases and has continued into the PS4 era. Drake will be one of your favourite playable characters I can assure you, he's cool, he's funny and he's entertaining. I didn't get to play this game until late 2012, it was definitely worth the wait.
The game starts off straight in the middle of the ocean. Drake, accompanied by journalist Elena are lead to believe that Drake's relative, the great adventurer, Sir Francis Drake's body is buried at sea. Drake's old friend Sully, joins Drake in hunting for more of Francis Drake's treasures, with the help of his handbook filled with information and sketches that lead to treasures. Soon after, 'friends' of Sully's catch up to them, people who he owes money to. One suggestion of payment is Francis' treasure, it suddenly becomes a race to the finish, who will win?
The game has some great characters, the aforementioned Drake of course, but the side characters are really good too. Sully and Elena are good characters and all gel together. Each actor put in a stellar performance and they had great characters to play. The gameplay is really well done, it's fun to play and the climbing sections aren't frustrating, even when you fall. Thankfully, they're not too long so you don't feel you have to do a lot if you make a mistake. The shooting can be quite difficult, but once you get used to it, it's no problem.
There is a great variety of weapons, in case you ever get bored of using the same one. You can have a sidearm and a primary weapon, like a machine gun or shotgun equipped at all times. You also have grenades if you find them, Drake is also capable of knocking sense into enemies and by that, I mean he knocks them the fuck out!
The game flows chapter to chapter. You could climb up a ladder and as you walk forward a little, the new chapter triggers. The cutscenes are great, I always enjoyed watching them. The characters were so well done, it was a joy to watch. A lot of games have boring stories and cutscenes, but this certainly isn't one of those games. The conversations in between action sequences are fantastic, just the bond between the characters is entertaining to watch. Anyone who played The Last of Us would know how well Naughty Dog do this. The game has humour but it also has serious parts too, it's a nice combination.
The music is amazing, I love it! When the main theme plays at the end of the game, it fits perfectly and you realise how great this game is. The game has some good puzzles for you to work out, made easier with Sir Francis Drake's handbook, the only issue was that it didn't seem there were enough of them. The water effects look beautiful, Drake looks soaked after he's just came out of the water and it looks real, water, as well as hair I imagine are two of the hardest things for a developer to create. There's also some unique sections, there's driving and even driving a boat.
Like every review I do, there's bad things, there really aren't many here though. As in almost every game, there's texture issues, nothing too daunting of course. There is also an exploit you can use in cover, I did use it to my benefit, you can angle youself so that you have a great view of the enemy while aiming, even though you're clearly blocked by the cover, the bullets still hit. It justifies it a bit in that you can get hit too if you can see them, but it makes it much easier. The boat section was quite difficult on hard difficulty, it seemed better to stop and kill the enemies, rather than drive through like you're meant to do.
The hard difficulty was quite challenging, but that was mainly due to the difficult shooting. There is an even harder difficultly for expert gamers to use called 'Crushing'. I look forward to trying this difficultly and I'm now looking forward to replaying the rest of the trilogy and one day playing the fourth game. If you missed this game or don't own a PS3, now is the time to go back to it or even purchase yourself a PS because it's worth it! I envy you if you have yet to play them.
8.5/10
The game starts off straight in the middle of the ocean. Drake, accompanied by journalist Elena are lead to believe that Drake's relative, the great adventurer, Sir Francis Drake's body is buried at sea. Drake's old friend Sully, joins Drake in hunting for more of Francis Drake's treasures, with the help of his handbook filled with information and sketches that lead to treasures. Soon after, 'friends' of Sully's catch up to them, people who he owes money to. One suggestion of payment is Francis' treasure, it suddenly becomes a race to the finish, who will win?
The game has some great characters, the aforementioned Drake of course, but the side characters are really good too. Sully and Elena are good characters and all gel together. Each actor put in a stellar performance and they had great characters to play. The gameplay is really well done, it's fun to play and the climbing sections aren't frustrating, even when you fall. Thankfully, they're not too long so you don't feel you have to do a lot if you make a mistake. The shooting can be quite difficult, but once you get used to it, it's no problem.
There is a great variety of weapons, in case you ever get bored of using the same one. You can have a sidearm and a primary weapon, like a machine gun or shotgun equipped at all times. You also have grenades if you find them, Drake is also capable of knocking sense into enemies and by that, I mean he knocks them the fuck out!
