Years ago, on a mysterious and fearful event known as the Scarlet Night, Velvet and her brother Laphicet are saved from demonic beings by their brother-in-law and demon exorcist Artorius. With demonblight affecting the townsfolk, Velvet’s sister and her unborn child both perish in the event. Years later, after living a quiet life in their peaceful village with Artorius, Velvet and Laphicet’s lives are changed forever when the Scarlet Night returns, and Laphicet is sacrificed by Artorius to seal a pact with the demons. Velvet fights back only to be consumed by the demonblight, turned into a semi-demonic creature and captured in a cell. Spending three years biding her time and devouring demons that are fed to her, Velvet manages to escape with some help and seeks out her revenge on Artorius for the sacrifice of her brother.

Let me just say first off, this is the first time I’ve ever touched a game in the ‘Tales Of’ series – one that has been running for a little over 20 years, first making its appearance on the Super Famicom with Tales of Phantasia. Where many fans would understand the majority of what takes place in the game, I was totally lost – but this was a good thing, as it truly allowed me to understand more about the game itself, the first of which was the battle system. Using what has been established as the ‘Linear Motion Battle System’, fights are in a real-time scenario as opposed to typical turn-based RPGs and allow significant fluidity within a battle. Tutorial battles aside, the depth of this system really showed in the ability to customize multiple attack styles and tactics – plus the fact that you could effectively button-mash in a fight made it more action-packed. The game uses a ‘Soul Gauge’, which is a decisive gauge that determines the number of actions a player can make at any given time. Taking down enemies boosts the gauge and allows for flashier attacks, which can be learned and chained together, and organized through menus. I found myself wanting to fight enemies more often than usual because I really enjoyed the fighting system, which is something I’m not used to. This breaks up the consistent meandering throughout the overworld which could have either been trimmed down or made for characters to move faster through, as it gets relatively boring.

The game itself plays out quite like an anime both in narrative and visual styles – cutscenes are both animated and in-game, and the story progresses through these. It can get quite tedious to trawl through after a while; there’s a difference between basic dialogue for exposition’s sake, and describing every minute detail of every action occurring, and sadly the latter is what the game chooses to do. This, however, is probably the biggest flaw of the game overall (and the awful English voice acting that accompanies it), as the narrative itself is quite interesting – it isn’t often you get to see a half-demon anti-hero woman take the lead in a video game. Akin to someone like Kratos from the God of War series, Velvet’s lust for revenge of her young brother drives the story forward, through which we understand more about the characters and their emotional journey versus reason. Accompanied with some quite colourful visuals (except the consistent repetitiveness of the dungeons), the world of Tales of Berseria is pretty fun to explore, and there is always something to be chasing up on.

CONCLUSION

All in all, I wasn’t expecting Tales of Berseria to be as good of a game as it was. Sure there were some minor gripes with the voice acting and dialogue, as well as the extended overworld travel which slows down enjoyment, but most games have flaws in one way or another. With fun flowing combat and a pretty badass anti-hero lead in Violet, Tales of Berseria is a game you shouldn’t let slip by – unless of course you are already swamped with other titles in the meantime.

For the purpose of this review, Tales of Berseria was mainly played on a PlayStation 4.

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At PAX Australia, I had to opportunity to try out Just Dance 17, the latest instalment in the Just Dance series. When I say opportunity, I really mean that I went to seek out these booths so I could play the game.

Standing up there against three others, two of whom were Just Dance representatives because nobody else had the balls to get up there, we shook and shimmied to Justin Bieber’s smash hit ‘Sorry.’ Following the prompts on the bottom of the screen, we were made to drop, twirl, slide and glide. It’s straight forward and easy once you remember the order of the dance moves, as most songs usually have three to four sets of moves that repeat as the song goes on.The dance moves themselves aren’t particularly hard or intricate, but to score the points, you have to have perfect timing. I played on the Wii U version and found the response and tracking of my moves to be very accurate.

I then made my way through to the second Just Dance exhibit just to play again, and this time it was a 2 v 2 battle round to Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie.” Just Dance 17 offers four modes of dance to play in: Single, Duo, Trio and Quadruple, for up to four players. It’s the perfect party game, really.

The visuals are great, providing a bright and whimsical backdrop that doesn’t distract you from your mission, and it really propels the game onto another level of engagement.

Some songs take the dance moves right out of the video clip, for example, Fifth Harmony’s hit ‘Worth It’ has various dance moves lifted right out of the official choreography performed by the band. Personally, this was a huge advantage for me as I was familiar with the dance moves prior to playing this level.The song list consists of 41 songs, taken from hits of today and the past. You’ll find a mixture of songs from DNCE’s 2015 hit “Cake By The Ocean”, to Queen’s classic “Don’t Stop Me Now.” You can also find hits from Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, PSY, and Sia to name a few.

A great thing about Just Dance 17 is that it comes with a 90 day pass to Just Dance Gold, a subscription to Just Dance Unlimited, which gives you access to every song in Just Dance history as well as a selection of songs only available through this service. You can renew this after your free period is up.

I then had the chance to play this at home on PS4, but because I don’t have the PlayStation Camera, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to play. Luckily, Ubisoft has created an accompanying free iPhone app that lets you use your phone as the controller when you play Just Dance 17! Connecting via the same Wi-Fi network, you can navigate the menu with your iPhone and then use it as the controller while you dance.

There are over 230 unlockable avatars that you obtain after every song you play, which adds for a nice touch for those who enjoy being rewarded for their hard efforts. The score you earn also gives you some coins to purchase unlockable songs. I’ve yet to delve deeper into the game, but the replay level is high as I constantly aim to hit five stars and unlock all the trophies.

My highest score so far is 9,800 on Selena Gomez’ “Love You Like A Love Song.”

CONCLUSION

Parents who complain that children spend too much time playing video games and not getting exercise will regret ever saying that if they purchase this game. You will be most definitely be sweating by the end of it. Just Dance 2016 is fun for the whole family, and I’d highly recommend it.

The PS4 version of this game was primarily used for the purpose of this review.

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So, those of you who haven’t heard much about this game, might not know that the latest toys come to life offering isn’t content with just letting you develop and arm your Skylanders with all sorts of wacky skills and items.

No, this time around you can create your own Skylanders using the power of this stuff called ‘Imaginite’. Instead of merely offering you toy characters to plonk on your new portal (once again supplied with the game), this time around Skylanders Imaginators arms you with Imaginite based ‘Creation Crystals’, which you can use to make your own unique Skylanders. The crystals glow when placed on the toy portal and look a little like coloured egg timers. They come in different flavours, reflecting the core natural domains common to the series.

You also get a new type of character, the ‘Sensei’, to play with and you must head off into the gameworld and battle that persistent pest, Kaos. Naturally, the littlest big bad guy has a few fresh tricks up his sleeve too and has managed to use the same sort of magic that you now have access to, to conjure up unheard of foes, called Doomlanders.

There is plenty of intense combat and lots of cheesy one-liners from Kaos, with his deadpan sidekick Glumshanks still in tow. Plus, there is puzzle play aplenty, platforming action and racing too. What an absolute smorgasbord of ‘Skylandery greatness’, as Flynn, who has also returned, would say. There is a lot to like and much to do apart from the familiar cocktail of exploration and combat.

There is even rail riding challenges, a juke box you must tune to obtain gold, the odd spot where you can take ‘selfie’ images of your Skylanders for extra treasure, and a snail you must race for extra Imaginite crystals. It is like the developers reached a critical mass with a good group of mini games and then decided to double down and make even more, as the selection is superb.

All of these minigames have one very welcome reward. You get chests that, once opened, yield extra Imaginite. This substance can then be smashed and turns into cool bonus items. This system is quite different to the coin based reward dynamic we have been used to with previous games and to be honest it kind of makes the coins you do earn feel redundant. But hey it’s all treasure, so it is hard to complain.

One slight design change I personally don’t like, is the way you can so easily and instantly from anywhere open the ‘upgrade’ menu and purchase new powers. This cheapens the experience, as you can upgrade your characters as soon as you have the readies. Having to travel to an upgrade shrine during the game or schlep back to town like we had to in older games feels like a better design approach, as it means you treasure the upgrade process more.

That said, there are tons of upgrade options and it is still fun to pump your characters up, even if it is a little too easy to do so quickly.

If you thought the visuals in Superchargers were varied and colourful, you’ll be impressed by how much better Imaginators looks. The game is bursting with bright effects, colourful, varied architecture and wacky backdrops.

There are also new elements like Sensei Shrines that give you access to extremely desirable special attack moves. However, these moves are unique to a particular Sensei and can only be taught to an Imaginator ‘student’ from the same battle class. Thus, you are given motivation to buy all of the Sensei toys and Creation Crystals sold separately. This may not please everyone, especially those on a budget.

Also, using the Creation Crystal, the character creation aspect of the game is hugely satisfying with a massive array of classes, apparel options, voices, catchphrases, theme tunes and special attacks on offer.

Making your own characters and choosing how they look, how they sound and how they fight is immensely rewarding. There are some mighty oddball options too.

Watermelon shoulder pads and coconut helmets are just the start of how silly and creative you can be. It is slightly annoying how you must keep a particular character configuration once you have created it using a Crystal. These toys cannot be ‘reset’ like other Skylander figures.

That said, replacement crystals are only ten bucks and you can make an army of truly weird and wonderful warriors that reflect your own twisted ideas. Indeed as long as you buy into the need to purchase the toys there is a lot of (admittedly pricey) fun to be had building your collection.

Imaginators isn’t entirely perfect though. At times I did find the controls on the rail grinding sections lacked the precision required to easily leap from track to track. Also the racing bonus levels did see you occasionally get frustratingly stuck in the scenery.

However, for the most part the action is superb. The combat is chaotic with special moves and magical attacks firing off all over the place and as long as you keep moving and attacking you can generally do well even on the hardest difficulty level.

The way the Imaginators pushes the need to spend real world money to buy toys and other trinkets on you, with adverts that pop up during loading screens, is also a minor blemish.

CONCLUSION

Skylanders Imaginators manages to do the seemingly impossible. Not only does it breath life into a franchise that has always demanded fresh innovation with every release, but the game delivers fun for kids and older players alike. Imaginators adds new character customisation and creation dynamics to the already familiar formula of combat, exploration and puzzle solving.

If you are stuck for something to grab for a pre-teen gamer this Yuletide, and they don’t have the game already, Imaginators is a safe bet that will please most.

The Xbox One version of this game was used for the purpose of this review.

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The clock ticks down to the last twenty seconds of Super Bowl LI. My team, the Carolina Panthers are currently drawn with the Cincinnati Bengals at 0-0. The commentators announce that this is the first time in history that a Super Bowl has gone into overtime. I can only assume it’s also the first Super Bowl to remain scoreless at the end of regulation playing time. Unfortunately for me, the Bengals are looking to end this stalemate with a 30 yard field goal attempt. As the ball leaves the boot of their placekicker – I make a frantic scramble for the rising ball and somehow manage to smother the kick. As a result of this block, the ball ends up in the hands of my fullback, Mike Tolbert aka ‘Fat Boy’. As Tolbert waddles towards the end zone as fast as he can – commentator Brandon Gaudin poses the question “Does the big guy have enough to bring it home?” Thankfully, Tolbert was able to bring it home in what was a hilarious end to my road to glory. An adrenaline fuelled road that was marred with technical issues and plenty of incomplete passes.

With the release of Madden NFL 17, EA Sports have managed to perfect the juxtapositional balance of remaining true to the intricacies of the sport while still keeping it universally accessible. With a dedicated focus on educating players about every facet of the game – Madden gives players every tool necessary to enable them to become the player they want to be.These skills can be put to the test via such outlets as Madden’s marquee modes – Franchise and Ultimate Team.

As per previous iterations, Franchise mode provides a single-player campaign that allows you to coach and manage a team over several seasons. For a game that provides such a myriad of choice in every aspect, the amount of effort that has been put in to allow a player to blitz through a season is astonishing. Don’t know which players to sign? Madden will suggest some for you. Don’t know which players to focus train? Madden will pick for you. Want to only play attack and simulate playing defense? Madden will let you do that. It’s a self-aware component of Franchise mode that recognises that there are some people who don’t necessarily enjoy everything gridiron has to offer. This air of efficiency also permeates the games you play, as you can now skip in-game cinematics and get straight into picking your next play.

The epitome of this efficiency is Madden’s new mode of play called Play the Moments. This mode allows you to simulate the majority of playing time, only requiring you to take control of what Madden considers the crucial moments of a game. Simulation in Play the Moments can feel like a risky endeavour at times, however, having the ability to jump in whenever a simulation starts to go a bit awry negates any major risks.I personally did not utilise the simulation function that often as I found the grandiose theatricality of Madden’s presentation utterly compelling. From players posturing into the camera after a successful play to the meta-humour provided by commentators, Madden possesses a tongue-in-cheek brashness that I personally didn’t expect from a title about what is essentially a testosterone-laden sport.

As is tradition in any modern EA Sports title, the card collecting madness of Ultimate Team returns in Madden NFL 17. Fortunately, if microtransactions aren’t your thing, you have the option of completing solo challenges. These challenges not only reward you with new cards but also, the satisfaction of knowing you didn’t have to pay a cent for them.

In the past few years, Madden’s presentation and gameplay has consistently been the benchmark for sport video games. This year’s iteration continues to build on these previous successes with tweaked gameplay mechanics and improved player animations. Most noticeably is the improvements to the running game and the noticeable distinction between each individual player and how they control. How a player interacts with the ball and the space around them is remarkably indicative of their overall skill level. Madden NFL 17 is fast, fluid and full of play-by-play panache.

That’s not to say that Madden doesn’t have any shortcomings. My favourite mode of the game, Franchise, was also the most problematic. When starting a franchise, you’re given the option of saving offline or on the cloud. Saving on the cloud allows for faster simulation and the ability to access your saved game on consoles that have Madden 17 installed on it. After selecting the cloud option, I encountered a couple of problems. Several times while playing, I was disconnected mid-game due to the EA servers going down. As Franchise is a single-player mode, the requirement of needing to be connected at all times was immensely frustrating. The worst cloud related problem I encountered was when it rendered my franchise mode unplayable. After playing two games in my first season, every time I attempted to start the next game, the game froze on the loading screen. I tried to load the same game over ten times to no avail. These multiple attempts eventually culminated in the game crashing – a first for me with a Playstation 4 game. I fixed the problem by starting a new Franchise mode and selecting the save offline option. For a game with Madden’s polish, to encounter this many problems was really surprising.

Along with these bugs, some of the loading times in Madden are quite long. The long loading times seem to be most prevalent in the Ultimate Team and Franchise modes. Most noticeable is the loading time it takes between starting a game and actually playing it. On average this took two to three minutes. With the loading times as long as they are, some skill challenges to pass the time like the FIFA series offers would have been nice. Instead, I used this time to clean my room. So mum if you happen to be reading this, you can thank Madden for that.

[divider]CONCLUSION[/divider]

By focusing on improving the minute that matters on and off the field – EA Tiburon have created an experience that is a phenomenal triumph. Even with all the problems I encountered while playing, the balance of accessibility and depth the game provides may make Madden NFL 17 the best game the series has ever produced.

The PS4 version was primarily tested for the purpose of this review.

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Let’s face it, we all know the story of The Force Awakens by now, but what’s most important about a Lego game is how it handles the events and characters of the story it’s trying to re-tell. In the case of Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there is simply little to nothing negative that can be said about Traveller’s Tales’ charming and incredibly accurate coverage of the events of Episode VII.

Whilst the newest installment of the Lego Star Wars franchise may only cover a single film, this has given the developers at Traveller’s Tales the opportunity to create their most narratively-faithful and charming title to date, combining the events of the film (including the most part, which I won’t spoil) with the charm and humor that we’ve come to expect from the Lego IP. The Force Awakens isn’t just a faithful adaption of the franchise as of yet, but it manages to raise the bar quite a bit for future installments of both the Star Wars and unrelated titles within the Lego IP.The game does compensate at times for the fact that we’re only covering a single film’s worth of material, which mostly comes down to comic relief and smaller character moments, which sometimes work and sometimes they don’t, though most returning players might not be affected too much by it as newcomers would. Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens on a narrative front is a charming, fun and faithful experience that won’t just appeal to Star Wars fans, but newcomers and Lego fans alike.

Players have grown to expect the same old song and dance when it comes to the graphical aspects of Lego games, though as of Lego Marvel’s Avengers the attention to detail and faithfulness to the visual representation of the source material has taken a pretty significant leap when it comes to visual fidelity and even cinematography. Scenes like the Millenium Falcon escape and the battle of Starkiller base are presented in incredibly familiar fashions, with some of the cutscenes being basically 1:1 framed recreations of the film itself, which lends a lot to the game in terms of authenticity.Textures and geometry detail in general, are what you’d expect from a Lego game, though the overall product does seem a lot more refined and technically capable than most of its predecessors. Cutscenes and aerial sequences like the Millenium Falcon escape, in particular, are quite stunning to look at considering the graphical formula the brand has been practicing the past few years.

Some of the most notable improvements lay in the lighting and the animations, which have taken a huge step forward. Characters, in particular, look much more alive and traversal looks and feels a lot smoother than we’re accustomed to from previous titles. Facial animations are what you’d expect, though that’s always been part of the charm of the brand. Smaller droids and characters also fill the screen as the recreation of the Star Wars universe truly does feel more alive than it has ever looked before in the Lego dimension (pun intended.)Analyzing the Lego games has always been a particularly hard thing to do, as the core of most of the titles does feel awfully familiar from game to game. Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, however, does feel like one of the most renewing and well-forged titles that Traveller’s Tales has produced in the last few waves of their popular adaptions.

The strongest aspect of this newest installment is the fact that the game throws some much-needed diversity into the classic Lego gameplay formula, combining traditional platforming sections with intense dogfights and even shooter sections, which is something entirely new to the brand.The dogfights, in particular, are more well-crafted than you’d initially expect. Recreating iconic sequences such as the Tie-Fighter escape the game either puts you behind the wheel or in the shooting position as the game delves into extended dogfights that often rival the main gameplay sections in terms of gameplay design. Whilst the controls and combat systems are fairly simple in use and design, these levels simply feel like a joy to play as I  piloted the Millenium Falcon in my escape from Jakku.

The second most noteworthy addition, in my opinion, was the inclusion of new Gears of War-like cover sections, which has the players take cover in shooting sections that are used to take care of heavily armed enemies. On paper, it may sound repetitive, but these sections are actually a pretty nice change of pace in some levels as they never really feel out of place , though in some cases the shooting mechanic itself does leave a lot to be desired.
There’s also a good amount of puzzles throughout the game, though some mini-games which include visual passwords and such to move on to the next part of the level do seem to get a bit repetitive after a while.

A lot of the core gameplay remains unchanged, though the formerly noted additions and a good and the puzzles keep the pacing fresh as you move throughout the film, which should take about 6 hours for the main story, with some additional time left to replay levels, find hidden objects and play side-missions that should complete your experience quite nicely.Quite frankly, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens may be the strongest title that Traveller’s Tales has given us as of yet when it comes to adapting popular franchises. Providing fun, renewing and diverse gameplay, the game more than makes up for its length by the fact that what’s there is just so fun to play. If there’s one Lego game you’re picking up this summer, you better make sure it’s The Force Awakens!

The PS4 version of LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens  was primarily tested for the purpose of this review.

The post Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review appeared first on Press Start.

Who here could honestly say they’ve never heard of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? The ‘heroes in a half-shell’ have been a mainstay in pop culture since their inception in the 1980s; spanning comic books, television shows, movies, and especially video games. With PlatinumGames taking the reins for the latest installment, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants In Manhattan, our beloved team of reptiles (that’s right, they aren’t amphibians) return to the fray for yet another beat-em-up on the streets of New York City.

Shredder, Krang and the notorious Foot clan are wreaking havoc in Manhattan, and once again it falls to the Turtles with the help of April O’Neal and Master Splinter to stop their nefarious plans.  With every known ally and villain in the fray, can the Turtles prevent Shredder from taking over New York?

The Turtles have evolved a lot over the years, going through various style changes and looks. Mutants in Manhattan adds a cel-shaded look to the 3D modelling of the most recent TV show, giving it a strange blend between comic book aesthetic and three dimensional gameplay. It works in the end, allowing the game to be bright and interesting.
Less can be said about the sound design though – the music is repetitive and grating, and battle sounds become a flurry of slashes and hits when fighting takes place on screen, accompanied by quite jarring camera angles that could have you on the floor in a dizzy spell by the end of a level. Even the menus are droll and uninspiring, with a looped track over and over that by the third time you hear it becomes annoying. And while we’ve grown up and loved the Turtles’ attitudes and humour, everything within this game feels terribly scripted and forced, and almost sounds like they found some unused scripts from the early 1990s to fill in the dialogue.

People have sung praises about PlatinumGames’ past works, and usually they were right to. This time around though, they have left a lot to be desired.

At the core, TMNT could have been a decent beat-em-up. You play as one of four Turtles, with the ability to switch at will between the squad, giving each Turtle a different special skill set. The three remaining Turtles act as support along the way, helping you take down the bad guys. Which sounds simple enough, right?

The first issue that arises is the overcomplicated controls. One trigger allows you to block and also parry (which in game is practically useless when swarmed with enemies). Another allows you to aim shuriken at the enemy or at things to make them blow up. And then ANOTHER trigger allows you to use special attacks. No wait, it allows you to swap Turtles. No sorry, I’m wrong, it does BOTH. Like the game itself, the controls for TMNT are just too frantic and confusing, and I found myself throwing shuriken in the heat of a battle when I was trying to swap to Mike and play with his nunchucks. In the midst of being surrounded by enemies, fighting becomes a chore rather than fun when trying to remember which button blocks and which button gives the rest of the team a different command.

The next problem, and the biggest of the game, is the fact that everything past the first mission is repetitive. April barks orders at you, you and your terrible AI gang head there and beat up a bunch of bad guys to do a thing. Rinse and repeat. Sure, there’s wall climbing and grinding mechanics but these are just stuck there, and after a while it just gets too tedious to be fun. Defuse a bomb? Hold circle. But wait, didn’t I just interact with a PC terminal by holding circle? And open a door with all the Turtles while holding circle?

Needless to say, I didn’t get a chance to play multiplayer – four player split screen co-op is strangely absent from a game that would benefit heavily from it, and the only way to play with your friends is online. At least that way the Turtles would control better as a team.

I really wanted to love this game, and I had hoped that it would give me a sense of nostalgia for my favourite TMNT game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time for the SNES. All Mutants in Manhattan did was make me long for a decent beat-em-up that does more than just phone it in at times. Sadly this game feels more like a bargain bin pickup than one to run out and grab straight away.

The PS4 version of TMNT was primarily tested for the purpose of this review.

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TT Games is back with, you guessed it, another LEGO game! Following 2013’s Lego Marvel Superheroes, this time around it is the Avengers who get their turn with a title based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But how solidly built is this latest outing compared to the previous instalment?

Bridging what is essentially Marvel’s ‘Phase Two’ of superhero movies, the game is a movie tie-in to both The Avengers as well as Avengers: Age of Ultron, with levels thrown in from intertwining movies such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Iron Man 3. Starting with the opening scene of Age of Ultron, the game then throws players back to the first film, to chronologically play through.

Lego Marvel’s Avengers does everything right in terms of how it looks; which is the oddest thing for a Lego game. Environments are all modelled after those seen in the films, but the lighting and detail on the characters and environments makes me think that there is so much more that could have been done with the game itself rather than simply be a movie tie-in. The good thing is that this game shows how far graphic capabilities are coming in terms of console games, which can only mean they’ll get better from here. Other than that, the game itself is practically just another TT Games’ Lego game – the HUD and menus are exactly the same as pretty much every other Lego tie-in.
One of the most entertaining parts, although it does begin to wear thin after awhile, is TT Games’ trademark ability of adding in visual humour to an otherwise serious moment; think Nick Fury drinking a milkshake while delivering lines, chickens on the helicarrier, or the constant appearance of Stan Lee everywhere.

The score is practically just the Avengers OST directly laid over the top, but one of the most grating things is the fact that 90% of dialogue is ripped straight from the movies – background audio included. While this is clearly done to make the game a little more authentic, it is really jarring to not only hear the same quotes over and over again, but the sounds from the movie still embedded in the clip and not scrubbed from it. It almost seems rushed, as though they had a day before release to get it done, and it really takes you out of it.

There really isn’t anything special to be said about the gameplay here; if you’ve played one of TT Games’ Lego incarnations, you’ve practically played them all. Characters are paired up and switchable, each with a power relevant to the level (or relevant to the story being played), and players guide the characters through the level destroying as much as physically possible while solving small puzzles to unlock collectibles and amass a large amount of ‘studs’ (you know, those little pieces that come out when things break).

Although the gameplay is stock-standard for TT Games, they still manage to make it fun; there’s just something about wandering around as a Lego minifigure and smashing everything to find as many studs as possible, and in the process accidentally breaking a civilian or blowing something up and destroying yourself in the process. Tag team attacks are introduced between the two playable characters onscreen to double the damage, which are helpful when in a tight situation. Free play makes the game a little better and more bearable – instead of being shoehorned into the movie tie-in, you can wander Manhattan or a recreation of Asgard as any character you want – but here you’ll note that there are omissions of characters compared to Lego Marvel Superheroes, such as Spider Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic four. Other inclusions from the now Disney-owned empire of Marvel just don’t quite cut it, even though there is a significant roster of playable characters.

Hopefully with the fact that there is set to be a ‘season pass’ (for Lego? Madness, right?) there will be increased content not entirely focused on just the MCU, but other aspects of the universe as well.

There’s no denying that the formula for the game is sound, as with pretty much every TT Games offering. But while it is another fun game to occupy time, Lego Marvel’s Avengers feels like it is dropping the ball a little when it comes to Lego games. Being stuck in a movie tie-in really limits the initial fun that can be had, and with poorly-ripped movie dialogue thrown in whenever they feel like it, the game feels more like a chore than a bout of fun that even die-hard fans might have trouble being entertained by.

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Resident Evil Zero takes place just moments before the opening scene of the original Resident Evil game. Whereas the original game had players entering a mansion to investigate the disappearance of a team of agents – Resident Evil Zero aims to tell the story of those agents and how they came to be missing. Similarly, it was to tell the story of the viral outbreak that would eventually shape the entire series and just what went down at Umbrella for such a catastrophic event to transpire.

The story follows Rebecca Chambers, a medic and the younger member of special task force S.T.A.R.S. who have been sent to investigate a series of cannibalistic murders on the outskirts of Raccoon City. When her and her team arrive they discover an overturned military police transporter and the corpses of two officers. Eventually she meets up with Billy Coen, a death row escapee aboard the Ecliptic Express, an Umbrella owned train which has been overrun by zombies following a bizarre attack by leeches. Despite their differences, they must work together to escape the train and uncover the mystery behind the attacks.Where I previously criticised the original Resident Evil’s story for its rather typical approach to its storyline, Resident Evil Zero goes off the deep end in how ridiculous and over the top it is. Fans of the franchise will be no stranger to the bizarre storylines – think the Psycho homage in CODE: Veronica – but Zero really is something else. It’s a haphazard mix of reasonable explanation for events with quite bluntly unbelievable circumstances too – even within the realm of Resident Evil. Resident Evil Zero is, without a doubt, the most ridiculous story out of the mainline games.

Which is quite worrying since, as it’s a prequel, Resident Evil Zero is designed to fill in the gaps between itself and the original game. On the whole, it barely manages to do so. Sure, it develops the story behind the “masterminds” who are more or less responsible for the outbreak – but it barely touches upon much beyond showing how each member of Bravo Team would eventually perish. The biggest offender here (and most controversial amongst fans) is that Rebecca, who goes through all of this, says nothing of this game’s events in the original Resident Evil making this prequel feel tacked on.Similar to the game that came before it, Resident Evil Zero was one of the best looking games of its time owing to its ingenious mix of pre-rendered backgrounds and highly detailed character models. Much like the original Resident Evil remake before it, Resident Evil Zero still looks fantastic to this day – thanks in part to the atmosphere it evokes.

Every area whether it’s a cabin on a train or a simple store room has had immaculate detail and care poured into it. Lights flicker and waver. Fires burn and crackle. Taps and sinks drip and overflow. Every environment in the game manages to tell a story in itself without saying anything, and it’s something to be commended. From the get go, it’s clear that the developers either honed their craft or had better access to the original game’s assets, as the visual quality of Resident Evil Zero’s HD Remaster is nowhere near as wildly inconsistent as Resident Evil was last year. Resident Evil had its clear sore spots in its HD restoration – namely the Aqua Ring looking too bright and washed out, but Zero suffers none of these issues. Some lighting has been rebuilt in the new engine, but nothing is anachronistic enough to change the look or feel of the game compared to its original appearance. The font for most of the in-game text has been changed too, leading to some files looking disjointed as if they were written by zombie as the new font clearly has not been optimised for how the files are displayed.

Some other more liberal changes have been applied to the games presentation too. The pan and scan camera – which pans the camera across each scene rather than displaying the full scene – returns to compensate for the original games 4:3 presentation. Resident Evil Zero benefits better from this camera style as the locales are designed to be much more open than in previous games. There are a few other changes that might rub purists the wrong way – such as the recolouring of certain enemies or some minor adjustments to Rebecca’s face – but generally speaking the game remains as true to form as it can be. The soundscape remains untouched – which means the voice work is awful and the orchestral score is complements the mood and the ambience perfectly.Much like the original Resident Evil, Zero lets players take control of two characters – each of whom have their own strengths and weaknesses. Unlike Resident Evil, however, both these characters can be controlled and switched between on-the-fly and they both play through the same storyline rather than two separate scenarios with differing supporting casts. This approach to the game means many of the puzzles and scenarios are designed around using both the characters or separating the two to create tension.

The redesigned control scheme from the original HD remaster returns in Zero, and with it comes all the issues associated with them. On one hand, they’re much more intuitive to use and are bound to make the game much more accessible for players who didn’t grow up with the configuration. On the other, they remove a lot of the tension from the game as they make playable characters much more manoeuvrable than they previously were. Thankfully, Capcom have included the option to switch between them (as with most of the changes made) so both sides of the argument can be satiated.Resident Evil Zero differs a lot from its predecessors in a few ways. First off, the partner zapping system means that you essentially will have double the inventory space that you’re used to having. Items can be exchanged between Billy and Rebecca whenever you so wish, and as long as they’re close to each other. Items can even be dropped and returned to later if required. While this sounds like item management isn’t as important in Zero, it’s almost the complete opposite considering that there are no magical linked item boxes anymore to store your goods. Wherever you put something down you’ll have to return to find it again. Item management is more important than ever in Zero and this can easily be a more polarising design choice for players.

The puzzles in Zero are bound to be talked about differently depending which fan you speak to, but a whole lot of them focus around the idea of two characters. Most of them are reasonably easy to get through but some players may get stuck on one or two of them. Some of them are very strong puzzles in the same ilk as classic Resident Evil. Others feel like bog standard “puzzles” you’d find in any game that lets two people play it. Both press the switch at the same time! Navigate through a maze while your partner unlocks the doors! Hold a door open while your partner runs through it! All of these types of puzzles are unfortunately as tired as they were in 2002.Enemy encounters are a bit of a mixed bag, and unfortunately quite a step down from the original Resident Evil. The simplicity of the creatures you’ll encounter (such as infected monkeys, frogs, grasshoppers and bats) will be appreciated by some but they pale in comparison to the creatures you’ll find in the other games. The boss encounters are similarly quite poorly designed, lacking any real strategy to them. One particular boss battle that takes place in a church is quite frankly broken and requires aiming into the air, firing, and praying to your respective god that you’ll be successful.

Speaking of prayer, your partner AI is somewhat competent in how they approach things. You can tell them to follow you or stay put or you can manually move them using the right stick. You can equip weapons on them and watch them use said weapons. But you’ll have to be a bit smart in how you manage your partner to be truly successful in Zero. Giving them too much ammo will see them chew through it like there’s no tomorrow. Alternatively, they can be pretty helpful if they take down an enemy who is mid-grab. You can even use them as a portable item box although it’s not recommended. We can’t be certain, but we do feel like in this HD Remaster that the AI is less aggressive and therefore wastes less ammo but we’d need to confirm it to be sure.The crux of Resident Evil is about surviving and altering your strategies if you come across any problems along the way. Zero suffers in this regard as its pacing is poor. Many times the game will punish you on your first play through by requiring immense backtracking (even by a Resident Evil standard) to find an item you might’ve dropped several hours ago. Other times you’ll be faced by not only one leech zombie but three concurrently. Resident Evil has always been about rationing your ammo and avoiding enemies every now and then rather than killing them – but the (im)perfect storm of a hard to avoid enemy, limited inventory space and constant backtracking makes them feel like an imbalanced inclusion.

For the completely unseasoned player who has never touched a Resident Evil game before, the whole affair will be over in anywhere between nine to twelve hours. Those who are a bit more seasoned could possibly finish it quicker – but repeat playthroughs can easily be cleared in under six hours if you know what you’re doing. The HD Remaster introduces a new for-fun mode where players can use Wesker instead of Billy along with his strange superhuman powers, which is a fun diversion. There’s also a slew of costumes to unlock and a Leech Hunter mini-game that in itself is quite fun to play through.After all is said and done, it sounds like I’m being extremely rough on Resident Evil Zero but it’s still a pretty competent classic Resident Evil game. It’s got all the hallmarks of a good Resident Evil game – the foreboding and ominous atmosphere, the creepy yet maniacal villain and the sense of survival and item management. But it just goes a little bit too off the deep end and is thus taken less seriously than other games in the franchise.

But make no mistakes, Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster is a strong remaster in every sense of the word. The visuals are beautiful, the environments are polished and everything is a visual feast whether it be the characters or the locales themselves. It’s just a fantastic looking game that can now appeal to newcomers and series veterans alike – and allowing more people to experience Resident Evil’s storied (and colourful) history is hardly a bad thing.

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Life Is Strange is a five part episodic series that began in January and ends in October. This review is for Episode 5, titled Polarized. Given how important the story is to experience Life Is Strange, this review is spoiler free but given the stage at which we are with this game there may be some spoilers for previous episodes.By this point anyone who is following Life Is Strange hopefully has a general idea of what the series is about. In case you haven’t heard – it follow Max Caulfield, a senior photography student who lives in Arcadia Bay. Enrolled within a prestigious academy, Blackwall, she eventually reunites with one of her close friends, Chloe. Chloe’s father’s death occurred several years before and lead to the two growing estranged, so as you can imagine the two of them have quite some catching up to do.

The academy and the town itself is rife with rumours and speculation as to the mysterious disappearance of Rachel Amber, a girl whose reputation is variable depending on which residents you speak to. Some regarded her as innocent and sweet, others as a promiscuous drug addict. It’s up to both Max and Chloe to solve the mystery behind their mutual friends disappearance and other elements that may be threatening Arcadia Bay.Being the final episode of the series, Polarized aims to cover up most of the loose ends that might’ve been left hanging in previous episodes while wrapping up all of the conflicts that might’ve presented themselves to the player. Without ruining too much – there’s barely any reasons given for the storm that threatens Arcadia Bay. Similarly, the motivations of the characters are quite simplistic – though to criticise these elements when I praised the game for being so simplistic in its depiction of college life during Episode 1 would be remiss.

But how does it all come together? And how do your choices affect the endgame? Honestly – it’s quite disappointing. Because while all of these choices were made that were presumably going to affect how the story plays out – many of them merely result in some differing dialogue or the presence of a character during a major scene. Your ending, in particular, is still decided by a binary choice at the end of the episode. A hard choice, for sure, but one that feels ultimately quite phoned in given how the “butterfly effect” and “chaos theory” were so emphasised early on in the series.That’s not to say that the story in Polarized isn’t interesting – it is – especially for those who have a penchant for anything David Lynch. The story is quite interesting and the journey to the rather phoned in ending is still enjoyable. A poor ending, fortunately, doesn’t retroactively ruin the experience I’ve had with Life Is Strange’s characters, world and story. But it has definitely not lived up to the ambitious credo that the developers setup in the early episodes.Much like all the other episodes of Life Is Strange, there’s not a whole lot that changes between each episode in terms of visual style and presentation. The game employs a very rough looking aesthetic that gives it a dreamlike, surrealist quality. This, in particular, is effective in Polarized as it is easily one of the trippiest episodes in the series thus far. Don’t expect many, if any new locations in Polarized however. You’ll be visiting mainly the same locations you’ve been to before, but with interesting twists that still make them feel fresh. Overall, Polarized is a much darker episode and suitably so.

The usual issues with Life Is Strange’s presentation are the technical ones. Character models can look very rough or flat at times, hair can just look like clumped polygons rather than actual hair and all the models have a severely stylised look to them. These are somewhat subjective issues with the game’s presentations but still ones that do pop up from time to time. Speaking of, there are some times where the camera will switch to a character and the texture for their faces haven’t loaded – which is quite frankly terrifying – but also a shortcoming of the Unreal Engine too.The soundtrack, as always, is composed of original music and licensed music which is utilised effectively throughout the episode. As we’re reaching the end of the story, you’d expect most of the music to be grandiose. But until the very end, where a licensed song is used to great effect to present your ending, most of the music is sombre, eerie and ominous. Which is appropriate given where the story goes.

For the final episode, every member of the cast gives a great performance especially during the story’s emotionally draining final climax. The writing still has it’s own issues – namely the cringe worthy dialogue – though in this serious ending to the series it’s much more toned down.The general premise of Polarized is that Max has to get herself out of the predicament she found herself in at the end of Episode 4, only to discover that she also has to save her best friend Chloe from the same predicament too. On top of that, Arcadia Bay is at risk from the storm that was introduced in the first episode of the season, so she has to somehow work out how to save the town, her friend and herself.

Episode 5 differs significantly from other episodes of Life Is Strange in that it really just feels like a more linear path with one or two major choices being made. Most of Episode 5 is slightly disappointing in this regard – you’ll be in a location, be required to examine a few objects, and then move on to the next location to repeat. There is one moment where the episode takes on a more stealth flavoured approach, but otherwise this feels more like a long cutscene of sorts rather than a game. There’s little use of the rewind mechanics shown in previous episodes.Given that it’s the end of the episode, there’s little to no choices presented to Max throughout the events of Polarized – it’s more about narrative and bouncing between realities to very briefly fix the mistakes Max might have made in previous episodes. Unfortunately, this is a largely linear affair where you’ll jump back to a reality, make a single (and generally only) choice and then see the effects play out. As any science fiction fan will tell you – messing with time and realities does have its consequences. But in the case of Polarized, which is so linear, there’s really only two outcomes with minor differences.

Perhaps even more disappointing is that as Max jumps through layer upon layer of realities, you realise that perhaps some of these layers could be removed to make the experience a little bit better paced. I mentioned earlier in the review that a few segments of this episode evoke an ambience typical of a David Lynch film. But these segments don’t serve any narrative purpose, and while they’re great to interpret, they honestly feel like padding to make this episode feel the same length as others.One moment during these segments was a stand out for me however. It’s the only moment where Polarized is confident enough to give its players full control. It’s a stealth sequence where, without spoiling, Max must sneak past enemies to reach her own goal. Whereas anyone who ahs spent time with video games would roll their eyes at the notion of a forced stealth section, this one when coupled with Max’s rewind powers was actually pretty approachable. The rewind mechanics remove the frustration and the trial-and-error mechanics of the stealth making it a joy to play, essentially. I enjoyed this so much that I’d love to see DONTNOD attempt a stealth game with rewind mechanics in the future.

I feel like that, to a certain extent, I’ve been pretty harsh on Life Is Strange’s ending and the way that, like every other game that allegedly places an emphasis on choice, your ultimate ending is really down to a button press at the end of the narrative. But reflecting on the whole series is important too – that while your choices you made during the early episodes don’t exactly feed into your ending, they were still hard to make and they still brought you into the moment. What I’m trying to say is that while the destination might be somewhat underwhelming, the journey has still been incredible.After a long few months, Life Is Strange has finally come to its conclusion. And ultimately, some aspects of it have felt phoned in. Your choices were hard to make throughout the series and their impacts were somewhat visible later on – but it’s incredibly disappointing to find the ending could be altered or chosen with the press of one or the other button during its climax.

As a series, it’s still incredibly easy to recommend Life Is Strange to someone. The best parts of the series are easily the smaller stories – the ones where Max talks one of her friends out of suicide (or doesn’t). The ones where Max is looking for her missing best friend. The greater threat to Arcadia Bay is fairly bog standard though. That’s not to say that it’s bad – it’s just ground that’s been trodden a hundred times before.

But overall, Life Is Strange is a fantastic series – one of the best examples of episodic gaming. It’s just a dying shame that choice don’t affect the outcome of the series as much as it was implied in the earlier episodes. Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see what DONTNOD do next. They’re a fantastic team with a small yet diverse pedigree, and Life Is Strange is a great indicator of their talents.

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Transformers Devastation’s storyline may feel very familiar for many players that grew up watching the show back in the day. This isn’t because the story is lifted directly from the series itself, but the fact that the writers at Platinum Games have created a narrative that might as well be part of it in the grand scale. There story isn’t really that deep, but its simplicity works well considering the style of narrative Platinum Games has pursued with the game, which is to bring players back to the old days of cartoon storytelling in the Transformers universe, which is quite effective for what it is.This is basically all you’re going to need to know in retrospect, Devastation is the Saturday night cartoon you used to watch all over again, and fans will probably love it for it. The downside for non-fans however would be that the gameplay does often lack context due to this style of narrative, which can be bothersome if you’re not in it for the IP itself.
Devastation is one of the most stylized Transformers titles we’ve gotten so far, and whilst it may not speak to all fans out there, the G1-inspired graphics do lend the game a lot of character that goes along well with the story and action that is heavily inspired by this era of the franchise as well. It’s easy to imagine that a lot of people may miss the more gritty realistic look of the Cybertron games, but Transformers Devastation tries to hit marks elsewhere, which creates both pros and cons when it comes to the design and technical presentation.When it comes to character design the game has gotten it’s source material down as well as it probably could have. The animated feel of the first generation series is effectively applied to the characters, which when accompanied by the classic voice work will lend you a great sense of nostalgia, though its effects may not be as powerful or lasting once you look past the surface.

Whilst Devastation’s G1 inspirations have gotten the game to apply an animated art style, the game does sometimes suffer from some of the simplistic aspects of its nature when it comes to environmental design and effects. This is mostly reflected in the level design, which is often very repetitive in nature. The layouts of the levels and the appearance of the surrounding areas often lack greater detail, making exploration non-viable since there really isn’t any visual value to take in, aside from the artstyle, but you’ll probably be spending more time paying attention to the character designs and animations, which are superb.When the game was announced, many gamers were pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of Platinum Games in its development. But the question, is Platinum’s effort just a cash-in on the franchise, or is it a game that lives up to their own titles? Whilst it may not necessarily be on the same level as Bayonetta for example, Transformers Devastation surely hits a lot of right notes in the same areas.Leaving behind the third-person shooter aspects of the previous games, the game fully embraces Platinum’s signature style of action, which is reflected in both gameplay and presentation. Providing a fluid, fast-paced and fun combat system the main structure of the game is as solid as can be, making Devastation’s combat a delight for fans of both Transformers and other Platinum titles, of which their inspiration is clearly present in this game. If one game had to come to mind whilst playing this, Bayonetta would surely be a title that would come to mind, given the combat structure is pretty similar, which of course is a very good thing. However, the camera and difficulty can often put a lid on the fun due to their applied issues, which hurt what is otherwise a very solid basis of gameplay.

The upgrade system for weapons is often quite a bummer due to its chore-like nature of maintenance, which is even confusing in its set-up due to the fact that it’s just never explained properly, nor is it overly helpful throughout the game. The leveling system is equally poor, considering it rewards players for sticking with a singular character, rather than moving through all of the characters that the game has to offer throughout. These factors combined with the fact that you’re looking at a full-priced title do raise the question: Is Transformers: Devastation really worth it at its asking price?Transformers: Devastation is a very solid installment in the franchise that lends itself to excellent fan-service and strong core gameplay, though its technical and design-based drawbacks do hold its basis back from achieving greatness, rather than hovering in between the upper echelon of decent to good. Combined with the fact that the game does seem a little light on content, Transformers: Devastation remains a solid title, but not one that should be bought at the price its being offered at.

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Destiny enters year two of it’s expansive story with Oryx, The Taken King coming to eradicate the light of the Milky Way galaxy.

Oryx is just no normal bad guy; he is the leader of the Hive and has bought with him dark new powers that turn anyone he wants under his command. These new foes are the Taken. You along with your other Fire team members take the fight right too him aboard his ship the Dreadnaught, just outside of Saturn.The Taken King has learnt from the previous downfalls in Destiny’s expansions and initial game. Year two of Destiny feels as though there is some actual weight behind the story as opposed to the previous mindless running and gunning. This time you are treated to some great fleshing out of familiar characters and some highly detailed cut scenes between missions which gives a more if not exaggerated sense of depth to the half dozen or so missions focused solely on Oryx.

Destiny has always been a great looking game. The growing number of worlds are vast and vivid and if you are really paying attention there is always something new to see in the environment that you didn’t see before. Apart from the previously mentioned fleshing out of characters with their story and the more frequent cut scenes. There are two major additions to this expansion that need to be addressed, in terms of presentation. Firstly the Dinkle-Bot we all know and love has been replaced by a new voice actor, Nolan North of Uncharted, Last of Us and just about every other video game fame. Although the change isn’t as noticeable as you would assume it would be. Nolan’s Ghost has been given what I feel runs a very similar path to that of C3-PO from Star Wars. Higher pitched, robotic and throwing in awkward comments at times. The weird thing is that it somehow fits right into the game flawlessly but eventually just like the Ghost before him his comments are quickly ignored.The second is the new world where you will be spending a lot of your new time, the Dreadnaught. This is the ship that is transporting Oryx and his Taken; it is basically the size of a very small planet. It houses its own challenges, patrols, bounties and collectibles. The best part of the ship though is that it is just as grimy, dirty and disgusting that you would expect a Hive ship to be. It is littered with dark cavernous areas, grotesque monuments and maggots, lots and lots of Hive maggots.

Anybody returning to Destiny will notice the vast changes in the gameplay. The best way to describe the changes given out with the Taken King would be as having the previous year of Destiny a beta test. The update throws out the light level to reach your max level and now allows for experience to get you to the new max level of 40, Light now only upgrades your attack and defences to take on the more difficult portions of the expansion. So basically light still gets you to the highest possible level, Bungie have just tampered with the formula.

All your weapons and armour are very, very quickly made redundant as you work through the opening missions. Forcing you to find and upgrade new items that suit your play style, whilst adding different Ghost shells and Artifacts to your character to gain different stat benefits and perks. Yes, the grind becomes real as you are forced to achieve that higher light level to take on the games be all and end all The Taken Kings raid, Kings Fall.Before we get on to that though, the way missions are presented to Guardians now are in the form of Quests and steps which house their own special page on the pause screen. It tells you what to do and where to do it. What I really love about this system though is not only obviously the loot and fun that can be had but from the idea that these quests take the story way beyond the fall of Oryx. Yes there are only the half dozen or so missions based solely on killing Oryx but after completing that if you tick the right boxes you could participate in quests that expand on the story even more and that is the best thing that this game added. A sense of progression and purpose with out the developers having to go above and beyond game development for this expansion. Add a few characters out of place, head back to a less taken path and call it a quest. Simple on paper but by golly it worked well with some high experience and quality loot being thrown around.

Now the raid and the forced teamwork of this expansion. This is what I feel the game/expansion falls down the most in. The year gone by, typically you could do just about everything that needed to be done by yourself or a two man Fire team and leave the rest for matchmaking such as strikes, crucible and raids. In the Taken King there are countless times in which as a Guardian you are forced to have a full Fire team to complete missions and challenges. At its core, this game is a MMO but as a person who doesn’t have a great deal of online friends and works erratic shifts, it becomes a tiresome effort to either not be able to participate or rely on third party online match making forums. These people who, you don’t know, don’t know how they play and could be just plain old unreliable asking you to carry their weight as they reap the loot and rewards is not what I call fun. But how do you fix that? There in lies the problem.This obviously carries over to the raid. Doubling the required Fire team number from 3 to 6. In doing so it also doubles the trouble. With the raid no more than two weeks old the previously mentioned 3^rd party match making forums have created their own ridiculously standards asking people to be above and beyond what I feel is acceptable for something that is a few days old. Even above Bungie’s recommended standards.

The raid itself though is brilliantly structured around precision teamwork and communication with a sprinkle of plat forming that I cannot wait to tackle again.

For the crucible orientated players there are a few more match types to be played with a few new added features such as the “Mercy Rule” where a game will end if one team is getting pummelled beyond a comeback and then the servers will attempt to break up those teams to find a more balanced match.What stood out to me at the launch of the Taken King was the price, for the Australian PSN it was a whopping $70 for something that the developers describes as being between a new game and expansion. I’m paraphrasing with that quote but how is a $70 update valid when the game released for around the same price a year ago? Perhaps this purchase is also a key to another expansion or my even cover you for the entire second year of Destiny but only time can tell for that one.

The Taken King as a whole is a huge positive step forward in the universe of Destiny. New worlds, revamped quests, armour, weapons and light system. It is not without its hiccups though those are sure to be addressed in future updates. For returning players there is plenty to see and do and for brand new players, the world is at their fingertips. As a guardian I cannot wait to see what comes next.

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Movie related games have always been hit-and-miss throughout the generations of consoles, and it is very rare to get a game that can pay decent tribute to the movie while not being an absolute pile of trash. Mad Max is an exception to the norm though; a high-octane adventure through the dustbowl of the Wasteland, building on George Miller’s lore and throwing players into a literal sandbox environment in the shoes of the titular character. Mad Max not only breaks the stereotype of bad tie-ins, it smashes it into the ground and leaves it for scrap.

The world is in ruin, the end has come and gone, and now only the stragglers survive. Well, if you can call it surviving. Welcome to the Wasteland, the remnant of a civilization long gone. Out here, only the crazy ones make it through, and the craziest yet sanest of them all is Max. After losing his family, Max drifts through the wasteland hoping to find a purpose, until he is attacked by Lord Scrotus (yes that is his real name) and his band of Warboys. His only possession, the vehicle “The Interceptor” is taken from him, and he is left for dead. With the help of the prophesising mutant mechanic Chumbucket, Max must build a newer and stronger car, the Magnum Opus, and defeat Lord Scrotus at all costs.

Mad Max sits visually between two of its related films – ‘The Road Warrior’, with its bleak and broken deserts and blacktop roads; and ‘Fury Road’, with its bright burning sands and terrifying storms. It truly feels like a destroyed world; remnants of scrap and makeshift hideouts litter the landscape amongst barely-identifiable roads and barren rocky outcrops. Don’t expect to see excesses of green or vibrant blues anywhere here, this is truly a deserted landscape; and the developers have done well at really adding a sense of emptiness to the world. This goes the same for structures and vehicles; the same red and orange hues of the land are incorporated into the rusted out vehicles and desolate metal structures and hideouts encountered. The only flashes of brightness you will see are either from the scorching sun bearing down, or when you destroy an enemy and have their vehicle explode into flames before you.

However in creating this bleak wasteland the graphics suffer a little; it seems that in the effort to make it bleak and desolate, some detail has been left out, and occasionally this is noticeable on textures throughout the game. Edges get jaggy, surfaces lose their detail, and things overall begin to detract from the game, making it feel less of a new generation game.
Speaking of vehicles, each one in the game has that true engine roar to it, again amplifying the idea of a post-apocalyptic motorhead wonderland. The different tones of the engines really suit the different vehicles, and add grunt and menace to every machine with four or more wheels on the scorched earth.

One of the biggest things that Avalanche Studios got right was casting an Australian as Max – a basic no-brainer, Max sounds like the character he was initially created as; tough and strong, but also isolated and with little hope. Many games have come and gone that have taken the Australian accent for granted, but credit where credit is due, one can’t help but feel a little pride hearing that gruff Aussie accent behind the character. And the rest of the cast don’t exactly suffer either; Max’s sidekick Chumbucket is frantic and insane but also full of comedic gold, and each other character in the world really adding to the post-apocalyptic madness.

Now I’m a fan of the X button. It has done so many things in games that it is hard to count. But the first thing that I need to mention here is the fact that this game revolves around “Hold X to EVERYTHING”. Seriously, it’s as if none of the other buttons can function as anything else, but poor old X gets shafted and mapped to perform every single action. X to climb ladders, X to put the fuel in the car, X to pick up scrap, X to talk… It begins to get tedious pushing the same key over and over.

Button gripes aside, Mad Max actually plays relatively decently; taking a mix of different techniques, it crams them in to one environment and pulls it off fairly well. You will spend most of your time roaming the wasteland completing missions, finding scrap and upgrading your car while taking out the ferals and warboys that litter the landscape through various means, and what better way to do so than in the Magnum Opus, Max’s replacement car for the destroyed Interceptor. These missions can be delayed and tackled at any time, giving you the freedom to ride around and destroy whatever you can, and finding everything collectible along the way.
Capturing territory from enemy parties is always fun, driving through Scarecrow markers or obliterating another car by ramming straight through it, and even out-of-car combat has a great flow to it; think a combination of the Arkham games mixed with a little bit of Assassins Creed and you’ve got yourself a good mix of fighting. Upgrades to your car also help you keep the fight going at high speeds – sniper rifles, hookshots and bullbars give a dynamic to the roadplay that you will face fending for your life in the wasteland. Finding scrap for Chumbucket as well as new car bodies and completing minor missions help the Magnum Opus become the god of all cars; something to truly be feared on the roads.

The driving mechanics also don’t suffer too heavily for a game this size; cruising around in the wasteland feels more like driving in GTA V (minus the whole civilization part) and car combat, although a little annoying at times, really lets you throw your vehicle’s weight around.
The only major drawback of the game is the fact that once you’ve performed a side mission, you’ve performed them all; the repetitive nature of the game begins to tire early, and eventually will have you starting to regret undertaking it again and again. Call it a necessary evil to upgrade and progress, but the lack of variation will surely annoy some players and have them wishing that the wasteland had just that little bit more to do.