The game flows chapter to chapter. You could climb up a ladder and as you walk forward a little, the new chapter triggers. The cutscenes are great, I always enjoyed watching them. The characters were so well done, it was a joy to watch. A lot of games have boring stories and cutscenes, but this certainly isn't one of those games. The conversations in between action sequences are fantastic, just the bond between the characters is entertaining to watch. Anyone who played The Last of Us would know how well Naughty Dog do this. The game has humour but it also has serious parts too, it's a nice combination.
The music is amazing, I love it! When the main theme plays at the end of the game, it fits perfectly and you realise how great this game is. The game has some good puzzles for you to work out, made easier with Sir Francis Drake's handbook, the only issue was that it didn't seem there were enough of them. The water effects look beautiful, Drake looks soaked after he's just came out of the water and it looks real, water, as well as hair I imagine are two of the hardest things for a developer to create. There's also some unique sections, there's driving and even driving a boat.
Like every review I do, there's bad things, there really aren't many here though. As in almost every game, there's texture issues, nothing too daunting of course. There is also an exploit you can use in cover, I did use it to my benefit, you can angle youself so that you have a great view of the enemy while aiming, even though you're clearly blocked by the cover, the bullets still hit. It justifies it a bit in that you can get hit too if you can see them, but it makes it much easier. The boat section was quite difficult on hard difficulty, it seemed better to stop and kill the enemies, rather than drive through like you're meant to do.
The hard difficulty was quite challenging, but that was mainly due to the difficult shooting. There is an even harder difficultly for expert gamers to use called 'Crushing'. I look forward to trying this difficultly and I'm now looking forward to replaying the rest of the trilogy and one day playing the fourth game. If you missed this game or don't own a PS3, now is the time to go back to it or even purchase yourself a PS because it's worth it! I envy you if you have yet to play them.
8.5/10
Sunday, 24 July 2016
Sniper Elite V2 (Xbox 360)
This is what a real sniper looks like, fuck you Call of Duty with your quick-scope/360 no-scope bullshit. Now, with that out of the way, onto the review.
Sniper Elite V2 is an apparent sequel and remake to the first, I never played the first myself. I originally got this for the PS3 but completed it on 360. I played through the entire game with a friend, this game is a fun game in co-op. However, if you want to be able to stealth through it, then single-player is the best way. Less chance of getting caught on your own.
The game is set in WW2, you play as- hmm, I don't even know... You play as some guy in WW2, equipped with a sniper. The guy you play as was incredibly bland and didn't even stand out in appearance, the story was also bland. Basically the game is fun, everything else is bland, but it has some really good gameplay and some great mechanics.
The graphics are ok in this game, I'd expect more considering it's quite recent. The hair looks terrible though, it looks plastic, like you're playing a video game of an Action Man doll that came to life! (I miss Action Man come to think of it.) The sound-work in this game is incredible, just the sound of the boots as you're sprinting is great. But it is pretty bland elsewhere, a short and not very engaging storyline. No characters to like and a boring playable character. It may be a sniper, war game, but it needed more in these elements to improve it.
One thing I did like, is how it actually forces you to use your sniper. That may sound weird given the name of the game, but hear me out; the pistol is incredibly difficult to kill enemies with unless your close, due to the huge reticle aim, the machine gun has next to no bullets and you never find much ammo, thus using your sniper! You do get a whole load of other gear to use too, you get trip mines, grenades and even a rock, which you can use to throw and distract enemies with.
Here's the best thing in the game though; X-ray kill-cam. These truly are a thing of beauty, there's nothing better than watching the camera follow your bullet and fly through an enemy soilder as it shows their skeleton and organs, as you see the bullet pierce them and destroy where ever you hit them from the inside. It's incredibly satisfying seeing the bullet shattered the skull or explode a lung, vulgur in text, but trust me on this. I don't feel there was enough X-ray kills. The bullet cams are good too, but compared to the X-ray bullet cams, they are boring. You have no silencer either, which makes the game much more difficult, but being able to mask the sound of your shot by nearby noises is a great feature. As well as the story the game has some other modes you can play in co-op, but they can get boring fast but they do add a little more.
The game as always came with some bugs and issues. Not being able to go prone despite nothing being in the way as a sniper shot at me was frustrating. While taking cover at a destroyed tank, the camera started to shake vigorously. Couldn't fit through a gap that was big enough to walk through, thanks to the incredible invisible walls. Would sink into the ground as you walked up structures and steps. You were forced to trigger the enemy spawns, meaning you would often have to put yourself out in the open to proceed, which often end up with needing to be revived. Speaking of the reviving, it was awful, a huge delay from trying to revive eachother resulted in having to hold the button to revive many times and that it would take you out of prone and force you to crouch, making you a much easier target to shoot.