One of the most serviceable movie tie-ins the gaming world has seen in a long time; Mad Max not only manages to create a fun and chaotic sandbox world filled to the brim with lots to explore, but it develops Max’s story out even further than the previous movies and really allows people to associate more with the vision of a post-apocalyptic future that George Miller created. With Chumbucket by your side, and warlords to obliterate, Mad Max will feed the need for high-octane action and vehicle carnage that you didn’t know you had.

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?Disney Infinity 3.0 is the third instalment in Disney’s popular toys-to-life franchise. Whilst the first game focused on Disney properties, second focused largely on Marvel properties, Disney 3.0’s branding relies heavily on the holy-grail of the entertainment industry, Star Wars. From the onset of the game, Star Wars fans will feel right at home with many minor touches placed throughout Disney Infinity 3.0s many game modes. Avalanche Software have decided to include one play set with the game this time around. The Twilight of the Republic is set after the events of Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones. Without revealing too much of this brilliant original story, Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano (Both included in the Starter Kit) find themselves in a Droid factory on planet Geonosis. The story will take you on a journey to find out who has reactivated the droid army in order to save the day.

The world is filled with a wealth of Star Wars lore which are evident throughout the incredible amount of side missions and NPCs which are placed throughout each planet. You can expect to come across fan favourites such as Jabba the Hutt, Mace Windu and of course, the incredibly evil Darth Maul.

If i’m being completely honest, the presentation is always what has stopped this series from being a masterpiece. Load times were all over the place, parts of the game felt unintuitive and assets felt reused and repetitive. I’m glad to report that this is no longer the case with Disney Infinity 3.0. Straight off the bat you’ll realise that load times have been drastically improved. Everything from loading into play sets, exiting in and out of toy box worlds and even characters appearing in-game once placed on the base feels smoother and quicker. It no longer feels like a chore to quickly zip around the many amazing modes that Disney Infinity has to offer.

?One of my greatest fears when Star Wars was revealed as the featured universe of Disney Infinity 3.0 was that Avalanche would have trouble bringing the art style of many Disney/Marvel properties together with Star Wars successfully. It quickly became apparently once stepping foot in the brand new Hub that this wasn’t an issue at all. I actually feel like the Star Wars characters & environments have been given a new life with their over stylised new designs. Not to mention, the figures are absolutely incredible. I can’t help but feel that they feature even more detail and polish than ever before. The Disney Originals in 3.0 feature a great selection with classics such as Mickey and fan-favourites from newer Disney movies such as Sam & Quorra. For me, Star Wars is nothing without it’s soundtrack and sound effects. Within seconds of the game starting up, you’ll feel right at home with signatures swoops of the lightsabres and the brilliant orchestral store that you’ve come to love over the past 30 years. This game really is the ultimate hype builder for The Force Awakens.

Disney Infinity has always provided boasted an infinite variety of ways to play but Disney Infinity 3.0 really delivers on the promise. I’d recommend starting out in the brand-new Toy Box Hub in which a bunch of recognisable characters will teach you everything that you need to know to make the most of Disney Infinity’s multitude of play styles. You can go through tutorials for flying air-based vehicles, learn about toy boxes or just run around and level your character up by taking on enemies that will randomly appear throughout the Hub. The Toy Box Hub really works to bring everything together into one polished package.

?The biggest improvement of Disney Infinity 3.0 is the combat. In previous games it always was enjoyable yet felt somewhat clunky but Ninja Theory have done an incredible job with making you feel that there is a certain level of skill required in order to pull off the biggest combos. This goes a long way in the included Twilight of the Republic play set. As mentioned above, it follows a unique story which any Star Wars fan will appreciate. You’re able to use the included Anakin or Ahsoka to battle your way through the planets or you can purchase Yoda, Obi-Wan and even Darth Maul. This is easily the best play set that Disney Infinity have offered up. The world feels full of life and actually provides you a reason to explore every nook and cranny. Even the side missions, whilst aimed at the younger demographic, are a blast to play through. I’d recommend turning the difficulty up to Hard to challenge yourself. One of the new combat abilities that you can level up are Force Finishers which allow you to pull off a certain force related special move if you time it perfectly. This is one of the many combat improvements that will make the game enjoyable for hardcore gamers. The play set is broken up into combat based missions, vehicle bases missions and intergalactic missions which are all equally fun. It can get repetitive at times, but it’s the perfect length and never outstays it’s welcome. 

Inside Out is the other play set that is launching alongside the game. Whilst I wasn’t able to get my hands on it in time for this review, I can confidently say that it is equally fun and provides a completely different experience to that of Star Wars play set. There is also a Rise of the Empire play set coming next month which focuses on key moments from the original Star Wars trilogy. In Disney Infinity 3.0 community features have been even further enhanced to ensure that accessing the latest and greatest Toy Boxes is incredibly intuitive for the most entry-level of players. Flynn’s Arcade will match you with three other online gamers instantly in order to go head-to-head in competitive Toy Boxes. The El Capitan will provide featured Toy Boxes that you shouldn’t miss.

Disney Infinity 2.0 went a long way in providing even more possibilities within the Toy Box. Disney Infinity 3.0 works in improving this even further with the biggest addition being the brand new Path Creator. This allows you to create paths for vehicles, enemies and other objects which allow you to create your own set pieces. Avalanche have also included a Music Note Creator which allows you to create your own music. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the brand new Toy Dispenser allows you to quickly access toys from various Disney properties. ?Another major addition to Disney Infinity 3.0 are the new Toy Box Games. So far two have been announced in the form of Toy Box Takeover & Toy Box Speedway. Both will be available in October with Toy Box Takeover being included as a preorder bonus at EB Games. Toy Box Takeover focuses on different franchise from the Disney, Marvel & Star Wars universe in a world where Syndrome from The Incredibles has stolen the Infinity Wand and has used it to create several new worlds. The game is a dungeon crawler where your task is to obliterate any randomly generated areas who cross your path. Toy Box Speedway has been created by Sumo Digital and is a kart racer far beyond any of the vehicle based Toy Boxes that have been included in Disney Infinity to date. Power discs are now sold in packs of four which is greatly preferred to the blind packs of two. 

It’s hard to mention Toy Box Games without mentioning Sidekicks which are new and improved in Disney Infinity 3.0. Sidekicks are lesser known characters from Disney properties that follow you around in the Toy Box/Toy Box Games. They are now able to be levelled up, mainly through the use of farming. You’re able to set your Sidekicks to work on a crop in order to grow vegetables which in turn, you’re able to feed them and help them level up or equip them with new abilities. It’s a great addition to the franchise and one that I found myself sinking a bunch of time into. 

Disney Infinity 3.0 is the game that i’ve been waiting for since toys-to-life came to fruition a few years ago. It is a complete and polished package that genuinely has something for hardcore and casual gamers alike, young and old. It is better than Disney Infinity 2.0 in almost every way and brilliantly celebrates all things Disney, Marvel and Star Wars.

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You begin your Journey with a brief scenic introduction showing a vast desert landscape in which every particle of sand is magically glittering from the sun’s warm rays. No words are said, nor will they ever be said. Our introductory view leads us to a single nameless nomad cloaked in a dark red gown and a scarf. With no clear direction or goal; players instinctively push forward to a high point on the sand dunes for a better view of their surroundings. The view opens up to reveal a mountain as tall as the skies and stretching toward the heavens. As a player you now know where you must head, you must scale this goliath mountain. No reason why, no hints that you should, just a gut feeling that grips each and every player.

Every aspect of this games presentation is absolutely flawless. From the moment the game starts, the phenomenal visuals of the landscape will leave your jaw planted on the floor. Time and time again as the landscapes change for better or worse in terms of story, you are still visually enchanted by the amount of detail, wonder and awe at each particle of sand, each glimmer of light or every trickle of water. Instead of going on an on about it, the accompanying pictures should be absolutely more than justify what my words cannot comprehend.Emotions are charged through your adventure, you will experience euphoric highs and tear jerking lows, with countless goose bumps in between these contrasts. The award-winning soundtrack backs up the amazing visuals to set an absolutely incredible atmospheric journey. The soundtrack plays out the emotional roller-coaster that is Journey to a tee. The overall presentation is easily the best thing about the game and what makes this game a journey that will never be forgotten.

Journey is a game of experience and wander. You don’t find yourself fending off countless enemies or solve complicated puzzles, you just absorb and take on board what this game has to offer you. To allow the best opportunity for immersion controls are simplified, you can move, walk, jump and sing. Jumping is a basic yet complex component of this game. Throughout your time you will gather cloth parts that extend your nomad’s scarf, in turn extending his jump. Singing will open/interact with some obstacles or can even be used to draw the attention of fellow players.Journey allows random matchmaking. You and a nameless player can travel hand in hand as you make your way to the mountains peak. The only form of communication is performed through the sing button. A tool that I feel only enriches the experience of this wonderful game. The less that is said about Journey’s gameplay the better, with every single moment of the game being a new experience that you should enjoy first-hand with no prior knowledge.

Journey was cited as one of the best games of the previous console generation It is the fastest selling game on the PSN and has won countless awards for every box this game can tick, online multiplayer, visuals, audio, gameplay and even more. It really is a no brainer why this game was bought over to the PS4. It brilliantly exposes those who missed out the first time to this inspiring pilgrimage and to let the initiated re experience the emotions of this game that are still probably playing on their mind from 3 years ago.

Journey is an experience that should not be missed, not for any reason. Journey lasts roughly 2.5 hours which is the perfect length for such an experience. It is something that will stick with you as a gamer for years after.

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Do you remember that episode of Dragon Ball Z where Goku teamed up with Monkey D. Luffy to defeat the evil Naruto Uzumaki and his counterpart Ichigo Kurosaki? No? What do you mean it never happened? Then it’s time to make it happen!

Chock to the brim full of Shonen Jump’s history, J-Stars Victory VS+ brings together some of the biggest names you know, and mixes them with a heap more you’ve probably never heard of! With a decent roster and some impressive graphics, this all-out battle is sure to keep even the simplest Jump fan entertained.

Characters from all across the many worlds of Shonen Jump have been brought together in ‘Jump World’ to take part in the J-Battle Festival, to determine the strongest Jump character of them all. Summoned by the mystical (and at times quite comical) narrator, the story splits into four character narratives, each focusing on a particular member of the Jump universe and their journey to win the festival and be crowned the strongest Jump warrior of them all.While relatively simple (as expected from a fighting game spanning multiple manga adaptations), the plot does well at attempting to tie together the expanded universe and give them a reason to battle each other, while throwing in various challenges along the way to introduce other characters. J-Stars brings each character to life in a vibrant and vivid way; character models are not only proportioned and recreated in 3D to stunning effect, but on the PS4 the textures are smooth and rounded – really adding that sense of manga brought to life. These faithful recreations of each character don’t just stop at appearance either; the signature special moves for each fighter are also drawn from their respective manga and anime iterations, and as such will have fans jumping for joy when selecting their favourites. The environments don’t quite get the same treatment as the characters though, but when being played at such high speeds details like this can be forgiven; with the majority of obstacles and buildings entirely destructible.

During battles, the imagery tends to move extremely fast, and this is in no way a negative; the game manages to really feel like a three-dimensional anime fight rather than a simple chaotic brawler, with flashing lights and bursts of energy and fire flying left right and centre in the midst of a flurry of punches and kicks. Unlike other releases such as Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z, everything is fast-paced yet still easy to follow, and will not leave players confused.The game switches between text-laden cutscenes akin to an RPG to progress the story, which do begin to get tedious after a while, but these are easily skippable; character images in these are usually relatively general images of each character, and are onscreen for conversational effect. Even the menus are not made boring, with lots of neon and bright colours highlighting the entire game.

Character voices sound authentic, too; but this could purely be from a Westerner’s perspective, as the whole game is dubbed in Japanese. Repetition of moves begins to get annoying from certain characters, but usually the gameplay is too fast and involved to draw your attention to such things. The soundtrack is half-decent at times, a mixture of J-Rock and orchestral music scoring the game and making it really feel like one big adventure. At times the music begins to get repetitive and annoying, but the pace of the game makes up for it and ensures that the player does not linger on the same track for too long.J-Stars allows players multiple game modes, including ‘J-Adventure’, ‘Victory Road’, as well as an arcade mode and cooperative modes as well. None of the modes shy away from the core of the game, which is the combat.

At its base, J-Stars’ combat is relatively simple; buttons are allocated for light and heavy attacks, as well as special attacks and blocking. With 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 modes, the goal is basically to take the opponent down either a certain number of times or before the time runs out. Heavy attacks can break blocks, as can special moves, and attacks can be chained together to keep the enemy subdued and knock them away. Some attacks have knockdown ability, meaning opponents don’t have a chance to counter, however these basic attacks can be dodged with proper timing. Using attacks drains a rechargeable stamina bar which, when depleted, prevents the player from making more attacks until it recharges. Players also have the ability to recharge this, however it makes them vulnerable for the time that they are recharging, leading to the player having to employ tactics to defend.

Players have the ability to choose which enemy they wish to target and attack through the fight, and can switch at any time. This is done with the lock-on system, and ensures that you can follow the opponent no matter where they go. This however does not stop other enemies on the opposing team from attacking you, or your allies from attacking your target, leading to the ability to gang-up on single targets and take them down faster. The gameplay becomes unpredictable chaos, as there is a constant struggle between fighting and getting the upper hand to having every attack thwarted by the enemy team.Through all of the fighting, a ‘burst’ bar begins charging for each team, and the longer the fight goes on the more the bar charges. Once this reaches maximum, teams can activate a ‘Victory Burst’, which engages the character’s ultimate move; this attack can be triggered several times before the burst ends. Unlike most of the other attacks, ‘Victory Burst’ attacks don’t have a chance of being blocked, but for some characters they can’t be deflected; if the enemy moves just outside of the attack’s range, the move fails to hit and it is wasted. It also can only be used when all team members have activated it, otherwise it fails and has to be charged again.Support characters are also a major part of the game; during the match the player can press the L2 button and have their support character attack. Depending on the character, this can add an extra chance to throw the enemy off-guard, as support attacks are usually fast and cannot be blocked. The downside is that once the attack is used, there is a cooldown period until it can be used again, leading to it being saved for strategic attacks.

The combat is relatively easy to get a hold of after a few matches, and becomes extremely fun once the initial stage is past. It is here however that things begin to seem unbalanced; some characters have easier knockdown abilities or faster recharges, or are a lot quicker at attacking than others. The gameplay also does not vary much from battle to battle, so aside from trying out new characters and different attacks, the fighting begins to get stale and repetitive. Different character combinations can make for more fun gameplay but even this grows boring after a while, and especially in modes such as ‘J-Adventure, which focuses on travel and then fighting, it can get tedious.

Even if you have no idea of any of the Shonen Jump manga series or characters, J-Stars Victory VS+ is a relatively refined and balanced fighting game that seeks to allow the player to just have fun. With unlockable characters and items, and a pretty funny storyline that does its best to mash different source materials together, the game is worth a pick-up for fighting fans and manga fans alike.

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Most of us (if not all of us) will be familiar with the classic Jurassic Park story. A theme park compiled of genetically engineered dinosaurs where all things go awry; what’s not to love? LEGO® Jurassic World takes the approach of most franchise-based LEGO® games where the story told is an abridged version of the events throughout all of the films, which in this case also includes the new Jurassic World, which opened in theaters last week. But in the case of this game, does it hurt any of the material involved that’s been abridged? Yes and no.The charm of the Lego games is that it tells more humorous versions of the stories it adapts, but Jurassic World may be one of the most in-depth adaptions that the brand has attempted so far. Tonally the story is much more lighthearted than its theatrical counterparts, but it still tries to create some of the tension with a more friendly tone, which thanks to the art-style and overall take on the story itself is quite successful within it’s own context, but certain most darker-in-tone sequences from the films take a beating when it comes to delivery. This is mostly due to the fact that the game obviously wants to shy away from certain acts of violence and demise, which normally isn’t a bad thing within the LEGO® brand, but the fact that some of these moments were so iconic in the films themselves make it a shame that they’ve changed so much when it comes to structure, delivery and outcome. The formula Warner/TT Games have been using when it comes to humor and such may be showing fatigue though, which is possibly due to the fact that the brand has become quite over-saturated when it comes to the amount of released titles in recent memory. There are certain parts of the Jurassic Park/World brand that are simply more suited for the transition than others, and whilst the package overall is quite good, fans may be a little underwhelmed throughout.So what’s it look like? Well based on the overflow of LEGO® games in recent history we’ve grown pretty accustomed to the visual presentation that the LEGO®-based games have brought us. But with every property comes a different challenge, and with each title you’ve got to find a way to properly showcase something familiar, yet showcase it in an entirely different light, which is what TT Games has always been fairly skilled at and Jurassic World is no exception when speaking about their great track record. Some of the areas do have a distinctively more realistic look than we’re used to when it comes to the games within this brand, but the distinctive style always shines through in a well-done manner.

On a technical front LEGO® Jurassic World is pretty much the same as we’re used to from the other LEGO® games when it comes to graphical fidelity and performance. Textures on the actual LEGO objects are pretty sharp, though more natural elements range from ok to good when it comes to sharpness and detail. Elements such as grass don’t always come out as well as the more artificial objects, and backgrounds are sometimes a bit more blurry than probably intended. As a graphical package overall it doesn’t get any worse or better than other recent LEGO titles.Animations seem as fluid as ever, though motion blur may seem a bit exaggerated at times. (This feature is optional in the PC version, and in some of my walkthroughs performance did seem to pick up with the feature disabled.) There really isn’t much that stands out that I’d have to note, though I must say performance on lower-end machines did seem better than expected. Console users should experience similar positive experiences depending on their platform.

There aren’t any remarks regarding the sound design, though the musical score is a department where LEGO® Jurassic World is severely lacking. Due to the limited amount of licensed tracks from the films the game seems to limit itself to the small selection of songs quite frequently, backing it up with an original score that just doesn’t seem to do the trick, not only in comparison to the scores of the original films, but within its own right. The result is a musical score that quickly falls into repetitiveness as the game goes on, constantly falling back on the same themes.On a more positive front, the game seems to fare much better when it comes to gameplay, though content is much more limited. The game isn’t necessarily that much different than other LEGO games when it comes to gameplay, but it just works for what it is. General exploration, combat and such are genuinely fun, and given the fact that we’ve got 4 movies and 2 parks to explore the game could easily last you 12 hours, depending on your play-style. It does however raise one serious question; do we really need so many games of the same brand with similar styles of gameplay?Not to say that the game’s gameplay isn’t solid, because it is. The clear problem though is the fact unless you’ve limited yourself to LEGO® Jurassic World, you’ve most likely experienced something similar in structure about a few months ago with the last LEGO®-based title. This fatigue may be more apparent for returning players though, as newcomers and Jurassic Park/World fans could easily be delighted by the package the game offers.

The structure of the game is pretty simple; the game is set-up in a hub world (or in this case, technically two), through which the story levels are spread out through the map. Players progress through exploration, though the game does set you on a clear path to avoid confusion. The main levels usually consist of general exploration, combat, puzzles and chase sequences, which are based around the key sequences of the films, though obviously sometimes a little looser in interpretation for gameplay purposes. In the case of Jurassic World, you’ll also get to unlock and create dinosaurs, which adds a nice new dynamic to the mix.Most of the gameplay ranges from solid to good, though certain encounters seem a bit uninspired and more like filler material, which causes some pacing issues. Post-story content is another story though, as we’re also given a lot less motivation to actually complete what there is of it. The problem with the cast of the game is that there are simply less characters that players would actually pursuit to unlock. Games such as Marvel, Batman, Pirates of the Caribbean and such offer iconic characters that players actively pursuit to unlock, but with Jurassic World there aren’t many characters that are instantly recognisable or classics (a lot of the cast of the second and third movies come to mind), which offers players a lot less reward. Post-game content is also more limited, which puts a lot of the characters behind replays of the story levels, which honestly isn’t that fun.Jurassic World is obviously a great theme to pursuit when creating a game in this genre, though whereas the game has its moments to shine it more often stumbles. Fans of the movies and returning players who want some more to play should have a decent time with LEGO® Jurassic World, but it is definitely one of the weaker instalments in the LEGO® franchise.

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Life Is Strange is a five part episodic series that will be delivered over the next few months. This review is for Episode 3, titled Chaos Theory. It will attempt to cover the value of Episode 3 both by itself and as part of a larger experience. More importantly, given how important the story is to experience Life Is Strange, this review is spoiler free but may contain light spoilers for the first two episodes.Life Is Strange follows Maxine Caulfield, or Max for short. Returning to her hometown of Arcadia Bay in Oregon, she enrols in a prestigious academy as senior photography student, working with some of the most prestigious in the business. The academy is rife with rumours and speculations regarding the mysterious disappearance of Rachel Amber, a girl whose reputation changes depending on who you talk to.

Without giving too much away, the events of Life Is Strange are thrust into motion when Max reunites with her estranged best friend, a more rebellious Chloe. Chloe’s father died the same year that Max left town, leading to the two becoming estranged. Max and Chloe both have a mutual goal, however, as both were involved with Rachel Amber, and as such, investigate her disappearance together.Whereas the last episode of Life Is Strange solely focused on conflicts within the student body of Blackwall Academy, Chaos Theory focuses on the bigger picture – which you’d expect given the episodes title. We’re almost past the halfway point in Life Is Strange and thankfully the stakes are really starting to ramp up.

There’s not a lot that can be spoken about without absolutely ruining the episode for players, but things get interesting pretty fast especially as the consequences of all those choices made in the first two episodes begin to come full circle. And, as always, it ends with a killer pay-off.As the series continues, it has become apparent that not much is going to change in terms of presentation when it comes to Life Is Strange. The uniquely stylised visuals are still here – helping cement the games dreamlike, unapologetically indie flavour it employs in its presentation. The third episode continues this vibe pretty well although it does take place in some darker locales so it’s less of a showy episode, in terms of presentation.

The usual issues that have plagued the first two episodes of Life Is Strange previously remain in the third episode. Character models look good but have a roughness to them saved only by the severely stylised artistic direction. Texture pop-ins, especially for scene transitions, remain an issue as you’d expect from any game running on the Unreal Engine. Lip-syncing remains atrocious too.But it’s becoming more and more clear that the priority with Life Is Strange is to provide a reasonably compelling gameplay experience married with an intense and interesting storyline, which the game and especially this episode is largely successful in doing.

A now standard mix of licensed and original music helps to hammer home the atmosphere too, and it’s nice to see the developer not skimping now that the series is more established and instead using whatever music they feel they should use in any specific moments of the episode.Episode 3 brings no surprises – Life Is Strange remains a pretty typical adventure game. There’s little action or combat in the game, but where previous episodes shied away from puzzles, the third episode includes quite a few. Most of them are fairly typical things you’d find in an adventure game like this – but something I like about Life Is Strange is that it embraces the fact that its puzzles are trial and error. It doesn’t pretend you’re not going to rewind time (literally or figuratively) and instead just lets you. Most of the puzzles are built on this mechanic, while the weaker ones are simply collection based fetch quests.

Similar to previous episodes, Max can both look at and interact with most things throughout the game world. The former option gives us her thoughts on whatever she’s looking at, while interaction helps to build character or even make choices that may have greater ramifications later on in the story. It’s simple since it means players can look into information about characters and their interactions at their own leisure, or simply plod through the main story and get to the end.Of course, as most players will be aware of now, most of the gameplay revolves around the concept of the Butterfly Effect – the idea that small changes can somehow largely influence the future and current events. Some of the changes are blatantly obvious – while others are more nuanced and won’t be explored later.

Episode 3 provides some pretty interesting choices but many of them are blatantly black or white – there’s not a lot of grey ground here. Without spoiling, one asks players to take from one party to give to another, but one option is clearly the right one. Looking into the situation, there’s probably more to it than meets the eye, but at face value, there is seemingly one choice most players will make. It’ll be interesting to see if these choices pay off in future episodes but for now we’re just left wondering.The rewind mechanics are still prevalent here. Max can rewind time to explore different conversation options (especially if she stuffs up and makes someone angry at her) or to change the flow of events. The more interesting aspect of this mechanic is that Max herself, and all objects she interacts with, stay on her person. So you can grab something, rewind, and then move it somewhere else easily.

Episode 3 of Life Is Strange definitely plays with this mechanic a lot more than the first two episodes. Max will be required to explore all conversation options, use these conversation options to bribe or persuade others to talk to her, or even move items to prevent certain events from happening. Some of the puzzles in particular are purposefully obtuse, but honestly they’re also pretty satisfying to solve. It’s rare that games truly reward players for thinking outside of the box but thankfully Life Is Strange does it well.As per usual, exploring the menus and the journals and text messages provides extraneous information about the characters and what they’re going through as well as how they’ve reacted to the previous episode’s events. It gives a great sense of life to the game’s world, but at the same time isn’t necessarily pertinent information required to proceed. As usual, this episode feels well-paced and doesn’t outstay its welcome nor does it feel like it short changes the player either, especially if they stop to take in everything the world has to offer.But while I end every review of every episode of Life Is Strange with this thought, it’s one that still remains interesting. Just how will Life Is Strange manage to wrap up all these strange kinds of mysteries about its characters? Some of the decisions and their outcomes in this episode highlights an almost dramatic shift in tone for the remainder of the series. We can only wait to see how things play out, given the choices and opportunities available.

But it’s really freaking exciting, none the less.

The post Review: Life Is Strange: Episode 3 – Chaos Theory appeared first on Press Start.

The Game of Thrones saga continues our heroes rise and fall, bringing us further into the extended universe of Westeros.  Does Sons of Winter continue the winning streak that Telltale has been going on, or has winter come and are we left in the cold?

*This review may contain mild spoilers from previous episodes due to the necessity to follow up on certain earlier events throughout the structure of this review.As the war for the throne of Westeros ranges on behind the scenes of the universe our characters each run into the troubles of their own lives. The Forrester house is hanging on to the ridge of defeat, and all across Westeros its members fight battles of their own in order to bring back order to their home in the North. From Rodrik’s fight for their homestead in the North to Asher’s search for an army across the Narrow Sea, Sons of Winter brings valuable plot progression to the first season of Game of Thrones.

Following the turmoil of The Sword in the Darkness, each of our characters has found themselves in a conflict that has escalated the situation to new heights. Rodrik’s quest to re-take and defend House Forrester seems to have showcased some new possibilities, but every decision has its consequences, which this episode makes more than apparent across storylines.One of the most engaging arcs throughout Sons of Winter is Asher’s journey to find an army to protect his home across the Narrow Sea. After the heated confrontation with one of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons, which has seemingly brought up some interesting opportunities for him and his companions. Faced with a battle that is not his own, Asher must work and find and compose new allegiances in order to take the next step in fulfilling his task. Arguably this particular arc does take a while to build up steam due to the fact that the storyline needed time to develop, but the payoff delivers a finale that is quite compelling.

As mentioned earlier, Rodrik’s arc continues as House Forrester finds itself in peril due to Griff Whitehill’s conquest over the halls of his own home. Approached by Gwyn Whitehill, Rodrik finds himself in a situation where he may have to compromise his own morals in order to get what he’s been fighting for throughout the season so far. Leading people isn’t easy, and when the enemy roams within your midst (literally and figuratively), maintaining your moral code may seem harder than it ever has been. The strong aspect of this part of Sons of Winter is the fact that all the little choices you have to make can really reflect on both you and the character, providing a view of your form of leadership and morality. In the storyline itself the outcomes may not seem as drastically different, but it’s these little narrative moments that provide some excellent character development, regardless wether these moments are chosen by the player or the developer itself. The only drawback of this particular arc is the position it finds itself in the third act. The slightly undefined structure of the balance between these acts creates some structural flaws that effect the tension somewhat.Gared’s storyline is somewhat smaller in size than usual when it comes to contents, and can be seen as buildup for the penultimate and final episodes of the season. The events are still engaging by the standards of this particular arc in the past few episodes, though development is somewhat limited until the third act. Some of the content seems somewhat like filler material, though its quality remains.

The events at King’s Landing involving Mira may be a hit or miss for some due to the political/narrative driven structure of the arc throughout the episode. Don’t expect anything in the scale of the other arcs when it comes to events, but the story progression throughout does give an interesting perspective into what’s going on behind the scenes whilst everyone is at each other’s throats.There isn’t much to be said about the visual fidelity of the game in regards to the differences between this and the previous episodes, so you can refer to the reviews of Iron From Ice, The Lost Lords and The Sword in the Darkness.The fourth episode of Game of Thrones brings us yet another 2-3 hours of Telltale’s classic gameplay formula, but does it still hold up? The basis of the formula still works very well, though the dialogue-driven structure of certain arcs may be a bit slow for some when it comes to pacing, but the payoff more than makes up for this fact. The only related question is wether the extended season may find some players fatigued by the structure of the game.Sons of Winter provides players yet another strong instalment in what may be one of Telltale’s best offerings in recent history. There are some structural issues that hold the episode back from being one of the strongest this season, but it holds up well in comparison to its predecessors. With engaging storylines and strong character development Sons of Winter is definitely worth your time!

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Telltale’s Game of Thrones saga continues as the world of Westeros continues its downfall into war.The story of The Sword in the Darkness continues the intertwining storylines that were set up in the first two episodes. All across Westeros and beyond the Forresters are resisting the forces who plan to invade them and prepare to defend the kingdom that they call home. Asher, Rodrik, Gared and Mira’s tales continue as their situations are seemingly escalating even further, providing even more pressure on their perspective roles in the fight for their house.

Across the Narrow Sea, Asher continues his journey with his travel companions Beshka and his uncle Malcolm seek for an army to defend House Forrester. Their journey basically acts as the bookends to the narrative of The Sword in the Darkness, but it also forms an important piece of narrative progression that ties the narrative of Telltale’s Game of Thrones even further into the mythos of the world of Westeros beyond the containments of the expanded universe they’ve been setting up ever since the first episode. Truth be told character development may not be the strongest part of this section of the series, but every event seems to be more of a small piece of a greater plan than it seems to be at first glance. Asher seems like a perfectly fine and likeable character so far, but the bookend/transition style of his sequences are implications that his actions will be more important towards the end of the season, but at the time his segments may feel less significant. This is an obvious trade-off, but the structure works well for the episode, providing powerful opening and closing segments for this strong episode.Rodrik’s sections provide the emotional aspects/impact of this episode, and the continuing struggle/resistance at House Forrester is escalating to a point where the tension could really be a cut with a knife. The Whitehill’s are steadily expanding their foothold on the Forrester house. As the family Forrester runs out of options Rodrik and his council contemplate wether to submit or rise against the forces that seek to control their legacy. The decision making involved in these sequences seemed to be the most important you had to make due to the impact they could have on your stance as the lord of House Forrester. Of course these moral discussions often go more deeply beyond the actual game’s narrative due to the limitations of the impact they can have on the structure of the story on a broader scale, but the sheer fact that you have to choose between defiance and compliance really make you feel like you’re growing as a character along with Rodrik, who has proved himself to be a strong character even beyond the decisions that you make for him as part of the gameplay. The buildup these sections of Game of Thrones have provided created a strong and well-told structure that strengthens the other intertwined storylines due to the fact that most of your motivations will lie in ending the events that occur here.

Gared’s storyline can be seen as a cross between the former two mentioned storylines. His story on and beyond the wall serves as a supporting structure that uses a well-placed MacGuffin that plays into the greater narrative of what the main characters are trying to achieve. Gared’s storyline can be seen as the most similar to the formula the TV series itself follows, though episode 3 really gives Gared his own proper differentiations that set him apart and give his story a proper sense of progression. His search for the North Grove has his recent history haunt him, and the past isn’t as willing to let go as he may seem to be depending on your actions. The thing with a lot of these characters is that they can seem more vengeful or forgiving depending on your choices, and experiences may differ as your own mentality can form the grander details of a character’s story arc, albeit in a more mental than actual visual manner of course.Mira’s storyline seemed to be the most lacking in regards to narrative quality. Aside from a few escalations her role in the narrative has seemingly been a political break from the more up close and personal aspects of the rest of the story, aside from the earlier noted occasional distractions. Mira does seem to be improving as a character and a narrative section, though the pacing of her storyline does seem to be off from time to time. A problem that popped up during this episode is that the narrative negates some of the earlier decisions you’ve been making during the season, and even though this probably plays into the greater scheme of things it kind of feels lacklustre to make a decision and have it handled in such a manner.

The Sword in the Darkness isn’t the strongest episode in the series so far, but it’s not far off. There are certain issues that pop up here and there, but Telltale has remained impressively consistent this season so far when it comes to writing.here has been nothing much new to note about the visual fidelity of Telltale’s Game of Thrones. You can reference the reviews for Episode I and Episode II for any earlier notes I had about the graphics of the series so far.Episode III: The Sword in the Darkness retains the same pattern of dialogue, exploration and action that the series has followed so far. Exploration is kept to a limited amount and the game puts a stronger emphasis on the dialogue itself, with occasional side-steps into combat and/or other physical aspects. The episode gives players a lot of decisions to make, and some great action sequences to boot. There isn’t much to explore and find in the episode, but the pacing itself doesn’t lend much to this aspect. You’ll have your occasional moments of finding something, but there are no actual puzzle aspects to be found for the most past.

As with the presentation section, you can reference the reviews for the first two episodes for any further notes.Telltale continues to present players with a consistent and well-crafted series that retains its narrative quality and provides long-time fans both new and familiar sights into the world of Westeros. The Sword in the Darkness isn’t the strongest of the three episodes out so far, but it comes close.

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Electronic Arts introduces players into a new age of Battlefield, where warfare is exchanged for high-speed and adrenaline-filled tales of crime and corruption through the eyes of the police and criminals. But is Hardline up to the task to keep the Battlefield name clear? Or does it flatline?

*NOTE: Due to technical disparities between certain versions of the game because of hardware limitations and differences, this review is mostly applicable to the version that has been reviewed. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version of Battlefield: Hardline do not offer the full 64-player experience of its current-gen and PC counterparts. Experiences may vary per platform.

Battlefield: Hardline takes the franchise in a new direction by ditching its military setting in favour of a TV-inspired cop drama that takes its cues from popular shows such as Hawaii Five-O, Breaking Bad and other popular crime-related dramas. Hardline tells the story of detective Nick Mendoza, a young detective working through the ranks of the DEA. After an initially rough introduction Mendoza is introduced to his new partner and the hunt for some of the region’s largest drug lords begins. But like in any cop drama, there’s a twist to this tale, and Mendoza soon discovers that not all is well in his department, resulting in a cop vs corrupt cop conflict that might not end well for him and his allies. The story and characters of Hardline are anything but deep and well written, but often these effects seem more than intentional considering the fact that the entire narrative is set-up as a televised cop drama, which are often produced in a similar fashion. The characters are incredibly two-dimensional, but they are written in a fashion that often makes them likeable, rather than creating the one-dimensional military grunts that we’ve often had to deal with in the history of the franchise.

Rather than spreading the narrative out through the game as a three-act story the game gives each mission the structure of a TV episode, which creates a dynamic where the campaign is easily played in short sessions due to the fact that each mission is set up as a self-sustaining narrative. There are some problems with this narrative as playing through the entire game in larger sessions can make this formula a bit stale as some of the missions simply aren’t that long and the interruptions in between chapters dials the flow of the story back quite a bit.

Even though the game is set up in episodic context, the main narrative of the game can still be seen as a traditional three-act story. The opening chapters of the game feel like obvious nods to modern cop dramas when it comes to the tone, but it doesn’t take long until the story treads into Bad Boys territory by injecting some adrenaline and heading into some ridiculous car chases and action sequences, though these are over-the-top in the sense that they still seem enjoyable, and fit the formula that the writing of the story had adapted so far.  throughout its first and second acts the game tends to stay in these territories, but once we head into the third act the game often falls back heavily on the set piece formula that the main franchise had adapted. Some of the final sequences headed towards the finale are pretty absurd, with the penultimate chapter of the game treading into gravity-defying territory that even when compared to earlier games seems completely nonsensical. The finale has a lot to be desired as well due to the fact that the pacing decelerates quite heavily and showcases twists and turns that are not only completely insistent with the tones and characters of the game, but seem like an unlockable alternate ending that ignores the little character development the narrative had showcased so far.

Whilst Hardline starts out as a fun side-adventure into new territory, the narrative simply doesn’t have the consistency to keep itself to a singular tone and a (kind of) grounded story, which results in a third act that falls back into old habits and escalates in a nowadays obligatory explosive finale that makes neither nor sense, nor is it a satisfying conclusion to a story that had a chance to be decent on its own. The problem is that whilst Hardline wants to be its own thing entirely at times, it more than often goes out of its way to remind the player that it’s a Battlefield game. Heat and Miami Vice were often the most prominent takes of inspiration in EA’s marketing for Hardline, but Bad Boys and Lethal Weapon seem more prominent in its writing.

Ever since the introduction of DICE’s Frostbite engine the Battlefield franchise has been known for providing stellar visual presentations that truly showcase both the beauty and chaos of the battlefield. With its first non-DICE title, do the graphical aspects of Battlefield Hardline match up to the standard that had been set by Battlefield 4 just two years ago? Whilst there are certain aspects of Hardline that may seem like an improvement, there are certain aspects of its visual department that may seem a bit of a step back in comparison. Firstly I’ll talk about the environments, and of course its assets/contents. Textures in general seem to be well detailed, though in the game’s more natural environments certain textures seem a bit too muddy to match up to its urban counterparts. Shrubbery, trees and other natural elements seem to suffer from the same issue, and often look overly simplified when compared to the non-natural elements of the level designs in both the single-player and the multiplayer campaign.

These elements seem to fare much better in dimly lit situations, and with the right lighting in nighttime sequences these issues seem a lot less apparent unless you’re actively searching for these visual imperfections. However, in broad daylight these issues can be quite distracting for certain returning players, as it is a step back from Battlefield 4, despite this being a standalone spin-off. The game does shine when it comes to structures and non-natural elements such as concrete, glass, and whatever materials you’ll find in modern urban environments. Throughout my sessions I was quite impressed by the level of detail and the architectural design of certain locations that I had take a moment and admire Visceral’s impressive design work on these locations, which shines through in both the campaign and multiplayer sections of the game. Map designs seem to shine through in a similar manner, though some seem to be a little unbalanced when confronted with certain gameplay modes that have larger amounts of players running around.

The most prominent visual issue I encountered throughout the game was the quite apart aliasing issue, which often left the edges of characters and objects jagged in quite a distracting manner, which usually compromised what was often a decent visual presentation. However, the models of these characters and objects are usually quite well detailed and the texture work by Visceral on certain objects scattered throughout the world is pretty impressive. This isn’t limited to the larger set-pieces you’ll encounter, but the smaller details in the more enclosed levels are pretty much the best showcase of some of the modelling talent going on at Visceral, which sometimes goes unappreciated due to the less-than-ideal circumstances of some of the game’s less-finer moments in multiplayer.

Many of the issues are more present in the multiplayer, and te single-player campaign arguably is much more of a visually impressive product than its online counterpart. Whilst the game never reaches Battlefield 4 levels of fidelity, the game can stand on its own well enough, though its nighttime levels are pretty much the better half of the game due to the lighting situations that illuminate the game world. The larger the battlefield, the more Hardline suffers, and the more closed off areas of Hardline seem to be the much more polished aspects of the game, which seems to give the idea that the work on larger areas simply wasn’t a priority when it came to the IQ of the game, which is a shame considering the design seems to fare much better than its actual presentation.

The PlayStation®4 edition of Battlefield: Hardline runs at a resolution of 900p, aiming at a framerate of 60fps, which consistently dips into the mid to lower 50’s, with some heavier drops in the more hectic situations that take place in multiplayer. The singleplayer campaign features a combination of both 60fps-targetted gameplay and certain 30fps cinematics, which can make for some jarring transitions. This is due to the fact that there are no camera cuts or or any other transitions in-between these sequences. As said earlier the multiplayer suffers the heaviest from these drops, and whilst the framerate usually stays above 50fps, the result is pretty noticeable in quite a few scenarios, which is questionable since the franchise has maintained a similar framerate with much higher visual fidelity, which quite frankly questions the optimisation of the game.

Hardline is a pretty mixed product when you’re trying to pin down what kind of game it actually is. The campaign is a mix of existing and new concepts, the most apparent addition being its high reliance on stealth. There are quite a few sequences that will have you pass or take down enemies by sneaking past them and arresting or knocking them out, or in some cases just ignore them entirely. After using your radar to scope out the nearby area your mini map will give you the locations of your enemies, along with their active line of sights, which gives you a clear idea of where you can go. The stealth arsenal isn’t that diverse, as basically crouching and silenced weapons are the norm when sneaking throughout, but the addition of more non-lethal reactions to your enemies is quite a refreshing one. Rather than taking the life of every single enemy you’ll be able to apprehend them and take them into custody(just knocking them out seems to suffice as well.) When approaching an enemy whilst in stealth your most likely response would be to hit them from behind, and whilst this is an effective routine, there is also a more rewarding one. When approaching an enemy you’re be able to effectively apprehend your enemies and approach them to arrest them. To do this, you’ll have to keep your aim on them following your initial introduction, and if you’re in a situation where you’ve got multiple suspects the situation could still go south if your partner isn’t present. Whilst the mechanic in question is quite effective and a fun addition your enemies will often seem way to eager to give up, and more variety in responses would’ve been a more refreshing take on this great new mechanic, which is preferable due to the fact that arresting enemies simply give you more reward than killing them does.

Stealth is an effective option 9 out of 10 times, though you’ll often be presented with situations where you could go either way, and going in guns blazing can be as effective. On higher difficulties stealth does seem to be a wiser option unless you’re that well familiar with the style of gameplay, as the cops in Hardline seem way less bulletproof than they do in the classic entries. This of course is a matter of difficulty settings, but the point here is that getting noticed during stealth and/or going in head-on can have quite the consequences if you’re not prepared to face the results of your actions. Another change on this front would be the adjusted arsenal, which gives us a pistol as our primary weapon, rather than its original place as a side-arm as we most often see in most modern day shooters. Of course there are quite a variety of unlockable rifles and such to use as our side-arm, but the pistol does seem to be the most flexible when it comes to acting in both stealthy and hectic situations. Each weapon in both single and multiplayer can be retrofitted with quite a diverse selection of attachments that you can adjust accordingly. One weapon fits all in certain situations, and I often found myself switching the attachments on my carbine to better support my stealth approach, which often helped my save my own behind after making mistakes.

Cars have also been given a bigger spotlight in Hardline, and both the singleplayer and multiplayer feature a prominent push towards high-speed chases involving cops and robbers. Battlefield’s handling model has always been more practical when it came to trucks, tanks and other larger vehicles, but the handling method often feels too stiff when it comes to the game’s driving sections, which involve more traditional vehicles. The single-player doesn’t involve much strategy or skill when it comes to driving, and the almost on-rails approach to these sections is pretty boring due to the fact that you don’t have the situational freedom that you’re given on foot. The multiplayer obviously drops this problem, though the sheer weight and physics of the driving mechanic is pretty disappointing considering they are so prominently featured in the game as a whole.

As always the multiplayer portion of this Battlefield title holds the largest amount of content for us to play around with, and Hardline gives us a mix of old and new, which works out in a variety of ways. First off we’ve got classic conquest, which has players fight for control over specific points on the map to stop their team’s ticket count from depleting. Due to the variety of map designs in Hardline this mode seems to work better on certain maps than others, but this isn’t the only problem that looms over conquest. The inclusion of the mode is pretty much a given considering it’s a Battlefield title, but it’s also why it feels a little out of place next to the other game modes. Territorial capture simply doesn’t seem to fit in with the concept of the game, and forms a thematic clash between itself and the other game modes. It works on a technical leve, but not much else due to the fact that it stands out.

Most of Hardline’s game modes are entirely new to the franchise, and the list consists of; Blood Money (objective based capture and retrieve), Crosshair (VIP escort), Heist (an objective-based mode comparable to Rush), Hotwire (a vehicle-based versus mode), Rescue (hostage rescue) and classic Team Deathmatch, which speaks for itself. The sheer variety in modes is pretty decent, though certain modes like Blood Money and Hotwire are often prone to fatigue due to repetition. Hotwire seems to be the biggest offender in this regard, as it has players capture vehicles on the map followed by driving them around for as long as possible to gain points. Battlefield is always as hectic as the players make it, but soon you’ll probably be finding yourself driving around in circles capturing points with little else to do. Blood Money is a much slighter offender of this issue, as it’s also a concept that really relies on players to actually make it fun.

The multiplayer unlock system has been drastically altered, as players will no longer be able to unlock everything by experience. Rather than actually unlocking weapons and gear, you’ll be buying your loadouts with the cash you earn in multiplayer. Money has basically replaced experience in this regard, though you’ll soon enough be earning more than enough to purchase your ideal gear for action. Each of the classes has been renamed to match the style of the subject in question, but the primary use of each remains. The only problematic issue with classes is the fact that the engineer may seem a bit useless in certain situations, as there is a much lesser need of repairs due to the fact that much of the variation in vehicles has been simplified to cars and such, with helicopters being in the mix in lesser numbers.

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NOTE: This is the final of four informal pieces which will detail my experiences with each individual episode of Resident Evil Revelations 2. A full more traditional review of the game has been posted, along with this final article, on Press Start. A score will not be assigned here, but if you wish to see how the whole experience fares be sure to check out our full review!

The fourth and final episode of Revelations 2 doesn’t waste any time jumping straight into the action. Claire and Moira previously have begun their ascent to meet the Overseer herself after an intense and climactic battle. Barry and Natalia are now separated, but Natalia exhibited a bizarre and strange ability before it all happened. What does it all mean? Are all the questions answered after so long? I’m not entirely sure, but the surprises don’t quite end here. Onwards to Episode 4 – Metamorphosis.

Metamorphosis is definitely a bit of a lopsided offering from Capcom. Claire’s scenario, which sees her confronting the main villain and escaping the facility. There’s a few weird revelations here and there and an absolutely killer cliffhanger, but as I said previously it feels classically Resident Evil. Claire’s story, in particular, feels pretty anticlimactic although it does leave things with an air of mystery too them.

Previously in all the episodes of Revelations 2 that I’ve written about, the Claire and the Barry campaigns work towards solving their own individual mysteries rather than meeting up. At this point, we know Barry is exploring the same area Claire did six months prior. But it’s not until the end of Claire’s campaign that we realise how Barry came to find out about it. That is, the campaigns interconnect very well in Episode 4 and you’ll see how they relate to one another (mostly) by the time you begin Barry’s part of the campaign.

And it’s definitely the greater, more finale-like part of the episode. About 85% of your playtime in Episode 4 will be Barry’s campaign and that’s because it’s got a whole lot of fun and fascinating locales to trawl through with Natalia. I’ve used this word a lot now, but there’s really no other word to describe it. The first area Barry explores is a weird and dilapidated construction site that has been seemingly abandoned. Its home to a rather tedious co-operative designed puzzle that requires you to move an elevator between broken struts of a bridge. Following this, Barry descends into a mine which has been turned into a mass grave before finding the thing every Resident Evil fan loves to find – an underground facility.

Before you head into the underground facility, there’s more to explore but I feel like it would be grave injustice to totally spoil the experience. It really is a fantastic moment in the game and one that will scratch the nostalgia nerve in any diehard fan of the series. The final moments leading up to the final battle are also unapologetically classic Resident Evil.

The game, once again, throws you into a wide open area and allows you to explore it at your own will. There’s a few enemies peppered throughout the corridors but you’re largely isolated and largely on your own. There’s some genuinely tense moments too – constant backtracking past stasis tanks filled with enemies is bound to get most players in a bit of a stressed state – not knowing when (or if) they’ll burst out of their confines makes for some pretty tense gameplay.

Of course it’s worth clarifying at this point that while I mention that this game feels like a classic Resident Evil game, especially during the final moments of this episode, that it still falls short in some aspects. While I loved the puzzles you’d find in games like Resident Evil or even Silent Hill, most of the ones on offer in Revelations 2 never amount to anything more than fetch quests in open ended areas or backtracking to find doors that a newly acquired key will work on. Yes, these are classic elements of a Resident Evil game, but the idea of actual puzzles that require some thought are largely abandoned here. That’s not a bad thing mind you, but definitely something that is worth mentioning.

As you’d expect, there’s an incredibly flashy boss battle although it’s this aspect that I found ultimately quite disappointing in Revelations 2. Yes, some of the designs in Resident Evil have been ridiculous and over the top, but they’ve had a distinct and unique kind of “look” to them. The final battle in Revelations 2 looks like something Team Silent dreamt up for Silent Hill but scrapped for being too goofy. It’s a small issue I have but one where your mileage may vary – as I’ve not enjoyed the final boss design for both Revelations and Resident Evil 6 previously either. Once again, we could show it here but we won’t.

So after defeating the final boss and viewing the ending I, once again, came away with an odd feeling. The ending was depressing. It wasn’t conclusive. I needed more. So you can imagine my surprise when I found that there were in fact two possible endings to unlock in the game – one considered to be good and another considered to be bad. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to work out just how the endings were triggered but we’re sure it’ll surface soon enough. But it’s still a nice touch and throwback to older Resident Evil games since the more recent ones have not had multiple endings for some time now.

There’s heaps of unlockables to get into once you’re done too. I’ll definitely be going over most of them in my full review of the game, which should be going live around the same time as this piece, but most players can expect to unlock new weapons, new modes, new costumes and even new characters to play as in the more action-orientated Raid Mode. If you’re into this kind of thing, there’s a boat load of concept art to unlock too, some of which is unlocked using the game’s skill system points and others just by completing certain tasks in game. So after the initial Revelations 2 experience ends, there’s still a lot more to do.

So that wraps up Resident Evil Revelations 2, and my experiences and unfettered thoughts on the experience week by week. I’ve played each week and written my thoughts of each episode independently, without any foresight into what’s to come. But how does it compare as an entire experience? Be sure to read our full review to find out!

The post Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 4 – Metamorphosis appeared first on Press Start.

Resident Evil Revelations 2, much like the Revelations game that came before it, takes place between two mainline Resident Evil games. The events of Revelations 2 takes place between Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6. The story follows two separate characters across two separate time periods across the same setting.

Claire Redfield and Moira Burton are abducted by a mysterious “overseer” and taken to an island to participate in gruesome and cruel experiments while they attempt to escape. Barry Burton, Moira’s father and long-time friend of Claire and her brother Chris, heads to the island to save them, but not before meeting up with a strange girl named Natalia who accompanies him along the way.

Despite being an immense fan of the franchise, it’s undeniable that the storyline and the many plot points in the games have degenerated into nothing more than mass produced schlock. But it’s still a guilty pleasure for many fans – and Revelations 2 is no different. The game manages to properly tie itself into the series mythos quite well and as a result is definitely canon candy for fans.

But it’s a pretty middling story overall that sometimes dips into science fiction territory that doesn’t quite frankly feel right in the context of a Resident Evil title. But if you can put this aside you, or if you enjoy the Resident Evil films, you probably will enjoy Revelations 2’s story. Just don’t expect any definitive closure for any of your favourite characters.

Revelations 2 really wears its budget on its sleeve and this is especially obvious from the game’s presentation. There’s heaps of reused assets here and there and generally most of the locales Claire and Barry will explore have a very subdued or “closed in” feel to them. But while this sounds like a bad thing, it really isn’t, because for the most part the team has crafted a creepy world and used various tricks to make the shortcomings of the game less evident.

But make no mistakes, the way the game is presented is very much on a lower scale and budget than other games like Resident Evil 6 and Resident Evil 5, but still looks reasonably good. The closer and more claustrophobic level design suits the horror themes rather well. More bizarrely, the game runs at a very smooth framerate of 60 frames per second too, which is a nice bonus.

More controversially, the voice work is rather flat. Ali Hillis, who many might know as having voiced Lightning from Final Fantasy, has replaced series mainstay Alyson Court as the voice of Claire Redfield and it honestly doesn’t sound right. Other characters strike a reasonable balance between seriousness and cheese, like Barry, but on a whole the voice work is more competent than you’d expect for a Resident Evil game, especially one produced on a tighter budget.

The soundtrack is a rather subdued affair however, though this might mean different things for different people. Most of the tracks in the game are more subtle, ambient tracks that are comprised of various noises and subtleties that help build the game’s environments. The result is nothing particularly memorable, but instead music that just blends into the scenes. Some of the remixed techno bangers that play during Raid Mode are sublime, though, even if they are more action orientated.

For the most part, Resident Evil Revelations 2 attempts to balance between the slower and methodically paced exploration segments of older games and the showier, action based set pieces of the newer ones. These attempts are mostly successful, but there are definitely some moments where the game feels like it could be a little bit better paced. Still, the designers’ willingness to allow players to just explore an area without having to shoot everything for long stretches at a time is to be commended in the current industry climate.

The game is split up into episodes, much like its predecessor, but overall does a great job at utilising this format to really keep the player wanting more. Each episode has you playing as Claire and Moira first, and then re-treading familiar (but different) ground as Barry and Natalia. It’s one of the many ways the game manages to get away with reusing some assets here and there, but it’s actually pretty fun to re-explore an area as Barry to see how things have progressed since Claire did the same.

The combat is a little bit more polarising. Throwing away most of the extra functionality that Resident Evil 6 introduced, Revelations 2 plays like a healthy mix of the original Revelations game with elements of Alan Wake or Gears of War sprinkled in. Characters can now move while aiming and shooting, sprint in any given direction at any time and even evade with the press of a button. It’s more restrictive than Resident Evil 6 (which was sometimes too convoluted for its own good) but it’s freer than Resident Evil 5 and 4.

What Revelations 2 attempts to do a little bit differently is by creating asymmetric partners for the player. Moira doesn’t use guns – instead she can use a crowbar to dole out melee damage or her flashlight to blind enemies and open them up to melee attacks. She’s pretty useful, if not overpowered – but only in the hands of a human player who understands the game. Her AI is quite terrible, but thankfully, she has regenerating health so it’s less of a babysitting job.