This game is really fun with some great features. I'm not surprised a third was released and soon to be a fourth. I am surprised at its apparent Game of the Year release though, still not sure if it is a legit GotY. Too much blandness lowers this game's score, but I do look forward to the next releases.
7/10
Sniper Elite V2 is an apparent sequel and remake to the first, I never played the first myself. I originally got this for the PS3 but completed it on 360. I played through the entire game with a friend, this game is a fun game in co-op. However, if you want to be able to stealth through it, then single-player is the best way. Less chance of getting caught on your own.
The game is set in WW2, you play as- hmm, I don't even know... You play as some guy in WW2, equipped with a sniper. The guy you play as was incredibly bland and didn't even stand out in appearance, the story was also bland. Basically the game is fun, everything else is bland, but it has some really good gameplay and some great mechanics.
The graphics are ok in this game, I'd expect more considering it's quite recent. The hair looks terrible though, it looks plastic, like you're playing a video game of an Action Man doll that came to life! (I miss Action Man come to think of it.) The sound-work in this game is incredible, just the sound of the boots as you're sprinting is great. But it is pretty bland elsewhere, a short and not very engaging storyline. No characters to like and a boring playable character. It may be a sniper, war game, but it needed more in these elements to improve it.
One thing I did like, is how it actually forces you to use your sniper. That may sound weird given the name of the game, but hear me out; the pistol is incredibly difficult to kill enemies with unless your close, due to the huge reticle aim, the machine gun has next to no bullets and you never find much ammo, thus using your sniper! You do get a whole load of other gear to use too, you get trip mines, grenades and even a rock, which you can use to throw and distract enemies with.
Here's the best thing in the game though; X-ray kill-cam. These truly are a thing of beauty, there's nothing better than watching the camera follow your bullet and fly through an enemy soilder as it shows their skeleton and organs, as you see the bullet pierce them and destroy where ever you hit them from the inside. It's incredibly satisfying seeing the bullet shattered the skull or explode a lung, vulgur in text, but trust me on this. I don't feel there was enough X-ray kills. The bullet cams are good too, but compared to the X-ray bullet cams, they are boring. You have no silencer either, which makes the game much more difficult, but being able to mask the sound of your shot by nearby noises is a great feature. As well as the story the game has some other modes you can play in co-op, but they can get boring fast but they do add a little more.
The game as always came with some bugs and issues. Not being able to go prone despite nothing being in the way as a sniper shot at me was frustrating. While taking cover at a destroyed tank, the camera started to shake vigorously. Couldn't fit through a gap that was big enough to walk through, thanks to the incredible invisible walls. Would sink into the ground as you walked up structures and steps. You were forced to trigger the enemy spawns, meaning you would often have to put yourself out in the open to proceed, which often end up with needing to be revived. Speaking of the reviving, it was awful, a huge delay from trying to revive eachother resulted in having to hold the button to revive many times and that it would take you out of prone and force you to crouch, making you a much easier target to shoot.
This game is really fun with some great features. I'm not surprised a third was released and soon to be a fourth. I am surprised at its apparent Game of the Year release though, still not sure if it is a legit GotY. Too much blandness lowers this game's score, but I do look forward to the next releases.
7/10
Tuesday, 5 July 2016
Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360)
Well, this is were it all began. Assassin's Creed, who'd have thought this would become a series that never stopped. It was also one of the first games that kick-started my wonderful Xbox 360 career. Let's eagle dive into this one ;)
The first in the everlasting series, released back in 2007. This game didn't really age well, but what do you expect, it is very old now. Set in the Third Crusade, in Jerusalem, we play as a disgraced assassin, Altair and also Desmond, in present day. Desmond, taken in by Abstergo to explore his ancestors memories, by entering the Animus. The Animus is a sort of bed, that delves into the minds of the subject and is capable of exploring the ancestors lives of the subject.
The game is fun, being able to climb practically every building in sight, no matter how tall. Free running over the rooftops, sword fighting, riding horses. It's all fun. Across the many AC games, this has my favourite combat. The counter move is the most useful asset, it comes in handy when you end up in a fight against thirty people. The introduction of the hidden blade started here, being able to walk up undetected and then take out your target in one quick attack can save you an intense battle.