Natalia is Barry’s partner, and acts more like a support character. She can point out objects hidden in the game and throw bricks to distract or even slightly damage enemies that might be threatening Barry. Her major ability, however, is similar to The Last of Us’ listen mode – where she can see enemies (and their weak spots, in some respects) through walls. It’s a handy ability that opens up some stealth potential in the game, but might be quite boring for someone playing co-operative mode with another person.

There are a few puzzles here and there, but calling them puzzles is a bit of a stretch. Most of them require players to find an item or two, return it to an area and then progress through the game like normal. It certainly leads to some slightly less linear progression, but is by no means a return to form of the riddle based puzzles seen in Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Still, Revelations 2 definitely improves over its predecessors, so it feels like more of a little victory for the classic franchise fan.

When you’re done with the main campaign, which’ll take about eight or so hours to complete depending on how much you stop to explore your surroundings, the game’s endless content becomes open to the player. Two extra episodes, which we haven’t previously talked about, fill in extra story details between Claire’s and Barry’s campaign while employing more experimental gameplay design. They’re by no means absolutely necessary, but they’re a nice touch for people who want to explore the world of Revelations 2 a bit more.

And while there’s multiple endings, weapons, costumes and modes to play around with in the campaign, Revelations 2’s deceptively deep Raid Mode is some great and amazing fun. Giving players control of wide range of characters, it gives you opportunity to run a gauntlet of enemies using custom load outs and abilities. Some abilities are basic, like improving the functionality of different classes of weapons. Others are bit weirder – allowing you to deal damage to enemies by taunting or even turning them against each other for a while. While the Raid Mode takes a while to get going, it’ll easily lead to at least ten to twenty hours more entertainment for most players – and its co-op too!

If you  enjoyed reading our review of the entire Resident Evil Revelations 2 experience, be sure to check out our spoiler free impression pieces on the four individual episodes – Penal Colony, Contemplation, Judgement and Metamorphosis!

The post Review: Resident Evil Revelations 2 appeared first on Press Start.

It could be said that three things in life are certain; death, taxes, and a new Dynasty Warriors title every year. A spin-off to the main series, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires takes a different approach to the core gameplay, adding RTS elements to a primarily hack-and-slash series. Loosely (and I mean VERY loosely) based around Chinese history, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires allows players to take control of legendary Chinese warriors and officers from history, and command them on a dynamic battlefield in order to achieve an objective. There is no major plot per se, more just a series of missions and control objectives based around events in history, focusing on the rise and fall of different empires in China, mixed with tactical recruitment and romance on the side. The player’s ultimate goal is to effectively control all of China, by invading and pacifying enemies and rivals, and maintaining rule over your own domain.

The game builds off the previous title, Dynasty Warriors 8, which was initially released on last-gen consoles in 2013. This is evident in the graphical capabilities of the game; it looks vibrant, but on closer inspection textures aren’t as polished as they could be, and things have a glossy sheen to them at some points. To be fair, this only really impacts on the game when you are paying close attention, as the action sequences and general pace of the game will easily be a distracting force.

Character models are otherwise quite detailed; with intricate patterns and designs on armour and clothing, and have quite a bit of motion in them, especially when it comes to battles. Capes flow and swing around with each slash of a sword, or dart with a spear. The detail is reserved mostly for main characters and officers, and the basic enemies fall under a generic model category, which to be fair is logical, since they are consistently being taken down. Attacks bring vibrant splashes of colour across the screen, from flaming slices and explosive crashes to magic and special moves.

The menu system feels like something out of a PS1 or PS2 game – heavy neon and squared options detract from the moments of actual gameplay, and can get quite tedious at times. This is accompanied by a soundtrack that gets quite repetitive and suffers from sounding similar all throughout, from menu to battle. The music is nothing to write home about either – a mix of generic action rock and orchestral scoring, with a bit of synth thrown in; all in all, something you would expect from this kind of game.

One of the most jarring things about the sound design is the fact that the voices seem to only be available in Japanese. This would almost be easily accepted if it were a Japanese-based game, but considering it focuses on Chinese lore, it occasionally takes the player out of the world that is being presented, and gives the game a generic Japanese feel overall.

I’ve never been one to actively play a Dynasty Warriors title until now, so I’ll be the first to admit that I should have initially paid more attention to learning the processes; the downside of this is that the tutorials are less gameplay-based and more reading-focused, so it gets quite tedious.

The game has two major aspects to it – politics and battle. The politics section takes place within a menu system, and functions as a means to rule over a territory. Players must construct facilities, conscript armies, and recruit and train warriors into officer roles in order to lead armies in battle. Three major resources fund your campaign; materials which are used to construct, train and host, money which is used to purchase goods and works in sync with materials, and units, which calculates how many men form your army. Through this mode, alliances can be formed with other regions, battles and raids can be initiated, and officers can be recruited to your ranks in order to grow your empire and become sole ruler of China.

To rule China, however, you need to be able to take and defend the lands you wish to own. This transition from menu-based politics into gameplay is where things get fun; playing the part of your character, you take to the battlefield to lead your troops to glory. Your other officers command units of men, but the player character becomes a one-man army. It is your job, on the battlefield, to not only send commands to your officers of whether to defend or attack, but also to charge headfirst into battle and take down hordes of enemy soldiers and rival officers. Every character has basic attacks, as well as powered attacks (known as Musou attacks), and the longer and more you fight, the bigger the Musou gauge gets. Other powers, known as ‘Stratagems’ can be activated by each individual officer, and can help change turn the tide of a battle; causing the sky to rain down with hellfire, constructing catapults or archery towers, or even upgrading one’s speed and attack to run around and obliterate squadrons in one single slash. The player can rack up massive combos and defeat in abundance of 1000s of men, all of which is continuously flashed on screen every time a milestone is reached. This raises the excitement a little and almost begins to lead to goals being set, and seeing if you can beat your personal best (I’m pretty sure mine was around 2000 men).

Victory is achieved in battle when certain circumstances are met, for instance defeating the enemy general, or capturing particular bases across the map by defeating the occupants inside. Once these battles are over though, it’s back to the menus for another average round of politics.
Each side of the game goes hand in hand with the other – if a territory is attacking yours, it is up to you to defend it or you will lose it. To keep your officers happy and to grow your campaign, territories must be invaded and more men trained in order to account for any that are lost. The political side may sound boring, but after a while you tend to fall into a pattern and get used to it.

If your lands are attacked, and you are defeated, you become a ‘Free Officer’, and have the decision of serving under a General, or starting a Vagabond unit and recruiting on your own. This can be used to your advantage in order to rebuild an empire that you may have once lost, or to take one down from the inside.

One major gripe I had with the game overall is the fact that a lot of the processes can be extremely time-consuming; as half of the game is based around the politics, the action takes a back seat and things may not happen for a while. If you go out and attack too quickly, you can lose what you have accumulated in an instant, and if you take your time to build up an empire, it can be invaded consistently until you have nothing left. Some points of the game became a drag because of this, as the battles became few and far-between.

The post Review: Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires appeared first on Press Start.

Note that this is the third in a series of four informal pieces which will detail my experiences with each individual episode of Resident Evil Revelations 2. Following this, a full more “traditional” review will be posted at the end of March to coincide with the game’s retail release. As such, no score will be assigned to the game until all episodes are available to the public.

Of the three episodes of Revelations 2 that I’ve played so far, I’ve got to say that the third episode, called “Judgement”, is possibly my favourite. It’s got a good combination of tension and build-up. Some subtle tinges of horror. Even some action packed encounters that really force you to look at managing your ammo properly rather than just unloading carte blanche. In fact, it’s the first time since Lost In Nightmares that I truly thought the old style of Resident Evil could properly be mixed with the new style. Judgement isn’t a perfect example, mind you, but it’s pretty close.

When we left Claire and Moira in the second episode, she’d just lost sight of Natalia and through some vague messages was told to head to a mysterious tower to confront the overseer. Having lost some of her friends previously, Claire is fuelled by feelings of vengeance more so than ever. But as most of us have learnt, evil is always watching, and the overseer has grander plans for Claire and Moira.

Claire’s scenario feels very close to what Lost In Nightmares was. It throws Claire into a meat processing facility made up of a few different buildings, and lets her explore at her own leisure. Yes, there are enemies here and there, but for the most part the progression in this chapter is fuelled by the players’ completion of puzzles. They’re really simple puzzles, mind you, but at least one of them will have you scratching your head until you realise how obvious the solution was. It’s also a nice opportunity to explore and find files giving backstory to the region and all these buildings, specifically how they ended up so dilapidated.

In typical Resident Evil fashion, the door out of the first factory area is blocked by a ludicrously flamboyant mythological depiction of Prometheus. It’s bizarre and weird, but it reminded me of how much fun it was to approach similar situations in the Spencer Mansion back in the first Resident Evil. The overseer has a penchant for mythology and philosophy, it would seem, although the incessant quoting of Kafka probably eluded to that fact already.

The concluding half of Claire’s scenario is another one of those situations where Revelations 2 seems to seek inspiration from another horror franchise. I’m personally not sure if it was intentional or not, but the meat processing facility reminds me a lot of a scene from SAW III. The puzzle in this area is pretty simple but also pretty gross, and results in an intense arena battle that once again harkens to some of the better ones in the series like the village encounter from Resident Evil 4. After some pretty by-the-numbers cooperative puzzles and an explosive escape, Claire and Moira finally make it to the a boring and confusing sewer segment (seriously, has there ever been a good one) and then to the tower.

This is where the story takes a bit of a weirder turn as yet another major revelation is brought to the surface. We obviously won’t spoil it, but it’s nice to see that the story doesn’t lose steam despite revealing the identity of the overseer at the end of the last episode. Claire’s scenario culminates into something every old-school Resident Evil fan will appreciate. A grotesque mutation and boss battle. One which requires both Claire and Moira to work together. And it’s great!

Which then brings us back to Barry and Natalia. They just discovered who the Overseer is. Natalia was of course less surprised than Barry since she had dealings with her before. But Barry is still confused about the whereabouts of Moira. If you’ve been playing this long – it should be pretty obvious by now – it’s very obvious that there is a six month gap between Claire’s scenario and Barry’s. So the crux of the mystery now is whether or not Claire and Moira are still in the same place as Claire and how things came to be that way in the past. It might sound confusing, but it’s not, I assure you.

Through some idle dialogue between Barry and Natalia, we begin to learn more about why the father and daughter are so estranged now – including the obvious question of why Moira doesn’t use guns or only uses blunt weapons. Personally, I kind of understand why Moira might not after what happened – but at the same time I still can’t see myself being in the same situation as these characters and not being willing to use a gun.

Barry’s scenario for this episode is pretty by the numbers. He explores the same sewer area that Claire did, but taking a different path through. Him and Natalia must navigate what looks like a reservoir looking area using the same typical co-op mechanics you’ve become acquainted with in any game like this. One player must help the other move along a walkway so that they may open a door that the other player can move through. It’s very done to death and a bit of a shame that the characters asymmetrical abilities weren’t utilised a bit better.

Barry’s episode ends in an abandoned quarry which once again provides more backstory to the area and why it’s the way it is. Most of this connects to other stories told in other files elsewhere so it’s great to see the team focusing on building a story for the location and how the overseer eventually moved in and took over the area.

The quarry area is basically an extrapolated area of the battery puzzle from the original Resident Evil – trying to get a power supply to a certain point while opening up an alternative path to make such a thing possible. It’s simple and pretty hard to get wrong, but once again it’s complicated by an intense looming threat.

The boss in this area appears twice and follows the design you’d really expect to find from Resident Evil 5. Lots of long and oozing tendrils and of course, in typical Resident Evil fashion, insta-kill moves too. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too much of a hard battle although towards the end of the chapter resources will definitely be slim and you may only get through it by a hair.

Once again, the developers have done great work at writing and utilising the episodic nature of Revelations 2, ending it on a cliff-hanger that will leave most players wondering what the hell is going on but at the same time ridiculously excited for more. It’s hard to believe we’re going to see the end of it all next week, but be sure to check in next week at the same time for our final review as well as our final recap of the fourth and final episode!

The post Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 3 – Judgement appeared first on Press Start.

NOTE: This is the second in a series of four informal pieces which will detail my experiences with each individual episode of Resident Evil Revelations 2. Following this, a full more “traditional” review will be posted at the end of March to coincide with the game’s retail release. As such, no score will be assigned to the game until all episodes are available to the public.

Another week, another Revelations 2 episode and boy was it a doozy. Once again, we follow two separate (yet totally related) stories of both Claire and Barry. Both are still where we last left them. Barry had just discovered that there might be more to his daughters’ disappearance than he initially thought thanks to a creepy vision from Natalia. Claire escaped from the prison with Moira and signalled for help only to discover she was further from home than she thought.

This episode opens with Claire and Moira meeting up with two other members of TerraSave who were abducted from the same party Claire and Moira were at. They’re trying to repair a helicopter to get off the island, but need to collect the appropriate materials to get it running again. Claire, of course, offers to help, but it’s obviously not that simple. Barry, on the other hand, must retrace the steps of Moira when she met up with Natalia on the island previously. As you’d probably be able to guess, this episode shows us exactly how Claire, Moira and Natalia met on the island and shows the subsequent search for Moira by Barry in the second half of the episode.

Claire’s scenario opens with something pretty refreshing – yet another open area to just explore and let yourself get lost in the game’s atmosphere. It’s a seaside town, some areas are dilapidated and others are all locked up but most are accessible. The episode has you searching for parts to assist the other members of TerraSave in repairing the helicopter (and the only way off the prison compound).

It’s rather well paced – this exploratory phase of Claire’s scenario prepares you for an intense moment in the game that manages to mix the best bits of the village and cabin encounters from Resident Evil 4. Following that, you’re treated too some brief exposition as Claire and Moira meet up with Natalia for the first time and explore the city near the prison compound from the first episode. All in all, it’s a pretty well put together scenario for Claire and once again the way the story is drip-fed to you through files and dialogue leaves you wanting more.

I’ve got a feeling that Barry is really going to be playing catch-up for the entirety of the Revelations 2 campaign, given his penchant for revisiting areas Claire and Moira have already been through. It’s during Barry’s part of the chapter that most players will begin to understand how much time has passed between Claire and Moira’s adventures and Barry’s. But while Barry largely retreads Claire’s steps in his part of this episode, he and Natalia manage to find their own way through these areas leading to some nice variety. Most areas Claire found to be locked off will be explored in Barry’s scenario, which is a nice touch. It’s similar to Ada’s Separate Ways campaign from Resident Evil 4, if you will.

This episode introduces a few new enemies, most of which are unfortunately quite frustrating to deal with. One throws rubbish at you that blinds your character. Another launches fireballs and is tall and incredibly well built. Another is completely invisible and must be aimed at blindly. It is frightening on paper, but it’s mostly frustrating. Exclusive to Barry’s scenario, these annoying enemies create a weird distortion effect and can’t be seen. The only way that you can see them is by switching between Natalia or just watching where she points.

It’s a nice idea on paper but the execution is flakey since Natalia isn’t as responsive as she should be. To make matters worse, the game plays a hazy effect whenever controlling Barry and one of these insects is near. I’ll be honest – it’s a creepy idea – but games like The Evil Within did invisible enemies in a much fairer and better capacity. But it’s truly at this point that I was thankful that I managed to upgrade my evasion skills between scenarios.

Which is something I haven’t yet properly talked about. Revelations 2 lets players upgrade skills after each scenario (or even after each death) using points earned during the game. These can bolster the moves of your support characters, or even make them fight back more aggressively whenever you’re not controlling them. Others increase the potency of your healing herbs or the effectiveness of your evade skill. Evading is easily one of the most useful techniques in Revelations 2, as it lets you avoid almost any attack if timed correctly. Upgrade it completely and you’ll be able to evade cancel, that is, interrupt whatever your character is doing to evade for a faster response.

From a presentation standpoint, the second episode of Revelations 2 doesn’t do much to improve upon itself from the first one. You’ll explore a dilapidated coastal town, an abandoned metropolis and some buildings here and there. Once again they’re not anything particularly impressive but they’re just right in terms of lighting to look reasonable. Towards the end of this episode in particular, things start to get a bit more interesting from a presentation standpoint but we’ll have to wait until next week to see if it pays off.

And what a long wait it’ll be! This episode ended on an absolutely vicious cliff-hanger that sheds more light on who the Overseer might be, and why they’re doing what they’re doing to Moira and Claire. I won’t say anymore because the reveal is truly jaw dropping, especially for long-time fans of the series who’ve been paying attention, but it’s definitely not an episode that should be missed.

We’re excited to see where the development of this cliff-hanger takes the series next week, in Episode 3!

The post Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 2 – Contemplation appeared first on Press Start.

Akira Toriyama’s cultural series Dragon Ball is well known and popularised to the point of being one of the greatest manga (and anime) series in the world. Xenoverse is a clear letter of love to the diehard fans, as it tells a fantastical tale that basically becomes one big ‘what if?’ scenario for the franchise.

A time patrolling version of Trunks (how many versions are there now? Four?) resides in Toki Toki City with other warriors, keeping a close guard over the timelines (official canon being the DBZ and GT timelines). Two brand new villains, Towa and Mira, employ the aid of evil Time Breakers to tamper with time itself. When events in the canon timelines start turning out for the worse, Trunks enlists a completely new hero in order to help restore timelines to their correct formats.

Xenoverse introduces the idea of the ‘player character’, a fully customisable and strangely quiet hero as your main character. As your Dragon Ball avatar, you are dropped right into the middle of iconic and memorable set pieces spanning the entire Dragon Ball Z saga. There’s 11 in total, and it’s a satisfying story that will definitely take a while to complete. Players will get to play the following chapters during the story campaign, which includes all of the sagas seen from DBZ:

– Prologue
– Saiyan Saga
– Return of the Saiyans Saga
– Ginyu Force Saga
– Frieza Saga
– Cell Saga
– Android Saga
– Majin Buu Saga
– God of Destruction Beerus Saga
– Saga of the Demon God Démigra
– Saga of the Legendary Super Saiyan

Long term fans will very much be sick of retreading the same plot points over and over, which is why Xenoverse is so refreshing in its story. Brand new villains and characters come into play and the Back To the Future-esque plot points allow for a huge amount of creative freedom with what would otherwise be canon events. Fans who always wanted to play the big events in DBZ but not have to follow them to the script will have a tonne of fun following the whacky story, which allows for some fun twists and turns to the original formula.

Unfortunately, this leaves new fans in the complete dark, and I wouldn’t recommend jumping into Xenoverse without at least watching the entire DBZ saga, a heavy 290-odd episodes. Xenoverse is very much only interested in pleasing the fanbase (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), and it has to be admired how much effort they put into playing with the story.  The developers know exactly who their audience is.

The freedom of character creation is brilliant; Players can create characters from multiple races, with the ones available being Saiyans, Namekians, Earthlings, Majins and Frieza’s race. You can customize gender, the build, the face, clothing and voice. It’s another fun touch that really will have fans in glee, creating some out of the world races and characters never seen before in the series. I went with a straightforward female Saiyan mainly due to my curiosity to see a Saiyan fighting style behind the controller, but there’s a tonne of flexibility.

The game utilizes a cel-shaded animation, which is perfect for the DBZ series. The game is set in full 3D ‘destructible’ environments. Fighters can traverse the levels free-roaming in very large spaces and can be fighting on a platform, go in the air, and fight underwater.

Characters look absolutely gorgeous; every single character new and old have been drawn and animated to perfection. True detail has gone into the roster of iconic characters and it is sheer joy to look at these characters in action.

Unfortunately the environments don’t receive the same sort of love. While iconic settings are recreated accurately, most fill completely lifeless and stagnant. A great deal of hype was given to proposed destructibility of environments, yet the end result is a complete disappointment. When you slam an opponent to the ground a crater appears but disappears almost instantly. You don’t hit against cliffs or walls dynamically, and buildings and structures are completely devoid of any interactions. It would’ve been nice to see dynamic events such as throwing an enemy against the wall or even destroying structures with power attacks, or smashing an enemy from air to ground, creating an earth shattering crater and resuming a battle in that same crater, but unfortunately each setting is lacking the vital interactions to make combat satisfying.

Menus are incredibly outdated and feel very clunky to navigate, and given the MMO-esque aspect of the game this is a big flaw. Toki-Toki City also feels lifeless and clunky to navigate; it becomes a bit of a chore to have to walk around the area to buy/sell items and participate in quests.

Unfortunately the gameplay is where Xenoverse truly stumbles. Combat is mainly a button masher, utilizing weak and strong attacks in preset combos. Combos are very lacking, and there are a mere handful to actually use, which means you’ll be looking at some very repetitive combat and animations. Special and ultimate attacks throw in a bit of variety for good measure; holding down a trigger and pressing a face button will unleash one of four skills that are completely customizable. You can equip skills that are brand new or some very familiar ones as well, like Goku’s Kamehameha, Tien’s Tri-Beam, Trunks’ Buster Cannon or Vegeta’s Gallick Gun. Using these require Ki, which is built up by attacking enemies. Combining these with basic attacks is hugely satisfying and nailing a complex combo finished off with a special skill is pure joy. Combined with Ultimate moves and Character Transformations and there’s a lot of spectacle to partake in. It’s just a shame there’s so little in the actual combat movesets. Looking at games like Ninja Gaiden or Bayonetta with their rosters of huge combos with multiple weapons, or even Batman’s Arkham series of dynamic freeflow, I feel I’ve been a bit spoiled by modern combat systems, but to revert back to a game that has barely a handful of combos just feels outdated and disappointing. It’s a huge blow to Xenoverse.

What doesn’t help is the seemingly artificial difficulty exacerbated by the shocking camera and lock on system. The camera veers wildly many times and locking on to one target is a nightmare when fighting multiple opponents (something that happens often in Xenoverse). It’s just impossible to keep track of things when group battles are happening, and it’s another disappointing blow to Xenoverse’s combat. In one main mission that involved fighting a transformed Vegeta, the main goal was to attack his tail, yet the subpar lock on system added with a shoddy camera meant this straightforward goal turned into a 40 minute slog with not only Vegeta, but with a frustrating camera. The guard system is similarly disappointing; in most action games you are granted the ability to block in the middle of an enemy  combo but in Xenoverse this is simply not possible. The blocking system feels very clunky and unintuitive, the only other option is to dodge which uses up stamina. And thanks to the targeting system, sometimes when I dodged I would be facing the completely wrong direction whilst attacking, which amounted to pretty much attacking air and leaving myself open for some harsh attacks.

As an offset of the not at all available Dragon Ball Online, apparently a lot of cues have been taken from that MMO and it’s very much evident here. There’s a certain grind aspect to the game, forcing you to grind out sidequests and missions to level up your attributes. It’s lucky core ideals of levelling up, improving attributes and gaining more gear is fun because there’s a solid amount of sidequesting you have to do to get through the main story.

There is a shocking amount of customization on hand as well. Hundreds of different accessories and costumes that give boosts to certain skills whilst sacrificing others, consumables that restore Ki, Stamina or Health, hundreds of skills to equip as special attacks, it’s jaw dropping how deep you can customize your character. Wanted to wear Piccolo’s cape or Gohan’s fashion-murder baggy pants? Why not Chi-Chi’s gloves? Or even the iconic Scouter (in multiple colours!), the amount of customization is just hands down amazing, and the developer needs to be applauded for once again injecting a tonne of detail into Xenoverse.

These all tie into your attributes, which are boosted or reduced by certain costumes. Health, Ki and Stamina can all be upgraded, as your base attacks or super attacks. You can build a tank with stamina and Ki, or build a high damage/low health hero, it’s completely flexible. Levelling up and pooling points remains satisfying to the basic degree.

The majority of this takes place in Toki Toki City; the main hub on which you depart on Time Patrols (main quests), online/offline battles (up to 3v3) or Parallel Quests (side quests). There a lot of quests to partake in, and every now and then you can participate in quests involving bad guys. What if you fought with Raditz when he fought Kakarot or Piccolo? These delicious slices of ‘what if’ scenarios are an absolute joy to play and see as a DBZ fan, it’s just a shame that combat is frustrating.

The post Review: Dragon Ball: Xenoverse appeared first on Press Start.

NOTE: This is the first in a series of four informal pieces which will detail my experiences with each individual episode of Resident Evil Revelations 2. Following this, a full more “traditional” review will be posted at the end of March to coincide with the game’s retail release. As such, no score will be assigned to the game until all episodes are available to the public.

Resident Evil Revelations 2 is a hard game to work out. There’s parts that work really well and parts that don’t work at all. But for the most part, it’s got its heart in the right place. It’s a Resident Evil game that tries it’s hardest to bring the best of both worlds – that is the new and old Resident Evil games – together. The first episode, unimaginatively titled Penal Colony, does a fairly good job at introducing players to the game’s locale and characters while also hooking you on its story.

Just like the original game before it, Revelations 2 is presented episodically. In the original game, this meant you just had to watch a recap between each chapter as it jumped from locale to locale. In Revelations 2, this actually means something. The developers at Capcom and TOSE have crafted a story that has been built from the ground up to be episodic. As a result, every episode ends on an intense hook that leaves you wanting much, much more. Similarly, the story is localised to a single location so everything feels interconnected to a degree much greater than before as well, unlike the original Revelations which used its episodic nature to offer a disjointed experience.

The first episode begins with Claire attending an event for her employer, TerraSave, an NGO dedicated to bringing down corrupt companies like Umbrella and Tricell. Claire meets up with Moira, the daughter of Barry Burton and newest recruit of TerraSave, and they’re both abducted by a mysterious third party known as the overseer. They both wake up in adjoining cells in what seems to be an abandoned prison. Someone is watching them, of course, and also quoting Kafka, because, well, it’s Resident Evil. Claire and Moira make an effort to escape the prison island and reach a radio tower to signal for help.

The second half of the episode follows Barry Burton, who receives the distress signal and heads to the prison locale to find his daughter and Claire. Once he arrives, he is met by a strange little girl dressed in white holding a teddy bear. Her name is Natalia, and she’s seemingly lost on the island following whatever incident has happened there. Natalia has a strange ability that means she can sense where monsters are when Barry can’t. For reasons I’ll never personally understand, Barry decides to take the creepy child with him.

The first thing I realised about Revelations 2 after completing the episode was just how strange the series has become in terms of gameplay. Back in the day, with both the original Resident Evil and Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil was the series that other games used to pull elements from in an attempt to imitate their success. But now, Revelations 2 seems to be doing the imitating with its gameplay. Drawing inspiration from games like Outlast, The Last of Us and even Alan Wake there’s a lot going on here.

The most obvious thing is that this game controls a lot more like Revelations rather than Resident Evil 6. The controls feel tighter, there’s less mobility (although this isn’t necessarily bad) and the weapons feel reasonably powerful enough. There’s no more sliding or aiming while lying down but instead there is a very simple dodge / evade manoeuvre not unlike the one found in Alan Wake. It’s a simple addition that has appeared in Resident Evil games previously but not in such a streamlined and easy to use way. It’s definitely appreciated.

Differing from other Resident Evil titles, Revelations 2 forces another character on the player but this time they’re not the same as the one you play as. Moira and Natalia are both controllable but don’t use guns. Moira uses her crowbar to take down enemies or her flashlight to make them open to a melee attack (similar to wearing away the “shadow” on enemies in Alan Wake). Natalia can throw bricks at enemies to help out Barry in the midst of battle or crouch to detect them (similar to the “Listen” feature of The Last of Us). Neither character can die – their health regenerates – which makes them less of a nuisance even if their AI seems pretty atrocious early on.

The episode itself is paced reasonably well. Claire and Moira must explore the prison for a way out while Barry and Natalia have to reach a key landmark by trudging through a dark and creepy forest. Claire’s half of the campaign is a bit more open ended, with multiple entrances and exits from various areas of the prison. It feels like a poor attempt to recreate the openness of the mansion from the original game, but does the job. The samey-ness of the prison can definitely make it confusing though. Barry’s section of the campaign, surprisingly enough, is better approached from a stealth angle to save ammo as the enemies in his campaign take a lot more damage.

Visually speaking the game is a bit of a mixed bag, although at such a low price this is probably to be expected. Revelations 2 runs at a silky smooth 60fps which is a nice bonus for those more concerned with a games framerate. The visuals themselves are definitely not the best – to the point where Resident Evil 5 probably still looks better than it – but the game is so dark it’s almost always hiding most of it’s low resolution textures here and there. Fans of the series will get a chuckle at just how low the game’s budget is, given that it reuses so many assets from previous games.

Without ruining the entire episode there’s really not a whole lot to say about Episode 1 of Revelations 2. It’s reasonably paced. It gets players really into the mythology of the island (and similarly, gets them hooked on the story with some truly awesome cliff-hangers at the episodes conclusion). But it’ll be interesting to see how the story plays out given what happens in Episode 1. But anyone into horror, Resident Evil, or any of the games that I’ve talked about Revelations 2 taking inspiration from; it’s hard to imagine you wouldn’t enjoy the first episode of this four episode adventure.

But we can’t talk about anymore until next week, so be sure to check back where we’ll have our full impressions for Episode 2 then!

The post Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 1 – Penal Colony appeared first on Press Start.

Note: Due to the technical differences between the different versions of this title, the technical aspects of this review may not be applicable to each version of the game. This episode may contain spoilers for the previous episodes. Read on at your own discretion.

The story of The Lost Lords begins shortly after the events of Iron From Ice, but immediately throw players into the fray by introducing yet another set of characters. Asher Forrester and Beshka, his travel companion are bounty hunters, and are off to their business in the city of Essos, which should certainly be familiar to viewers of the show and readers of the books. Safe to say, Game of Thrones wouldn’t be Game of Thrones if everything goes smoothly in the opening moments of a story, and The Lost Lords basically crashes into the middle of this narrative, rather than spending the proper time to introduce the characters, unlike the excellent introductions we got in Iron From Ice. This isn’t necessarily due to character development, but more due to the seemingly short sequences, which spend some less time to showcase exposition.

Asher’s storyline reoccurs multiple throughout the episode, but the lengths of these sequences make it a little harder to fully engage in the stakes that are teased in this seemingly-brief introduction, which felt like it implied that we’ll be spending a bit more time with Asher in the coming episodes, in a similar fashion like the show where the story priorities are divided differently per episode.

Once the opening credits of the game have initiated, the episode takes its pacing on a more familiar speed, and returns to the house Forrester, which is in peril after the shocking events took place during the finale of Iron From Ice. Rodrik, who has seemingly survived the aftermath of the ambush in the previous episode arrives heavily wounded at the gates of the castle of Iron Rath, but soon discovers that the peril he has come home to may be the end of him and his house.

Forced to take over the position of Lord, Rodrik is set to face some of the hardest challenges of his life, forcing a broken man to become whole to defend his people. Rodrik’s storyline is effectively the most emotional bit of The Lost Lords, and the connections with the previous episode and the decisions you’ll be faced throughout make it the most engaging aspect of Game of Thrones so far.

Mira’s tale in King’s Landing has taken its toll as well, and the secrecy and repercussions of her decisions may be causing her house of cards to crumble at its foundations, creating a critical situation in which choosing the right allies will be vital to her survival. The core of her storyline may seem small at first, but once you get into the decisions you’ll be faced with as her combined with some of the other storylines, it all seems to be clear that every character in the universe has an effect on the other in their own way.

Last but not least comes the continued story of Garred Tuttle, who’s actions have resulted in his voluntary exile to the cold shadow of The Wall to join the Night’s Watch. This storyline is seemingly a bit more isolated than the rest of the episode, but it isn’t any less engaging in any way. These sequences aren’t exactly prolonged, but they take as much time as they need to. These are undoubtedly the more light-hearted portions of the episode, but they are a nice breathing moments in-between the more intense decision-making of the rest of the episode. Garred’s interactions with John Snow in particular are pretty engaging.

The pacing of The Lost Lords seems a bit less-balanced than the previous episode, but it never falls into the territory of being extremely rushed. The Asher sequences are the only portions of the game which could technically be called rushed, as they seem to be more of a tease for a future episode. That being said, it doesn’t fall into extremely rushed territory, but it’s a notable development none the less.

Overall the pacing doesn’t seem to match the first episode, but the impact of the story seems to be quite effective either way. That being said, a serious bug in the game did seem to have wiped my decisions from the first episode off the title, creating a different dynamic that was a little less to my liking.

In my review for the first episode I noted that the game used an effective combination of Telltale’s classic graphical style, along with a water-painting-like filter, which created some visually impressive results. My view on this visual style changed quite a bit during my playthrough of The Lost Lords, as the filter takes quite a toll on certain sequences. Especially the gardens of King’s Landing took a visual hit as the filter drained the background of clarity, which seemed like it should’ve been toned down for certain areas, and applied in a different manner in order to maintain visual fidelity throughout these sequences.

This doesn’t stop the game from showcasing some visually impressive moments, with the most noteworthy being Garred and John’s moment on top of The Wall, with the visual design of the scene adding a ton of depth to the story going on. The game does remain consistent when it comes to visuals, aside from the drawback I noted in the previous paragraph, which is something Telltale Games may have to look into for future episodes.

From a gameplay perspective this second chapter of the season seems to be pretty much consistent with the first episode. The most noteworthy changes however are the refined combat sequences, which seem to be one-up the previous episode in every way. These sequences are much more precise and accessible on a technical level than their predecessors, and this was certainly needed as the episode does seem to have these moments pop up a little more often.

The game does spend a little less time exploring areas, as the episode is much more focussed on dialogue and combat this time around, but this wasn’t exactly jarring as the plot structure pretty much required this from the get-go. Whilst I didn’t time my playthrough, it did seem to run a bit shorter than its predecessor, but this could also be due to the pacing.

The post Review: Game of Thrones – Episode II: The Lost Lords appeared first on Press Start.

Is Grim Fandango a relic of the past? Or does this post-mortem crime noir hold up for players of this generation? Double Fine takes us on the renewed adventures of Manny Calavera.

Grim Fandango takes us on the journey of Manny Calavera, a deceased soul working as a Reaper in order to work off the sins he supposably committed during his time among the living. When you live a good life, you get the deluxe package to paradise, but if you’re not, you get to work off the scraps and earn your ascension the hard way. When Manny continuously gets the short end of the stick with his clients, he grows suspicious that there may be some shady antics going on at his precinct, and that the souls he helped cross over may have deserved their happily ever after after all.

The fun thing about Grim Fandango is its mix of concepts and ideas, giving a fun look at the afterlife through a noir crime drama featuring brilliantly written characters and a narrative that seems both creative and familiar. Click-and-point adventures are often a hit-or-miss for some players, but Grim keeps the formula interesting thanks to its great pacing and writing. The game is composed as a single linear story, but is still structured with chapters which make it easier to trop in and out throughout its entirety.

The charm of Grim Fandango’s graphics are mostly compromised by the charming character designs, but from a visual perspective the game has surely taken a bit of a hit, which is disappointing considering the fact that this a remaster. Double Fine has taken the route of preserving the original visual presentation of the game, which is presented in a pillarboxed 4:3 aspect ratio with slightly redone static environments, which may not be up to par for some. The thing is, Grim Fandango Remastered keeps the original charm of the game in tact, but it also disappoints due to the fact that there is a lot more that Double Fine could have done to present the world of Grim Fandango.

The world of Grim Fandango is mostly presented through static backgrounds and items, which are basically flat layers, rather than actual 3D objects. The characters and certain items are presented as modelled 3D objects, and considering the style of gameplay this isn’t really a problem, though the imagery of the world certainly has taken a bit of a hit due to the age of the game. Double Fine has remastered these images, and they are definitely displayed at a higher quality than the original release, but other than the improved character/object rendering there isn’t much that can truly make this release of Grim Fandango a complete remaster. Despite this fact, I will admit that this isn’t as much a problem as I would otherwise make of it, considering a lot of the visual flair of the game comes from its classic presentation, which Double Fine more than likely spent more time retaining.

Grim Fandango can be simply summarised as a point-and-click adventure, and in the modern market it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to compare this with Telltale titles, which share a similar structure. The key difference here is that Grim Fandango doesn’t divide its structure in episodes, but in chapters which act more like the acts of a single film, which makes dividing your playthrough in smaller sessions easier. Detective work is the core of gameplay, and the game doesn’t exactly give you the most obvious hints when it comes to certain objective, and actually challenges when player in finding items and confronting characters.

A big issue with modern titles is the fact the difficulty levels often take the intelligence of the player for granted, and lays out everything perfectly for the players to find, but Grim Fandango gives you the breathing room to figure out the works for yourself.  That being said, mechanics-wise the game isn’t exactly that hard to figure out; choose your dialogue options, navigate the areas and find/use the objects you encounter. The thing is, it all works perfectly, but only thanks to the narrative that keeps it all together. Without the great story and characters, the gameplay aspects of Grim Fandango would possibly have their issues holding up. You’d expect differently in a market filled with Telltale’s games, but the lack of decisions and different outcomes in this LucasArts classic make the game a little more tiresome in repeated sessions due to its form factor, but for a singular playthrough Grim Fandango is a delight to experience. You don’t have to be a fan of point and click adventures to enjoy Grim Fandango, though it may help smoothen up the journey a bit for the players themselves.

Playthrough lengths may vary by player and purpose, but at a steady pace the game should last you about 10+ hours, with more or less depending on wether you want to go for a completionist run or not. There are some things that you may miss in your sessions, though many of these are limited to small fun things to uncover, rather than actual story-relevant information, unless you’re choosing to skip out on certain dialogue options.

The post Review: Grim Fandango Remastered appeared first on Press Start.

Life Is Strange is a five part episodic series that will be delivered over the next few months. This review is for Episode 1, titled Chrysalis. This review will attempt to cover the value of Episode 1 both by itself and as part of a larger experience. More importantly, given how important the story is to experience Life Is Strange, this review is spoiler free.

Life Is Strange follows Maxine Caulfield, or Max for short. Returning to her hometown of Arcadia Bay in Oregon, she enrols in a prestigious academy as senior photography student, working with some of the most prestigious in the business. The academy is rife with rumours and speculations regarding the mysterious disappearance of Rachel Amber, a girl whose reputation changes depending on who you talk to.

Without spoiling, the events of Life Is Strange are thrown into motion when Max reunites with her estranged best friend Chloe, whose father died the year that Max left town. To make matters even more coincidental (or perhaps not), while Chloe was grieving for the loss of her father, she became involved with Rachel, the same girl who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. With a shared mutual interest and lots of time to make up for, Max and Chloe decide to investigate Rachel’s disappearance together.

The first episode is titled Chrysalis – and it couldn’t be a more apt title. For the most part, the story and characters are only lightly introduced and developed here but what’s worth mentioning is how well written it is. I don’t know about you, but a lot of the happenings that occur at Max’s school were pretty standard for my own experience throughout some of my schooling life. More importantly, however, for a game of this nature – most of the conflicts and mysteries are developed in a way that makes you want more after the first episode ends.

In terms of actual writing, the script is a little bit inconsistent. Some parts are genuinely funny and somewhat edgy but this sometimes errs too far over to the other end of the spectrum, being easily categorised as try-hard. But it’s hard to hate Life Is Strange for this – it just reminds me of when I was younger and I’m sure the older kids were cringing at all the things I was saying too. The characters themselves are similarly pretty well fleshed out and none of them really stick out as not belonging within the world of Life Is Strange. You’ll definitely develop your favourites (and least favourites) by the end of the first episode.

Life Is Strange isn’t exactly pushing any of the systems it’s on but it makes up for these shortcomings with a very strong and distinct artistic direction. If I had to describe the visual style of the game – I’d say it’s The Virgin Suicides meets The OC meets Instagram. It’s a quirky and weird combination that oddly works together to give the game a dreamlike, almost idyllic feel that suits the indie tone and atmosphere that it’s going for. The game has a great sense of atmosphere that immediately draws you in to its world and events.

On a technical level the game is pretty sound too – models look nice and stylised enough to hide any shortcomings of the engine. Every character looks great and animates well and realistically. But there’s still a few things wrong with Life Is Strange in terms of presentation. First of all, the game is running on Unreal Engine 3 which brings with it similar problems to other games running on that engine – namely some pretty noticeable and jarring pop-in of textures.

The voice work is also reasonable although as mentioned previously the script is a bit inconsistent. Still, all the actors and actresses give a realistic performance and there honestly weren’t any moments where the voice work would take me out of the game or the atmosphere. Rather bizarrely, however, it appears that there were no efforts whatsoever to provide accurate lip syncing which is very distracting during dialogue. Whether this is an issue exclusive to the Xbox One version, we don’t know, but it was easily the worst thing about the game on a presentation level.

In a rather surprising move the developers have opted to set the game against not only an indie soundscape but a licensed one. Most will probably recognise the tracks licensed from Jose Gonzales and Angus & Julia Stone that make brief (and very appropriate) appearances throughout the first episode while others may miss tracks from American indie rock band Sparklehorse as well as tracks from Syd Matters, a group hailing from DONTNOD’s native France. The music is used to great effect to give greater emotional weight to almost all of the scenes in Life Is Strange – nothing feels tacky or overdone.

At its core, Life Is Strange is pretty typical adventure game. There’s little to no emphasis on action or combat and there’s not even a wide range of puzzles either. Instead, Life Is Strange opts to focus on a strong narrative experience as well as strong character interactions. You control Max directly, and can look or inspect at most things throughout the game world or interact with them if context permits.

While it’s a largely linear affair, each area Max visits has quite a few things for her to do. She can speak to almost everyone she comes across to learn new things about both the missing girl and the person she’s talking to. She can play around with items to look for photo opportunities, or even snoop around certain areas in the game but with an assumed consequence.

The crux of Life Is Strange’s gameplay comes with the idea of the “Butterfly Effect”, the idea that the change of something small somewhere will somehow largely influence future and current events. Some of these changes are pretty obvious and blatantly presented to the player – for example whether you report suspicious behaviour to a member of staff.

Others are seemingly small but might have bigger changes later on in the story – actions as simple as watering the plant in your dorm or drawing words into a dusty van window will presumably have consequences in future episodes. The choices Max makes are permanent, and while the idea of these choices having ramifications throughout the rest of the story, it definitely feels like this idea and concept will be better realised in later episodes as the story begins to develop greater depth and tie itself up.

What really makes Life Is Strange unique is its Rewind mechanic – a power we’re sure everyone wishes they had in school. As an example, if Max (and by extension, the player) says something wrong you’re able to rewind time to try it all over again. The kicker? Max retains memory of everything she’s witnessed and items she obtains.

This separates it from other games that manipulate time and allows the developers to incorporate some interesting situations throughout the episode. The simpler choices are presented at the very beginning of the game – where Max can rewind after hearing the correct answer in class and repeat it afterwards to gain respect from her teacher. But there are more complex ones, especially one in the episode’s climax which we won’t spoil here.

What I particularly enjoy about Life Is Strange is how it doesn’t make any assumptions about player agency. If you wish, you can rewind as much as you want to experience all dialogue options before choosing to move the story forward. If you want to play it blind, you can do that too. But it’s the options on offer here that make things really interesting. One particular choice leads to a piece of knowledge that seems pretty important for Max to know – to the point where I couldn’t understand how the story could play out if said piece of knowledge wasn’t uncovered. Life Is Strange’s lack of apprehensiveness about players not experiencing everything it has to offer makes it feel more confident, in a way.

The point is that if you want to involve yourself in the story completely, the game lets you. There’s several journal entries dating back some time that help get you into Max’s character and her thoughts long before you even started playing as her. You feel like you’ve been put into the middle of a living, breathing world that’s existed long before you even started experiencing it. But if none of that is for you, the game is happy and confident to let you progress without doing so.

Replayability is almost always going to be an issue with episodic titles, especially when considering them both by themselves and as a whole. But Life Is Strange feels competitively priced considering how much content is on offer here. In Australia, each episode will cost $6.65 while the season pass will set you back roughly $20. If every episode is like the first episode, you can expect roughly between two and three hours for a standard play through, though the sheer amount of choices on offer (and multiple save slots) means that you’ll be sure to get more than that out of the game should you wish. Thankfully, given its writing and pacing, Life Is Strange feels appropriately priced without outstaying its welcome nor underwhelming the player.

But its overall experience easily rests on the magnitude of the consequences that will arise from the choices we’ve made in the game. Given the nature of these choices and their consequences thus far, great things can be expected from Life Is Strange.

The post Review: Life Is Strange: Episode 1 – Chrysalis appeared first on Press Start.

Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell tells the story of the Saints leader being captured by the evil Satan. The purpose of the abduction is for the leader to marry his daughter, Jezebel. Kinzie Kensington and Johnny Gat return, seeking to rescue their leader by reuniting with enemies of their past as well as former Saints.

The game picks up shortly after where Saints Row IV left off. It’s Saints Row in all of it’s glory, and there’s never been a more over-the-top story line. You’ll love every moment as the story pays extreme fans service. It’s non-stop action and it is hilarious.

Once booting into the game, you’ll get the initial feeling that Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell is just a re-skinned version of Saints Row IV. For the most part, it is. Where the game succeeds is being even more over-the-top than ever before. It’s the representation of the underworld that you have always wanted. It also puts a greater focus on super-powers rather than vehicle transportation which changes how you’ll explore the world. The visuals are almost on-par with the recently released GTA V, though contrasting visual styles make them hard to compare. The game’s frame rate dips slightly at times but nothing too badly.

The voice-acting is as superb as always; however, one area that the game felt lacking in was the soundtrack. Saints Row has always had such a diverse soundtrack which doesn’t seem quite as present in this game. It’s a small negative but something I noticed regardless.

For the most part, Gat Out Of Hell feels exactly like Saints Row IV. There is a big emphasis placed on the new flight abilities. Unlike most other games, flight is genuinely a challenge in this game. The developers have placed valleys, cuts through buildings, tunnels and many other obstacles in order to make flying through Hades a genuine pleasure.

The main difference in Gat Out Of Hell is how you progress through the game. Your aim of the game is to fill up Satan’s Wrath meter by completing missions. This unlocks different story elements and cutscenes which makes the story continue. There are five islands within Hades; these are Forge, Downtown, Barrens, Shantytown & The Den.

This marks the first game in the Saints Row series where you can’t customise your player. You’re able to import your Saints Row IV save in order to use your custom boss, but that’s as far as customisation goes. Longtime fans might not take to this well as Saints Row has been widely known for it’s customisation.

The best thing about Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell is its standalone status. This is a very enjoyable game on its own and it’s highly commendable that the game is available to buy without ever playing or owning Saints Row IV. I can definitely understand how people would get burnt out after playing these two games in quick succession.

We initially reviewed Saints Row IV in September 2013. You can read the full review HERE. We praised the game for its high level of customisation, great-coop missions and hilarious gameplay. The negatives that we initially had with the game were its minor glitches as well like it didn’t do enough to differentiate itself from the last Saints Row game. We gave it an 8/10 for it being completely hilarious and providing entertainment like no other open-world game had been able to do before it.

Unfortunately, a lot of the problems that we had with Saints Row IV remain in Re-elected. There was the occasional glitch and freeze that should definitely have been rectified before re-releasing the game. The game now features a 1080p resolution and better frame rates, but the latter still dips at times. The textures are greatly improved across most parts of the environment and lighting is marginally better in some instances. For the most part, the improvement in the graphics department is extremely minimal. You won’t get the same amount of WOW factor that you did from replaying Tomb Raider or The Last Of Us on next generation consoles.

Saints Row IV: Re-elected includes a ton of extras that weren’t included in the original game. This includes both DLC mission packs including ‘Enter The Dominatrix’ and ‘How The Saints Save Christmas’, an extra 25 DLC weapons, 15 new vehicles, 60+ wardrobe items, 15 new homies and 6 new superpower elements. This ends up being a great package to those that didn’t play the game originally.

The post Review: Saints Row IV: Re-Elected + Gat Out of Hell appeared first on Press Start.

Resident Evil HD Remaster is, as you’d expect, a remaster of the 2003 Nintendo Gamecube remake of the original Resident Evil game. If you’ve only ever played the Playstation original – you’re in for a treat. This is a remake in almost every aspect. Visuals have been completely redone. Several side character arcs have been added. New enemies appear here and there. There’s even brand new areas to explore in the surrounding areas of the mansion. It is, more or less, a completely different game.

What hasn’t changed, however, is the story. And since it was originally penned between 1995 and 1996, it’s a bit of a typical and predictable story. A series of bizarre murders have taken place in the outskirts of Racoon City, in the Arklay Mountains. Victims appeared to be eaten.

Noting a problem, the Raccoon City Police Department sends the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) to investigate the murders. Bravo Team are sent first, but after contact is lost, Alpha Team (lead by none other than series stalwart Albert Wesker and joined by Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield) are sent to investigate their disappearance.

Probably the biggest issue with Resident Evil’s story today is that anyone who has played Resident Evil 5 or even 6 will probably have a good idea of where things will go in terms of characters and deaths. But if you don’t know, the twist is still pretty cool even if it adheres to pretty commonly occurring horror movie tropes. But it’s nothing special and definitely not worth playing the game for solely.

The remake of Resident Evil was one of the best looking title of its time, owing to its clever use of pre-rendered backgrounds and animations coupled with some very highly detailed character models. Thankfully, today the game still looks great despite being almost eleven years old. But it’s not just about how great it looks technically, it’s about the artistic style and the atmosphere that it evokes. Areas outside the mansion are littered with shrubs and trees that blow in the wind ever so softly. The warm glow of an oil lamp in the game’s infamous save rooms help to give an ambience to the whole experience that few games manage to do successfully even today.

The main attraction of the HD Remaster is, as you’d surmise, the improvement of the game’s visuals to compete with today’s standard. Rather than stretch the pre-rendered backgrounds abnormally to accommodate widescreen resolutions, Capcom have instead opted for a pan and scan approach. What this means is that the image is touched up and increased in terms of resolution, but it doesn’t actually all appear on screen at once. Instead – the camera pans up and down or left and right depending on the position of the character.

On one hand this adds a bit more dynamicity to the static camera angles the series is used to. On the other, it’s implemented as a whole across the entire game rather than being individually tailored to individual cameras. What this means is that there’ll be times where the camera will cut to the next scene almost instantaneously, creating a jarring effect where the camera attempts to pan and then changes scenes anyway. It’s a minor complaint but one that might annoy some purists. Thankfully, the original option is there too.

The backgrounds themselves all look great, but there’s definitely some areas that have had a lot more attention paid to them than others. Some of the areas outside of the mansion – in the graveyard and the forest trail – are amongst the greatest looking in the game. Others have been upscaled and had a strange filter put over the top of them that makes them look either very washed out (ie. The entire Aqua Ring section) or like a scratchy oil painting. These moments are few and far between, but it is a tad disappointing to see such an inconsistency.

The voice work is dreadful, however. Resident Evil is infamous, especially the original game, for employing some absolutely atrocious voice work but it’s most likely worse than you remember it. The music, on the other hand, is still absolutely fantastic and really helps to set the mood the game is going for. Most of the tracks are incredibly dark in tone and employ strange noises and strings to really help ramp up the tension.

The Xbox One and Playstation 4 versions look much better than their previous generation counterparts. Character and enemy models are much more crisper and in some instances have even received some texture upgrades. The Neptune shark, for example, is now visibly covered in scars giving it a new look, which makes sense considering it’s time spent as a test subject for Umbrella. Plant 42’s strange central bulb like appendage is textured to the point where it looks realer than it ever has.

The backdrops similarly look slightly better and crisper on Xbox One and Playstation 4, although there are still some inconsistencies in some areas. But all in all, the next gen versions of HD Remaster are super crisp and easily the best looking ones available the players. The PC version even runs at a very smooth and stable 60fps if that’s your thing too.

Resident Evil feels like a strange mix of games that encourage backtracking like Metroid and open world games that encourage exploration. The game throws either Jill or Chris into the Spencer Mansion, which is also home to all kinds of creatures and experiments. From the outset, only a few rooms are available to the player to find – with most of the other areas of the mansion being barred behind locked doors, secret panels and of course powered down elevators. You progress through the area, managing your inventory and slowly unravelling the mysteries within the mansion. It’s open ended – but not quite of the same scale as typical open world games.

The controls themselves were probably the most contentious parts of the classic Resident Evil games and the developers have accounted for this with a new control scheme, which controls like games made more recently. As per with the other changes, purists can play with the original control scheme if they wish. The new controls are definitely much more accessible, but they also remove a lot of the challenge as they allow the player to be a lot more manoeuvrable than previously. It’s minor gripe that only a long-time fan like me would complain about – but it’s something that bares mentioning.

The game features two playable characters but their paths throughout the game is largely similar. Jill can hold more items but takes more damage from enemies. She can also pick certain locks throughout the mansion. Chris can hold less items but take a lot more damage, but has to find keys to unlock the doors Jill can with her lockpick. Both characters have their own different encounters with both creatures and characters and even weapons along the way which gives a great air of replayability to the game.

When the mansion and its surrounds are being explored you’ll come across a wide range of enemies who you can choose to take down with your limited resources or devise a strategy to avoid altogether. Combat is simple – you hold a button to aim / ready your weapon and press another to shoot. Should you make mistakes, defense items are littered throughout the game that give you an opportunity to escape an enemy’s grasp. It’s a simple combat system but one that feels appropriate given the tone and way the game is played.

Conveniently enough, the mansion was designed by an eccentric and paranoid man who incorporated a lot of strange and bizarre puzzles into its design. This acts as a very convenient way for the developers to implement said puzzles into the gameplay to break up the tension of the game. They’re not completely baffling and many of them are easily solved, but they’re a staple of the franchise that unfortunately less emphasis is given to today. It’s hard to imagine anyone getting stuck on them for too long, though.

But what’s fantastic about Resident Evil is just how well it does exploration. From the start, you’ll be finding locked doors that you’ll come back to in the last third of the game. You develop an understanding of where certain items are in the house, which rooms are connected to which and where you need to go next to finish your goal. The games non-linear progression means you can approach your goals at your own pace and in your own order (within reason). You’ll get lost and engrossed in the Arklay Mountains and the Spencer Mansion – because the art and the atmosphere is just that well realised.

When you’re not exploring, you’ll be surviving, and that’s just another aspect of what makes the Resident Evil remake such a fun game. From time to time you’ll have an exact idea of where you’re going or what you’re doing – but that can all change in an instant if you are attacked by an enemy enroute to your next destination. Your objective than changes – to survive to a nearby save room where you might have a healing item stowed. It’s this constant sense of on-the-go strategy making and improvisation that highlights what was so great about the Survival Horror genre.