The game started off much simpler than it's followers, find information on the target and then kill them. The problem was that the game was repetitive, doing the same kind of investigations, interrogating people, eavesdropping and pickpocketing and then reporting back before you started the assassination of your target. It started off great, it was different, it was new and exciting. It sadly deflated pretty quickly when you realised it was the same thing. Altair was dull and boring, I'm certain he wasn't capable of emotions. His outfit is one of my favourites throughout the series though. The other characters were boring too, I just didn't care about them and don't even get me started on Desmond!
I loved the game at the time, but we were miss-sold. We were expecting it to be set in the past, yes it was, but we were really in the present day, entering a sort of time machine back to the past. I remember thinking "what the fuck is this", when I was first placed in the modern era. It slowed the game down, being taken in and out of the Animus, although the modern story makes more sense the further it goes, but I can't help think that this game should've been strictly set in the past and got closer to the present each game.
The architecture was beautiful, the scenery, the landscapes, all great. Travelling to each city was a pain though, it was nice riding on a horse at first because it made it seem like you could travel a lot with the horse. You can't, you can only go to each city and when you're there, you have to be on foot. It was far too big as well, it took ages to get to each city and there was nothing to do in between. It also never made sense how you would alert guards just by running by or sprinting with the horse. It was so frustrating how often guards would engage in combat when you were just exploring the city.
There's a good alert system that lets you know when you're being watched, when you're detected and when you're safe or hidden. You can also blend in with scholars and using them as a moving hiding spot to sneak through guarded areas. Another cool thing is the Eagle vision, it highlights guards in red and the assassination target gold. There's also the eagle dive, where you jump off a building and safely land in a hay barrel, it's cool but very unlikely you'd survive. We don't play games for them to be life-like do we?
I never expected this game to get as many sequels/spin offs and even a movie after this game, despite how much I liked it. I'm glad they changed the character and setting and it's always something to look forward to where it'll be set next. For the first time, we're getting a break from the annual release since the first game, although the movie is out this year...
7.5/10
The first in the everlasting series, released back in 2007. This game didn't really age well, but what do you expect, it is very old now. Set in the Third Crusade, in Jerusalem, we play as a disgraced assassin, Altair and also Desmond, in present day. Desmond, taken in by Abstergo to explore his ancestors memories, by entering the Animus. The Animus is a sort of bed, that delves into the minds of the subject and is capable of exploring the ancestors lives of the subject.
The game is fun, being able to climb practically every building in sight, no matter how tall. Free running over the rooftops, sword fighting, riding horses. It's all fun. Across the many AC games, this has my favourite combat. The counter move is the most useful asset, it comes in handy when you end up in a fight against thirty people. The introduction of the hidden blade started here, being able to walk up undetected and then take out your target in one quick attack can save you an intense battle.
The game started off much simpler than it's followers, find information on the target and then kill them. The problem was that the game was repetitive, doing the same kind of investigations, interrogating people, eavesdropping and pickpocketing and then reporting back before you started the assassination of your target. It started off great, it was different, it was new and exciting. It sadly deflated pretty quickly when you realised it was the same thing. Altair was dull and boring, I'm certain he wasn't capable of emotions. His outfit is one of my favourites throughout the series though. The other characters were boring too, I just didn't care about them and don't even get me started on Desmond!
I loved the game at the time, but we were miss-sold. We were expecting it to be set in the past, yes it was, but we were really in the present day, entering a sort of time machine back to the past. I remember thinking "what the fuck is this", when I was first placed in the modern era. It slowed the game down, being taken in and out of the Animus, although the modern story makes more sense the further it goes, but I can't help think that this game should've been strictly set in the past and got closer to the present each game.
The architecture was beautiful, the scenery, the landscapes, all great. Travelling to each city was a pain though, it was nice riding on a horse at first because it made it seem like you could travel a lot with the horse. You can't, you can only go to each city and when you're there, you have to be on foot. It was far too big as well, it took ages to get to each city and there was nothing to do in between. It also never made sense how you would alert guards just by running by or sprinting with the horse. It was so frustrating how often guards would engage in combat when you were just exploring the city.
There's a good alert system that lets you know when you're being watched, when you're detected and when you're safe or hidden. You can also blend in with scholars and using them as a moving hiding spot to sneak through guarded areas. Another cool thing is the Eagle vision, it highlights guards in red and the assassination target gold. There's also the eagle dive, where you jump off a building and safely land in a hay barrel, it's cool but very unlikely you'd survive. We don't play games for them to be life-like do we?
I never expected this game to get as many sequels/spin offs and even a movie after this game, despite how much I liked it. I'm glad they changed the character and setting and it's always something to look forward to where it'll be set next. For the first time, we're getting a break from the annual release since the first game, although the movie is out this year...
7.5/10
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