Depending on your experience with the game previously, a playthrough with one character could last anywhere between six and twelve hours. Combine this with another playthrough and there’s quite a few things to see and do throughout the Spencer Mansion – including multiple endings and branching story paths depending who you save throughout your adventure.

Once finishing the game, there are several new modes unlocked that pose more of a challenge to veteran players including one where all enemies are invisible as well as costumes for the main characters. Finally, there’s even some unlockables that will help ease the tension after a tense playthrough – like a rocket launcher. So while it doesn’t have immense replay value akin to an online shooter, Resident Evil is easily playable at least twice or even double that if you want to see all the endings on offer.

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In the past few years Telltale has brought us many adventures like Sam & Max, Tales of Monkey Island, The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead, but how does Telltale fare when adapting one of the most popular shows in recent TV history?

It’s hard to delve into a Telltale game without going into spoiler territory, so I’ll work around some of the details so I can stay as spoiler-free as I possibly can.

In order to understand the story of Telltale’s Game of Thrones, one will probably need to be familiarized with the actual storyline of the series itself. Game of Thrones is the story of several noble houses who are in the midst of a civial war over the throne that controls all seven kingdoms. Following many dynamic characters from several perspectives around the kingdom Game of Thrones tells a story of the noble, the exiled and the supernatural. This is the basic concept of the show itself, but should give you a starting point on how to get started. It’s hard to summarize the plot of Game of Thrones in a short paragraph, as its dynamics and several point of views make it an intricate web of plot that is better viewed directly.

I might also note that I refer to this game as an adaption of the series, rather than the books. The game follows the continuity of the series, and thus might differ significantly from the books due to certain changes that were made for the series itself. Whilst the protagonists and supporting characters are mostly original, there are returning characters from the show which connect the events of the game to the series itself, which may actually benefit players that have followed the series, as it gives them an insight in what to expect from certain situations and characters. The newly-added characters feel right at home in the Game of Thrones universe however, and as soon as our story starts it really feels like an actual HBO-crafted spin-off of the show. The funny thing is, whilst it’s enjoyable seeing familiar characters on screen, you never seem to miss them after they leave due to the fact that the Forrester’s are so well-written, and seeing their stories develop is much more entertaining than fan-servicing returning characters. Luckily none of these returning characters are there due to fan-service, and their portrayals are quite essential to the story the game is trying to tell.

The first episode focuses on the personal journeys of members of House Forrester, who are heavily affected by the war that is taking place. Spread out over the seven kingdoms ranging from places such as Kings Landing and other familiar locations. The episode starts off on quite a serious note, and a rather significant event from the series initiates the story that Telltale will be telling this season. The characters are well-written, and the events that occurred and have been foreshadowed simply made me more excited for the continuation of the series than I’ve ever been for any Telltale series, which says a lot in my opinion. Your choices still matter, and whilst some events are simply unavoidable due to the writing itself, you still feel like you’re crafting the characters themselves as the story delves into its core. Player experiences may vary, and this is definitely the case with the different protagonists. The episode spends a good amount of time introducing us to the characters,  In the two-hours that we’re introduced to all these characters however, you’ll be confronted with decisions that are quite more complex than we’re used to from the Telltale games. This story isn’t about risks or rewards, but sacrifice and survival.

As far as secondary characters go, I don’t think I can recall any characters that seemed badly-written or out of place. Every single character serves its purpose, and as the story progresses you really begin to care about the people surrounding you. Wether they are family, or innocent bystanders, the sense of responsibility given to players is impressive.

Game of Thrones fares as positively as most of the Telltale games do when it comes to the graphical department. The series is presented in a heavily-stylized fashion akin to cell-shaded animated film. In addition to this stylisation Game of Thrones also adds a filter that makes the overall presentation look more like a water-painting, which is quite aesthetically pleasing considering it mixes quite well with the source material. The effect is quite nice from close-up, though it can create some rough edges on characters and objects, which can be a little distracting during certain scenes despite its intentions.

Textures in general are a bit muddy, though this is less distracting due to the visual style the game maintains. The bigger problem however is the set of animations, which is getting seemingly stale considering they’re mostly ported over from the developer’s other titles. The animations aren’t necessarily bad, but it’s very apparent that they are aging, and seem rather wooden during certain sequences. Facial animations are adequate, but mostly due to the art style of the characters themselves. Movement however is another story, and whilst I can look past these faults, Telltale might want to upgrade their animation arsenal for their future titles.

The world around the characters themselves incredibly well-designed, and at times I felt like I was actually watching the show itself. From the interiors of the royal throne room to the icy-cold exterior of The Wall, Telltale has done some amazing work in recreating both the architecture and lighting of the show itself, whilst giving its own visual spin on it. The attention to detail is impressive, and they event went as far as recreating the title sequence from the show in their own visual style.

On a performance front Game of Thrones runs very well on Xbox One. The game is presented in 1080p with a frame rate that is reasonably consistent. Micro-stuttering and short pauses aren’t that out of place however, though they are pretty random, so experiences may vary. I didn’t experience any lock-ups throughout the entire episode, though performance weirdly did seem to drop during my second playthrough, which was rather peculiar.

Gameplay isn’t necessarily a department where you’d spend a lot of time in when reviewing a Telltale game, but it’s an essential part of the verdict none the less. The core gameplay consists of the mechanics you’d expect; choices are made by selecting them through the face buttons of the controller (or the corresponding keys on your keyboard), and at select points during sequences you’ll be prompted to use your left stick to perform certain moves or participate in a quick-time sequence. Ice From Fire is far from combat-oriented however, and you’ll be spending a lot of time in dialogue throughout its two-hour narrative.

The episode features a decent amount of exploration through some interior locations, but even this mechanic is pushed aside a little in order to set the stage through dialogue for the events which are to come. This isn’t really a bad thing in this case though, as character interaction is the strongest aspect of the game, and if you’re a fan of the story and gameplay-style, you really won’t be bored by this set-up at all. Choices in the game aren’t easy, and in certain situations players can truly place themselves in problematic scenarios where making a decision in the short-time frame given is harder than you’d expect it to be. For unexperienced players the concept of simply making a decision in a game like this may sound easy, but every choice has consequences, wether it be directly or on the long haul.

The post Review: Game of Thrones – Episode I: Iron From Ice appeared first on Press Start.

Destiny, Bungie’s mass-multiplayer online role-playing game first person shooter – or MMORPGFPS for short – experienced varying criticisms following its release in September this year. Whilst the storyline fell flat and most of the voice acting felt phoned-in, the strong, fluid gameplay and simple, intuitive RPG elements proved very addictive and sucked many players into grinding through what were essentially very repetitive and bland missions in order to acquire new armour and upgrades. Whilst the game was not everything we hoped for, Destiny continued to listen to the community’s concerns and gradually bring about changes. It was my personal hope that many of the grievances I had with the game would be rectified by The Dark Below DLC, the first expansion pack for the core game. At times, I thought it came close but ultimately it failed to reach the potential this game has.

The Dark Below storyline introduces itself through a ‘cinematic cutscene’ found in an icon floating near the Tower on the Orbit Navigation screen. In it, a freaky women, Eris Mora, with mysterious black ooze streaking down her face, tells of her ordeal attempting to kill Crota – a Hive go – and her personal tragedy of being the only survivor. She tasks you with finishing her mission; you are our last hope.

As a set-up, this sounds like an okay beginning, but the story does not progress anywhere from here. Instead, you seemingly run around, doing errands, repeating her mistakes and correcting a few others, with far greater ease then she suggests it will be. Each of the new missions follow the formula of the core story missions to the letter. “Go kill this thing. Now go kill this thing;” there certainly isn’t the variety I’d have hoped for.

The only praise I can think to give it is that there is a nice gradual feel of progress. Each story mission gets progressively harder, beginning at 25 and then reaching level 30 by the new Raid. Each task you are set works with the intention of better preparing yourself for your fight with Crota in the new Raid and to a degree, the missions feel to have a bit more purpose and immediate result, working your way towards another Raid, undoubtedly one of the most rewarding missions you’ll experience in Destiny as a whole.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of The Dark Below is it status as nothing more than fan service. Sure, there are more weapons, bounties, armour, mulitplayer maps and a higher level cap, but most of these additions are out of reach of most players yet to make headway into the ‘light levels’. Most of The Dark Below’s most enticing features, such as the new armour, weapons and the Raid, are totally out of reach for most players not so keen on grinding to get to the high enough level where earning these rewards are feasible. For this reason, I would only recommend someone to purchase the DLC if they are an avid player and have at least a level 26 or 27 character and plans to level it up further.

On the whole, the voice acting of Eris is okay, although not varied. The same lines of death and misery about her failed mission are repeated over and over and it becomes more tedious then sinister. Again, this seems more the fault of the script and direction then that of the actual voice actress.

Obviously the new missions in some newer regions of already familiar environments look just as impressive as they did in the core game, but it is worth mentioning the clever UI choices that make it easier to identify the new missions. A simple roman numeral ‘I’ icon denotes anything related to the expansion making it easy to locate all the additional content.

I’d also like to celebrate the darker atmosphere occasionally created in The Dark Below storyline. The Hive are by far my favourite enemies to fight as there is a creepy element to them, reminding me of the Flood from Halo. On occasions, the DLC works to create an eerie and sinister atmosphere, which I wish featured more prominently then it does in both the core game and The Dark Below DLC.

On the whole, the gameplay remains true to what we’ve already experience in Destiny. The Thrall, running zombie-like Hive feature more so then they did in the core game which provides some additional challenge and fast reflexes, especially in the harder difficulties.

Some nice new additions have been included too. The randomly spawning ‘Blades of Crota’ in Patrol missions drop their sword upon death, allowing you to wield the ‘relic’ much as you did in one of the story’s missions. It was nice to see this return as it was one of the standout moments of the core game.

The opening mission of the DLC was by far one of my favourites. The creepy elements returned, as did hordes of Thrall. Progressively harder bosses reflected the dark tone of the story and the final boss of this mission came with a handicap, a ‘dark burden’, that dramatically hindered your movement, making the game suddenly feel much more like a boss battle in a survival horror then the typical arena we’ve come to expect of the game.

These were features largely absent from the rest of the missions with the exception of the Raid, Crota’s End. Much like the core game, the Raid is really where the game shines, a combination of challenging enemies, exploration, navigation and puzzles (initially) that really demands teamwork. Unfortunately, to experience these Raid’s requires a lot of commitment to the game, lots of grinding and generally speaking, lots of cooperative gaming buddies.

The post Review: Destiny: The Dark Below appeared first on Press Start.

After reinventing itself last year with the implementation of Konami’s FOX Engine, 2015 marks the first year that Pro Evolution Soccer appears on the current generation of consoles. After trying to catch up to FIFA in the last year years, will 2015 mark the year that Pro Evolution Soccer overtakes FIFA?

Presentation wise, Pro Evolution Soccer is still lacking, especially since FIFA’s overhaul last year. It’s a lot similar to FIFA now in the sense that it has added a bit more colours and now features a tiled based system. It does the job of allowing you to get into a game and manage your team, but it’s definitely not revolutionary in any way, shape or form.

Graphically, Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 is miles ahead of PES 2014. Whilst not quite up to the standards of FIFA, it’s still completely stunning. Lighting has seen a huge improvement and crowds are also more dynamic. Although, when you don’t have the huge licenses that FIFA has it doesn’t mean a whole lot. Really, now that you can actually recognised players who each have their own unique expressions, it shows quite clearly just how lacking Pro Evolution Soccer is without the big names of the FIFA franchise.

Another area where I think that Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 is still let down is it’s audio. The soundtrack consists of about 5-10 songs and commentators still aren’t up to scratch.

Many people associate Pro Evolution Soccer with the PS2. When presentation didn’t matter so much and it was all about gameplay, most people considered PES to be a better franchise than FIFA. Unfortunately as graphics and presentation became more important resource hogging, EA took advantage and FIFA became the juggernaut that it is today. Thankfully, this is the most promising iteration of Pro Evolution Soccer in years.

The first thing that you’ll notice about Pro Evolution Soccer 15 is the addition of an XP system. Much like in FIFA, you’re able to gain what Konami call Game Points for completing certain challenges and milestones. This mainly ties in to playing multiplayer games and Master League Online.

The core gameplay of PES 15 often feels better than Fifa. Dribbling feels extremely impressive and gives you a much bigger sense of control. PES also allows you to automate skills moves so that you’re not having to learn complicated button combinations. Something that I use a lot in FIFA is the double-team OR pressure. This is done by a simple shoulder button in FIFA however requires an extremely annoying combination in PES. I’m not sure if this is something that’ll frustrate a lot of players however it annoyed me from the start.

Tactics is another area where PES feels a lot more open than Fifa. You’re able to tweak things such as how many players push up in attack or make players create a certain formation depending on the situation. Sure, these are things that only hardcore soccer players will use but it’s great that they’re there nonetheless.

Master League has been much improved and is much easier to navigate than FIFA’s comparable mode. You’re able to quickly give each player different training regimens in order to improve lacking parts of their game. The biggest inclusion is coach mode which allows you to perform instructions and watch your team act them out on the fly.

The enjoyment level of Pro Evolution 2015 is down to how you like to play sports games. It’s a lot more tactical than FIFA and feels a lot less scripted at times. Through-balls don’t just automatically work and passes and shots will go widely astray. The different is though, it will mostly be your fault when these things happen. Sure, it can be hard to score at times but it provides for a intense match of soccer and if you’re the type of person who likes to be tactical and perfect your plays, Pro Evolution Soccer 15 should be right up your alley.

The post Review: Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 appeared first on Press Start.

When Rogue was announced to be coming out around the same time as Unity, I decided that I’d be playing Rogue first, just for the interesting concept the story took. We’ve had plenty of time hanging out with the Templars, but having the main character turn on his former friends? Sounds like a great tale of betrayal, revenge and all that good stuff Well…

So as I was saying, the concept of the story pulled me in; piqued my interest in what an Assassin’s Creed game could be. All the stuff I was expecting was there, for sure, alongside a few of returning characters from both Assassin’s Creed III and Black Flag. But ultimately, the ‘bigger picture’ style of story telling overshadows any real character development.

The game follows Shay, an Assassin trainee with a knack for the Assassin business. One of his missions ends up with him inadvertently destroying a city, and when he learns his Assassin buddies have no intention to stop messing around with Precursor artefacts, the kind that level cities, Shay turns on his friends to stop them, eventually ending up with the Templars. It all sounds good in theory, but the actual delivery of story is all over the place, changing locale maybe 2-3 times per chapter, and with the less interesting “Assassin’s vs Templars” story taking precedence over the much more interesting story of Shay and his personal war.

The modern day stuff makes a return as well, following on from Assassin’s Creed IV. You’re still a cubicle worker at Abstergo Entertainment, but you manage to accidentally crash the entire network while accessing Shay’s memories. But with Rogue being a much shorter game, there isn’t much to do outside the Animus, but the ending is interesting, none-the-less.

Also, having Captain Cook show up in the game is a bit of a treat for us Aussies, even if he does remind me of Ringo Starr.

My biggest gripe with this game is the inconsistent quality of voice acting. Shay sometimes sounds like he’s delivering lines casually, as if his actor was checking Facebook while recording. His first mate, Gist, also sounds like a drama student trying to make an incredible first impression at an audition. I feel mean for putting it like that, but when I’m focusing more on how they’re saying their lines, instead of the actual words they’re saying, it breaks the immersion in a huge way.

The visuals in this game, however, are amazing. I mean, going back from PS4 stuff to PS3, there’s a lot of problems I pick up, but it’s all made up with the North Atlantic ocean areas, with icebergs, snow, and breaking through ice sheets with my ship just feels satisfying. The ship also gathers snow and ice on the deck when sailing through snowfall, just a little detail that adds a lot! And with locations, New York looks great, but unfortunately is under-utilised in the game overall. Everything else feels mostly like IV, with beaches and island towns… nothing amazing, but necessary for exploration.

In terms of gameplay, the entire thing feels like a large expansion of Assassin’s Creed IV. Which is fine, it’s familiar, and the locations are vastly different. But there’s not a lot of new features in the game that help me differentiate the two games. On foot, you have a few new toys to cause mayhem with, like the grenade launcher, with both shrapnel and gas varieties. The gasses are just like the darts, letting you either make a small group fall asleep, or berserk.

New York has a couple interesting features, with gang hideouts you can capture, and renovating buildings. Gang hideouts, which are really just Assassin bases, play the role of territory control, with you clearing out the base and letting the British army take over. However, the leader of each base is Assassin trained, leading to either a satisfying finish when you manage to kill them, or a very frustrating half an hour of being shot at through walls. Sadly, I had more experience with the latter, and didn’t capture any beyond the story mission base. Renovations let you restore buildings, but it really isn’t explained much through the game the advantages of doing so.

As much as this can be taken as a complaint, it can also be taken as a warning; upgrade your ship during the game. That means avoiding fast travel. One of the last few missions in the game requires your ship to be much more powerful and armoured than mine actually was at that point, unfortunately because I had been skipping a lot of naval battles by using fast travel to move from place to place. The game had a tendency to shift locale way too many times during chapters, or sequences, as I stated earlier. So by the time I got to this mission, I was hilariously outgunned, leading to a lot more frustration toward the game than my own abilities.

The last thing to add is the addition of ‘stalker’ enemies. Naturally, with your enemies in this game being assassins, you’re going to get ambushed from the bushes, or building tops. It adds a strange twist, as now you kinda get a feel for what it’s like on the other side of the hidden blade. However, the sudden realisation that you’ve wandered into an area with hiding enemies is annoying, as sometimes they’re in chase sequences, which the only purpose they can serve is to mildly annoy you and slow you down.

The post Review: Assassin’s Creed Rogue appeared first on Press Start.

The land of Thedas is falling into darkness; Rifts are opening throughout the land and releasing demons, templars are at war with mages, and the skies swarm with dragons. At the midst of it all lies you, the survivor of a cataclysmic explosion at the Chantry, awakening with a sketchy memory and a newfound power to close the Rifts. You will become the Inquisitor, joining forces with people and races from across the land in order to stop the evil, defeat the dark forces and bring peace and justice back to Thedas.

Bioware have once again hit it straight out of the park with the latest instalment of the Dragon Age series, bringing forth a game that remains entertaining and fun to play on the surface but becomes even more adventurous the deeper the player goes.

Credit where credit is due, Bioware have always released amazing-looking games, and Dragon Age: Inquisition is no different. Characters are expressive and display emotion consistently, and environments are lush and vivid.

Players begin the game by creating their own character; selecting features and attributes to make it truly unique to them, including scars, hair colour and even tattoos and markings. This has always been a trademark of the Bioware series, and the feature allows for a player to truly connect with their avatar as it is something of their own creation. This level of detail is shared by other party members and NPCs, however there are brief moments where they appear less-realistic; lack of emotion or texture issues affecting character models. These moments are few and far between, and overall do not detract from the game itself. The level of detail on characters goes all the way down to armour and weapons; as detailed as ever, each piece of equipment looted from enemies adding a certain charm to your character.

The game’s enemies also do not suffer from a lack of detail;Templar knights look bold and threatening in thick steel plate, Mages cloaked in robes, and even demons from the Rifts appearing ghoulish and sometimes frightening.

To complement this, the land of Thedas is equally as amazing and detailed. The environments are full of life and colour, sometimes bordering on realism, and really highlighting the expansive size of the world. Trees sway with the wind, sunlight glistens off the water, and the architecture has an abandoned medieval feel to it. Rifts glow an eerie, otherworldly green, and the creatures that spawn from them border on scary. Intertwined with this is an awe-inspired orchestral soundtrack; fading in and out at moments of action or drama and really adding a cinematic sense to the whole experience. Couple this with the distant shouting and clanging of weaponry from a nearby battle, and the game truly feels alive.

Dragon Age: Inquisition takes the tried and true method of open world exploring from previous instalments and expands on it; making environments larger and allowing more freedom to roam and discover. Throughout these lands are multiple quests and side quests which aid the player in upgrading weapons, armour, and Inquisition status. Players can pick and choose what quests to undertake in order to either grind and level up, or progress with the main story. Side quests add to the Power influence which allows the player to maintain an area under Inquisition protection.

Gameplay focuses on tactical elements in battles; attacks and movements can be queued in a tactical system allowing for party members to use the best strategies to take out the enemy, including terrain and magic advantages. A tactical camera mode allows for the player to survey the situation and pause to complete actions before playing it out in real-time. While it sounds complicated, the game runs players through a tutorial first, and it becomes a unique and valued addition to the game.

Each character as a basic attack and special attacks; basic attacks mapped to the right trigger (in this case R1) and special moves mapped to the face buttons. Character class comes into play here as well; warriors are adept at close-range combat, rogues have stealth and can attack from either, and mages prioritise with ranged attacks. Combining a party of multiple classes allows for easier assaults on enemy targets and tactical advantages. Like the player’s party, enemy parties also have different classes within them, making for a mix in battles with warriors on the front line and mages casting support.

Bioware’s infamous ‘dialogue wheel’ is yet again a staple of this game; allowing players to focus on emotion (being sympathetic or cold) when conversing with NPCs. This leads into the approval system seen in previous instalments of the game, where certain party members will approve or disapprove of dialogue choices and actions taken. This can lead to members of the party disbanding if approval ratings drop too low.

The paramour system also returns with the game as well; with numerous love interests able to be pursued throughout the game, including same-sex and interracial options. Credit to Bioware where it Is due, to see a game include the ability to romance the same gender is a step forward in the current day and age; choosing not to alienate players but be inclusive of everyone.

One gripe I had with the game was the fact that for a while in the first location, travel takes a long time by foot. This drags out the game longer than expected and can lead players to become bored due to excessive roaming. Completing the task to gain a mount is key here, as it speeds up travel time drastically. Fast travel is an option in the game but fast-travel icons are few and far between.

The other issue is that players will seem like the game is all side-quests and grinding to begin with. The biggest thing here is to leave the Hinterlands as soon as possible; effectively this is a starting area. Side quests do not disappear or fade during the game and can always be returned to later, making grinding something less-key than expected.

The post Review: Dragon Age: Inquisition appeared first on Press Start.

Far Cry 4 revolves around Ajay Ghale, a young man who returns to his home country of Kyrat to spread the ashes of his mother as her final request. Soon you are captured by Pagan Min, the supposed dictator of Kyrat, and forced into a civil war between his army and the Golden Path, a terrorist state intent on bringing Pagan Min down. What saves Far Cry 4 are the myriad of interesting and engaging characters. The main villain Pagan Min could be one of the best villains in gaming this year, due to the game fleshing out his motives, his ideals and his beliefs. Pagan Min isn’t just a shock value villain with a driving goal to be your nemesis; he is a real character that actually draws sympathy in certain aspects. Much like Vaas in Far Cry 3, Pagan is easily the best part of Far Cry 4. Troy Baker gets a lot of criticism of being oversaturated in the VA market right now, but his performance as Min is as memorable as his role in The Last Of Us; it’s that good. Returning characters like Hurk and Willis Huntley are welcome, less due to their performances and more due to their interesting connections to 3. In fact, Far Cry 4 raises some very clever and interesting theories about previous instalments.

Unfortunately, the downsides come in often and plenty. Min doesn’t show up as often as you’d like him to, and the roster of supporting characters range from interesting, to mediocre, to downright awful. The two tribe leaders, Amita and Sabal are both terrible personalities, and worst of all, you’re forced to follow at least one of them in order to progress through the game. They both have flawed goals, but they treat you with utter contempt if you follow the other’s path. Seeing as how Ajay was literally dragged against his will into the civil war and his only goal was to lay his mother’s ashes to rest, I found no motivation to help the Golden Path outside of a purely gameplay perspective. Both Amita and Sabal are terribly written characters and only further emphasise how much I wanted to side with Min. They seem to forget that Ajay is not meant to be in this war, but that they dragged him in, yet they chastise and hate him for choices he is forced to make. Terribly written motives and terribly written characters combine to make the ‘good’ side look absolutely terrible. There’s some payoff towards the end but it’s not enough to justify the hours we’re forced to spend with such delusional, baffling characters. The writing spends more time humanizing the enemies than the allies; in one scene we are forced to capture a key lieutenant, but we have to sit through a solid five minutes of him calling his family and telling them how much he loves them, before we cart him off to be tortured to death. It’s this sort of two dimensional, unsubtle writing that really drags the story down.

At least the game tries to justify why Ajay is so important to the war. As the apparent son of the creator of the Golden Path, people already look up to him and expect him to do great things. It’s still flimsy, but it’s a hell of a lot better than Far Cry 3’s “because he’s white, he’s our saviour” plot. It allows the plot and setting to get away with a lot more than it usually would have, and while many may find the unblinking violence and culture wars shocking, I don’t fault a game for pushing the boundaries.

I appreciated the middle eastern/Asian influences that Ubisoft injected into the world of Kyrat. It’s clear the civil war in Far Cry 4 was inspired by the real life Nepalese People’s War, and it’s no coincidence that Kyrat is a dead on representation of Nepal and the Himalayas. All the Asian inspired art, architecture and foliage is all done in good taste and great to be immersed in. Asian culture doesn’t usually take a huge role in AAA gaming, so it’s always refreshing to see a new setting. If it’s something Ubisoft is good at, it’s exploring foreign and exciting places and cultures.

Far Cry 4 is more about the setting than the narrative. While Pagan Min is a memorable and wonderful character, the cast of supporting characters aren’t nearly as fun to watch or engage with. The story flip flops between serious satires about culture wars to silly juvenile writing, exacerbated by a pair of stoners who embody every possible stereotype associated with the culture of drugs. It’s a weak narrative coupled with a genuinely amazing setting.

As a literal reskin of Far Cry 3, the Dunia Engine 2 is starting to look a little old. Thankfully the art direction and vibrant use of colour make the game look incredible. As mentioned before, Kyrat looks pretty damn good, and the setting of lush trees mixed with snow capped mountains and some wonderful Asian-inspired art direction really disguises the aging engine. Shangri La in particular is jaw droppingly gorgeous: a not quite real world that you visit in game when consuming drugs, the world turns into a gold-toned nature walk, where you can command a Tiger to maul your enemies. Gameplay wise it’s fairly boring but in terms of the setting and presentation it’s hands down the best looking part of the game.

PC PORT:
After the shocker port of Unity (still unplayable on my rig), it’s almost ok that Far Cry 4 delivers an average port. At least it works, right? Let’s look at Ubisoft’s recommended requirements:

Minimum:
CPU: Intel Core i5-750 2.5 GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2 GHz
RAM: 4 GB
HDD: 30GB (31GB installed, 26GB without localization files)
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 or ATI Radeon HD 5850; 1 GB of VRAM, DirectX 11 compatible

Recommended:
CPU: Intel Core i5-2400S 2.5 GHz or AMD FX-8350 4.0 GHz
RAM: 8GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 or AMD Radeon R9 290X; 2 GB of VRAM

As an essential note: for the love of god update your drivers.  I was stuck with atrocious performance but after the updates performance was significantly improved. Graphic presets are Low, Medium, High, Very High, Ultra, and perplexingly, Nvidia. Nvidia will automatically max every single setting, and turn on all Nvidia exclusive settings. Strange that they would call it Nvidia, seeing as my GTX 660 performs absolutely awfully on that setting. No doubt it looks gorgeous but I can’t see many rigs being able to maintain a steady 60fps with Nvidia settings.

On low/medium performance was adequate. Images are sort of flat, textures are especially ugly up close (a big deal when a big part of gameplay involves scaling cliffs and rocks) and it just doesn’t look alive. On higher settings it really starts to pop: shadows appear softer, grass looks better and ambient occlusion really makes the scenery look real. Mouse movement felt quite jumpy and skittish, and strangely enough mouse acceleration cannot be completely turned off.

Audio settings are awful: one master volume slider. That’s it. Otherwise the quality of the audio itself is exceptional. Voice acting is superb (as mentioned before), and Troy Baker is consistently fun to engage with and listen to; his radio calls to you are exceptionally well done and always humourous. Weapon sounds are authentic and I especially enjoy the positional audio, which is as impressive as it was in Alien: Isolation. Fire a 50. Cal machine gun up in the mountains, then fire one down on the ground. There’s a definite difference, and it’s a neat touch that really immerses the player.

Aliasing performance is strange: MSAA will cripple your rig and doesn’t offer enough improvement to justify the hit to FPS, but SMAA will soften the edges well. If you have a Nvidia card feel free to use TXAA.

When driving in vehicles some strange stuttering effects come in. FPS will fluctuate wildly between 30 to as high as 90-144 depending on your rig. Lowering any effects that have a heavy load on VRAM seemed to have fixed the problem slightly. It’s clear the port didn’t take into account PC graphic cards (which at average usually have 2GB), as current gen consoles share a unified pool of roughly 5GB.

Overall the port isn’t spectacular, but it’s a lot better than Unity. You can easily squeeze 60FPS on a mid-high rig. Settings are quite fleshed out (outside of Audio) and you can really tweak most effects to get what you want. The VRAM problem is very aggravating and lazy from Ubisoft, as it shows they really didn’t bother trying to optimize for PC’s. Not enough VRAM will cause immense stuttering during fast action gameplay, especially noticeable in driving. Overall an average port.

Far Cry 4 manages to overcome the flaws of 3 by making the world of Kyrat feel alive. While 3 stagnated from feeling absolutely artificial and empty (furthering my belief that FC3 was all a dream narrative), Kyrat is stuffed with so many activities and life that it feels almost like an open world RPG. Hundreds of locations are waiting to be unlocked (much like in Fallout 3), giving XP and rewards for searching areas. Masks, chests, spinning wheels, letters, propaganda posters are scattered throughout the world, rewarding XP and Karma to unlock skills.

It sounds familiar, because it is. Far Cry 4 is the very epitome of what is now known as the Ubisoft formula. Activities are cut from the exact same cloths of Assassin’s Creed/Watch_Dogs/Far Cry. Outposts, towers to scale, escort quests, vehicle deliveries, gather leaves for crafting syringes, search chests for rupees and climb towers to unlock the map it’s all part of Ubisoft’s insistence of failing to create something truly original, rather choosing to play it safe ensconced in the very familiar formula. It works for Far Cry 4 because the gunplay and world makes it so engaging, but it’s a formula that’s running very thin.

You cannot deny that Far Cry 4 is huge. Where 3 felt lifeless and empty after a while, 4 is absolutely packed full of content. Destroying propaganda, blowing up patrols, hijacking delivery trucks, freeing hostages, there’s so much to do. Hundreds of locations are unlockable and a lot have interesting notes scattered around giving a bit of backstory to Kyrat. It’s genuinely fun to explore and it feels alive. Hunting and skinning animals to upgrade gear is even better as it’s a genuine challenge this time around. There’s no perk to unlock double skins but using a bow or knife to kill animals will result in a ‘clean kill’ which allows for double skins to be picked up. It’s a great gameplay mechanic that rewards good shooting over simply unlocking a perk. And you can ride elephants now; another great gameplay mechanic that may be culturally insensitive but is undeniably fun. Running down the road and smashing a enemy jeep off a cliff is hands down one of the most memorable things I’ve done in Kyrat.

Infiltrating outposts remains as satisfying as ever, choosing to go either guns loud or stealth it. There are more rewards if you don’t manage to get caught, but it’s inherently satisfying to burst in with a rampaging elephant and jumping on a 50. Cal to kill the rest. Some outposts are genuinely tough, and you have the option to replay any outpost on the spot in order to get a better score to beat your friends.

Fortresses are hands down the best part of the game: four incredibly tough ‘outposts’ that are built like castles owned by each of Pagan Min’s main lieutenants, filled to the brim with enemies, giving a real challenge for the player. Stealth is the best option, as alarms will bring a seemingly infinite number of helicopters and backup. It’s a great feeling taking over a fortress and the best part about them is that you can choose to tackle them in any way you want. Blow open the gates with a grenade, sneak in from below or parachute in like a maniac, these are all genuine options for the player. It’s a shame the open endedness doesn’t carry to the story missions, which are so tightly wound it’s pure frustration to go from unlocking an outpost to a mandatory stealth segment.

There’s definitely less weapons on hand unfortunately. Far Cry 3 had a genuinely huge mix of SMG’s, Assault Rifles, Shotguns, Pistols, RPG’s and Signature Weapons. Far Cry 4 still has all of them, but pistols and small SMG’s are now Sidearms, and everything else are just labelled as Weapons. It feels like they’ve really streamlined the weapons on hand as there are definitely less available than in 3. Not to mention that most are literal reskins from 3. In a perplexing choice, you cannot carry four weapons anymore. The most you can carry is 3, and one ‘sidearm’.

Perks have been streamlined as well into two paths of 16 skills each and most are just taken from 3. Some are locked behind sidequests and unlockables (smart) but a lot are locked behind story missions (not smart). There’s nothing spectacular about them, except it’s a shame they’ve streamlined them so much.

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Taking Batman and Co’s adventures beyond the streets of Gotham. The Justice League are forced to from an uneasy alliance as they defend Earth from the menacing Brainaic. A world consuming being that has now set his sights on our world and will stop at nothing to achieve this goal.

Lego Batman in all honesty hasn’t made any huge improvements since it’s original conception but at all costs do not let that weigh you down. The tried and true method of “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” applies to this beyond all measure. The amount of detail in each Lego brick is fantastic and the way the levels are built is magical sure to inspire any child. Particular note has to be made of the exemplary space segments.

Cutscenes are crisply rendered and outrageously humorous, with some stellar voice acting from stars such as Troy Baker, Laura Bailey, Nolan North, Conan O’Brien and even Adam West, the original Batman for a lot of people. Beyond Gotham boasts an outstanding soundtrack that has taken snippets from the wonderful Tim Burton Batman film’s of the early 90’s and incorporated them wonderfully.

One particular gripe I had with the games choice of presentation was during the local couch co-op portions where wandering too far from your partner would force the screen to split dynamically. This rotating nightmare was disorientating beyond description, sure it could be counter acted to a fixed vertical split screen which then cut your viewing space down to almost nothing. Perhaps I am showing my age but I really believe good old fashioned horizontal split screen is the answer to this but it might of just been something that was over looked in development.

Being a Lego character the bricked world is at your finger tips to destroy and create as needs be to further your progress. Just about any object can be bludgeoned to reveal collectible Lego points which accumulate to reveal a sense of progress throughout each level. Ultimately it hasn’t changed a lot from previous games but the same principle I gave in Presentation applies. I do have to mention the outstanding array of DC cast members that are made available throughout this game: Batman, Superman, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern and that is only naming the more major characters. Looking past those bigger names there is still an abundance of characters to play as, in the 100s!

Once characters are unlocked you can take them back to previously completed sections to unlock or collect things that were otherwise unobtainable the first time through, increasing the replay value immensely. I must say it was excellent to see the various sizes of characters coming into play such as Lex’s Battle suit, Martian Man hunters natural form and Killer Croc just to name a few.

Not too far into the game players are given a huge treat in terms of game play. A small segment out in space opens up for some epic intergalactic battling. Reminiscent of the PS4’s launch game Resogun, this twin stick shooter segment was a great addition and a fantastic break in game play. That’s not too say I needed the break in game play but it certainly was welcome.

Abundance of fun aside and exceptional variations in game play aside. I felt that at a few times the methods to progress in the game were a bit vague. I don’t need hand holding but for an adult, sorry two adults playing this game. There were segments where we were both stumped, perhaps our Lego imagination wasn’t up to scratch but these examples surely did ruin the immersion we shared in this game.

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Over a decade ago, a franchise was born, drawing upon stories and characters from Disney, the Final Fantasy series and The World Ends With You. I had the chance to try out the latest instalment, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX (hereafter referred to as KH2.5), the second of two remastered collections of games released exclusively for the PlayStation 3.

This collection is comprised of:

• Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix (2FM)
• Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (BBS)
• Kingdom Hearts Re:coded (RC)

Apart from simply being remastered, these games also feature much in the way of new content, as well as trophy support. From here on, I’ll be focusing mainly on the first two games, as RC is almost purely delivered in a cinematic format.

I think that now would be an appropriate time to point out that I’ve never previously played any games in the series. While I am a huge fan of Disney, I had just never really felt the games to be that interesting.

While not featuring the first game in the series, the collection does hold much appeal for newcomers. Diving right into the games as they are presented in the main menu, those unfamiliar with the background to Kingdom Hearts have the opportunity to piece together what has happened thus far through the first several hours of playing 2FM. Square Enix quite appropriately grouped these three games together, given the fact that they do well to bring a newcomer up to speed on the events so far, while collectively also pushing deeper into the Kingdom Hearts universe.

What became clear quite early on was a particular focus on issues like friendship, identity and the fight between good and evil. Following primarily in the footsteps of teenage boy Sora, the games follow his journey to reunite his friends, making new ones along the way, and a constant battle against the forces of darkness. In doing so, the games certainly work well to offer up lessons about the importance of human connection, and of not giving in to darkness.

A prequel to the entire series, BBS’s plot very much ties in with events that occur in the first game, and indeed in giving background to the other games. It follows the adventures of three Keyblade holders: Ventus, Aqua and Terra, who work to stop the rise of an evil power. 2FM then continues Sora’s journey, detailing his adventure to find and reunite his friends. Along the way, he takes up arms against the evil Organisation XIII and their lackeys, fighting to undo the trouble they have caused. It is closely intertwined with RC, which continues Sora’s story by way of a mysterious sentence that appears in 2FM, and also builds upon the fates of the three characters from BBS.

Much credit has to be given to Square Enix for their use of a somewhat episodic structure throughout the games. Within each of the games, overarching storylines spanned across a number of visitable worlds, each containing different characters. This certainly helped greatly to break down the plot, and coupled with the compelling storyline, fuelled my curiosity to find out what would happen next.

One of the series’ greatest strengths lies in its ability to offer up a unique perspective on storylines and characters from the other franchises. Like many, I grew up a fan of Disney, with characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Winnie the Pooh being a key part of my childhood. Characters like them make appearances throughout the games, but rather than merely taking a backseat to the narrative, they take a very active role in Sora’s adventure. Through that, Kingdom Hearts’ storyline holds great appeal for players like myself by offering an opportunity to embark on an adventure with our childhood heroes.

Evidently, the three games in the collection have been remastered with more high definition graphics. Of the three, only 2FM is a remastered version of a PS2 game, with Kingdom Hearts II having been released late into the PS2 cycle.

Having been remastered, however, one of the more annoying aspects that I found with the games was a poor balance in the use of cutscenes and dialogue. A star-studded cast help to bring the characters to life, though I couldn’t help but feel that their talent was somewhat stifled at times. On many occasions, a fully voice-acted cutscene would play out, only to transition directly into scenes relying simply on textual dialogue on-screen. That may be considered a pet peeve on my part, but I felt that it would have added to the game experience if all relevant dialogue occurred in the cutscenes, if only slightly.

Given the nature of the games, I must commend Square Enix for staying true to the sources of their borrowed elements. By that, I mean that great attention was given to the style of the original works, which came across quite evidently in the games. In BBS, for example, I found myself exploring a faithful and reimagined version of Mickey’s Toontown within the world of Disney Town. Like the other worlds I visited, this attention to detail did much in the way of serving to evoke a feeling of familiarity with the characters, adding to a greater degree of engagement with the story.

Mention must be made of the audio for the collection, quite a bit of which was remixed and improved upon. According to an interview with co-director Yasushi Yasue, approximately 80% of the audio within 2FM was remixed. To stay true to composer Yoko Shimomura’s music, which is become a central part of the series, work was done to carefully add depth in ways like the addition of stringed instruments. For BBS, the developers sought to improve upon the degree of realism by adding atmospheric sounds, such as the sound of flowing water when in close proximity to a fountain.

Now, as I mentioned at the beginning of this review, RC is presented simply in cinematic form. The remastered version of the game Kingdom Hearts Coded, it is devoid of any gameplay elements from the original. Instead, it is presented as a series of episodes blended together, offering greater depth to the story. Players have the opportunity to either play through it at once, or select certain chapters from the main menu.

Across the games, I found combat gameplay to largely rely upon button mashing. Coming across groups of enemies as frequently as I did, more often than not, just continuously tapping X meant dispatching of them with relative ease. In 2FM, I was quite often aided by my companions at the time (usually Donald and Goofy), who each had their own special abilities and could be equipped with healing items to keep the rest of the party topped up. Through that, the combat mechanics were certainly easy to master, but arguably too much so.

Heading into BBS, I was met with a revamped combat system that I personally found to be arguably far better. For the most part, the protagonist travels alone, and it falls to their abilities alone to take down foes. To that end, Square Enix has offset this by empowering the playable character with a greater range of abilities and options.

One such change is the adding of the Command Deck. In a way, this is a build upon the Drive bar that filled up during combat in 2FM, allowing Sora to take on a more powerful form. Instead, the Command Deck fills up through the use of equippable abilities, combining to form a Finish Command that can unleash powerful attacks on your foes. These commands and abilities are customisable, and are unique to each of the playable characters.

This change is further aided by the introduction of the D-Link system, which I found to be an interesting way of replacing the lack of party members. Following an encounter with key characters like Mickey or Cinderella, the current character forms a D-Link with them. The player can call upon this link during battle, and for a short time, be able to make use of the Command Deck unique to a particular character. I found this not simply to just be a refreshing change to the sort of gameplay I’m accustomed to, but also an opportunity to change up combat from time to time.

On many occasions, I seemed to find myself right up against the edge of the gameplay area. It was clear that quite a number of enemies have a particular knack for flinging the character up against a wall. I did not find this quite so bothersome at times, as this meant that with a bit of manoeuvring, I could eliminate my target without them fleeing. At times, however, I would get so caught up in the heat of battle that I wouldn’t realise that we had moved dangerously close to the entrance to a different gameplay area. I quickly learnt that in such cases, it’s definitely better to keep within the middle of the area or else risk having to come back and fight the same enemies again.

Throughout the collection, there are several instances where you must successfully complete minigames to proceed. However, after a couple of hours of gameplay, it becomes apparent that these can be too few and far in between. However, their sporadic placement does lend itself to a feeling of variety, rather than a sense of a formulaic game design.

Aside from that, I did find some issue with the minigames themselves. In 2FM, there was an objective to obtain a certain amount of money through playing different minigames. However, the payout from these games was quite small, thus meaning quite a bit of repetition. For what the games are, I feel that they could prove difficult and frustrating for their players in some regard. By that, I refer to a particular minigame in BBS that requires a great sense of rhythm and skill to even get close to passing.

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NOTE: Due to the technical differences and inconsistencies between the current and last-gen releases of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare this review may not be applicable to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 releases of the game. Technical and gameplay experiences may vary by platform.

Advanced Warfare stars Private Jack Mitchell (voiced by Troy Baker), whom after a disastrous mission in Seoul loses his arm and is discharged from the United States Marine Corps. Mitchell is approached by Jonathan Irons (voiced by Kevin Spacey), the CEO of Atlas; the world’s largest private military organisation. Irons offers him to replace his severed arm with a top-of-the-line prosthetic, and serve as part of Atlas’ private military arsenal.

As Atlas is hired by countries all over the world to fight their wars Mitchell is sent along with this squad to track down members of the KVA; a technophobic terrorist organisation that has been staging numerous attacks across the globe. Whilst the squad is out finding answers, the truth is revealed that Jonathan Irons and Atlas may not be all that they seem.

Whilst Advanced Warfare’s plot isn’t the strongest there is, it’s certainly some of the better material that the franchise has had to offer the past few years. The narrative is still rushed to an incredible extent though, and the heavy reliance on huge set pieces never really gives the material a chance to shine. There are some attempts to make the player more interested in its main protagonist, but most of the attempted ideas are either not given enough time to developed are simply absent to begin with. An example of this is his relation with his fellow soldier in the beginning of the game, who is described as his brother in arms. The dialogue tries to convince you that the two were inseparable, but on screen you don’t see any of these references come to play, which makes most of his background either irrelevant or unbelievable. The entire narrative lasts around six hours, and honestly you don’t get that much closure in the end. The final levels of the game are filled with great action, but on a narrative front it may seem incredibly disappointing for players who are playing it for the story itself. A complete walkthrough should take about six hours.

Performance-wise the voice and motion capture for most characters is pretty decent, and there are even a few impressive performances throughout the campaign. Troy Baker does a good job with the material he was given to work with, and most supporting characters range from okay to great. By this I am talking about the actual performances however, and not the material and background stories of their respective characters.

The flow of the narrative through the campaign is ok, but missions are easily interchangeable when it comes to the order of them. The narrative’s best points aren’t really part of the story at all, but rather in the concepts that the game introduces. Whilst the future setting isn’t new to the franchise, Sledgehammer has created a pretty believable view of futuristic warfare when it comes to technology and tactics. I recognised a lot of technology that is already in development today, and even though their use is exaggerated for gameplay convenience, it’s still pretty interesting to see a take on futuristic warfare that in theory isn’t as far-fetched as one might believe. Despite its lacklustre story, Advanced Warfare does offer some very thrilling moments throughout the campaign, and if you’re getting the game for the complete package it’s definitely worth playing through at least once for gameplay purposes.

Call of Duty’s debut on next-gen with Ghosts wasn’t exactly its best moment, but Advanced Warfare might be the biggest leap the franchise has made the past few years. Whilst the changes aren’t on the same level as most of the other continuations of existing franchises this generation, it still manages to improve the foundations of a franchise that has been staying behind for the past few years.

Worth noting beforehand is the performance gap between the different editions of the game. This review is based on the PlayStation 4 version, and there may be significant differences in performance depending on the platform you play it on. The PlayStation 4 version runs at a resolution of 1920×1080 at 60fps, the Xbox One version runs at 1360×1080 at 60fps and the PC version obviously depends on the specifications of your rig itself. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions run at a Sub-720p resolution, but we can’t comment on the performance for those versions due to the significant differences in development and hardware.

Performance-wise the PlayStation 4 version seems to run smoothly most of the time, though the frame rate may dip to 54 frames per second from time to time. The visual fidelity in static images is good, but Advanced Warfare’s visuals tend to look more impressive in motion due to its heavy reliance on post-processed effects such as motion blur, subtle use of chromic aberration and depth of field effects. Paired with improved animations and fast-paced action the game often masks its visual drawbacks by phasing them out in motion, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing depending on how you perceive these actions.

Character models have been improved from the previous instalments, though they range from impressive to passable depending on their roles in the game. Most of the main characters are pretty good looking, but secondary characters and NPC’s can look pretty bad when seen up close, which is understandable in some cases but something worth noting none the less. Animations have been significantly improved, and I was often impressed by the movement of the NPC’s during certain sections. Secondary characters sometimes have a problem when it comes to their course, and sometimes you may see the invisible line they’re walking on by sudden changes in directions that aren’t fluid enough to be natural.

Facial animations are a hit or miss, and whilst most secondary characters have pretty well-made animations the biggest issue in the game is ironically those of Kevin Spacey’s character. His character seems to have the typical dead-eye syndrome that many games seem to cope with, and often the top part of his face will look motionless and dead as his mouth moves. One of the points that Activision advertised was the fact that it was using the newest facial-capture technology, but in motion it seems that a lot of this tech paid off more in the CGI cutscenes than the actual gameplay.

Environments generally look pretty sleek, though textures may vary by material such as the difference between natural elements and fabricated elements such as steel, fabric and such. Assets in general look well-made, though some of the edges may look rough when viewed up close. In multiplayer the game does take a step down, but this is most likely because of the lack of the post-processing done during the campaign.

Advanced Warfare’s HUD in the campaign is the most simplistic it’s ever been in the franchise. Whilst there are direction markers for your objectives present, most of the information will be on your weapon itself, including ammo and grenade counts. Having all of this in the same place removes a lot of the clutter from your screen, and adds actually helps immersing yourself into the game a bit more. The multiplayer mode takes a more traditional approach due the mini-map and score sections, but even in this form it still seems a lot more simplistic than the crowded HUD’s the franchise usually applies.

At the first glance Advanced Warfare plays like a lot of its predecessors, and whilst for a large part it still does, the small refinements and additional features in this title make this game stand out more than most of its predecessors in the franchise. The biggest difference in gameplay is the addition of the Exo-skeleton, which funny enough actually strengthens the Call of Duty-formula in itself rather than creating an entirely new dynamic.

Initially the concept of the Exo-skeletons and their use may seem familiar from titles such as Titanfall, and whilst there are some similar uses, they definitely add a unique touch to the game. Traversal is the biggest change that you’ll catch early on. Double jumping changes up traversal quite a bit, and especially makes for some interesting firefights in multiplayer due to the added verticality of the situation, which is reflected in the map design by adding areas that can only be reached by jumping up the structures. Players are also able to use a horizontal boost in mid-air, which helps when crossing gaps throughout the levels and maps. These features aren’t always available however because of the different types of Exo’s and multiplayer load-outs.

Next to advanced traversal the Exo-Skeletons have multiple form factors which are constructed for specific situations. The main Exo-type is the Assault model, which relieves on advanced traversal and brute force, along with certain smaller features such as zip-lines which will be available depending on the level or personal load-out. The other is the Specialist, which focusses on stealth and precision, and whilst it lacks the advanced traversal options it offers the player other features such as a riot shield and stim and overdrive abilities. Exo-types are non-customisable during campaign missions, and you will be given a standard load-out depending on the mission. In multiplayer you will be given the option to apply two Exo-abilities, should you make use of them with the Pick-13 system. Abilities also rely on the battery of your system itself, and due to these limitations you’ll often have to wait for your battery to recharge before you can use your abilities again. This usually only applies to specific features such as stim, the riot shield and such, and traversal options are usually unaffected.

Gunplay remains pretty similar to the previous games, and aside from some of the new weapons in its arsenal returning players should feel right at home when starting up this game. The recoil/feedback of weapons may be questionable for some, but more traditional for others. In my own personal regard I was missing a lot of visual feedback/recoil whilst using certain rifles, but in context to the gameplay formula that the franchise has maintained so far it’s still functional and a lot of fun to play with.

The campaign as mentioned earlier in the review takes up around 6 hours depending on the difficulty you’re playing it on. (For reference, our main walkthrough was performed on normal, and we replayed certain sections on different difficulties to compare them and analyse the artificial intelligence of the game.) The campaign offers an experience that is more diverse than Call of Duty usually is, and gives the player a good training run with all of the weapons and abilities available in the game. Whilst most of the game consists of brute actions there are some stealth-inspired sections, but in most of these it’s only an optional way of action, whilst in one or two of them it can result in an immediate failure.

Vehicle sections are also present, but these sections are very hit-or-miss. However, some of these sections are plagued by clunky handling buggy coding, which can result in experiences that may not be as fun as the developer intended. An example of this is the Golden Gate bridge that was frequently demo’d in the advertising campaign, in which the player drives a van to the site in an intense pursuit. Due to the handling I found myself often having trouble to keep a clear driving line, and there seemed to be constant clipping with other vehicles as the game didn’t exactly seem prepared for player-caused collisions with AI vehicles.

The basis of the multiplayer modes is very solid, and true to the traditional formula the franchise has held as a standard in the past. In this fast-paced gameplay skill may seem a requirement, but often coincidence and luck may have much more to do with it as you’ll often have your ups and downs in your multiplayer career. Basic multiplayer modes from the previous instalments such as deathmatch, kill confirmed and domination have returned, and the game even offers a few original modes which add a nice bit of variety to the selection.

Balancing isn’t always that stable, and respawning is often a problem like it has been in the past. The netcode in its current state seems a bit problematic, with hit-boxes and and lag compensation causing some frustration situations. This isn’t exactly the result of a bad connection, as it seemed to have the same occasional effect on multiple connections. It’s not an issue a 100% of the time, but it’s noteworthy enough to take it into account.

(Note: Current connection/lag issues may not be representative of the title at a later date due to software/client updates. Experiences may vary by platforms due to network/server structures.)

Customisation in the multiplayer modes is pretty well-done, and the Pick-13 system offers a nice fix for any player to adapt to their play style. The Pick-13 is a system where the player is given 13 points to customise their load-out. These points aren’t restricted to certain items. For example; if you don’t or barely use killstreaks you could scrap them altogether, and spend them on a different perk or item that better suits your needs. With this system in play the game allows you to suit every aspect of your load-out to your needs.

And last but not least: Exo Survival. In Exo-survival four players are given the objective to fight through various amounts of enemies which enter the map on a wave-basis. Certain waves may also contain specific objectives; such as collecting certain items or performing specific actions. Exo Survival offers a nice slice of content for players, but it may seem a bit simplistic for players who want a more unique experience that differentiates itself from the rest of the game.

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The Evil Within is a new survival horror game by legendary developer Shinji Mikami or for those that don’t know him by name, the father of Resident Evil. Since the game was first announced there has been a lot of interest in what Shinji Mikami would do next. Along the road to launch he has mentioned numerous times that he wanted to create a game with a “classic horror” feel and one that is truly terrifying. Unfortunately he only really seemed to hit one of his core requirements.

Horror and survival horror games historically have used their story to induce another level of torment to the gamer. Often the details are unclear, and you wonder why you are in a particularly creepy fog engulfed location ala Silent Hill. The narrative gradually develops to a point where you really feel part of the story and care about what happens to your character.

In The Evil Within you start your adventure as Sebastian Castellanos, a detective who seems like he has seen a few things in his time. You are sent to investigate a disturbance at a mental hospital and discover something truly horrible has happened to your brothers in arms. This opening scene sets you up for something spectacular. Furthermore, other events within the opening really get you excited about what The Evil Within is going to throw at you. Your first 15 minutes of gaming are tense and confusing in all the most fantastic ways and then nothing, absolutely nothing for a long time.

The Evil Within seems content with letting you meander through 5 or so chapters (around a third of the overall game) without giving you any reason as to what you are doing or what you are facing. There are plenty of throw backs to the opening scene but after three or four times you don’t really care. You want to know who the enemies are, why you are doing what you are doing and why you should care about any of this. Context is everything in horror and because of this it really doesn’t feel scary.

Thankfully the narrative does pick up, unfortunately by the time it does you hardly care and maybe because you have lost all interest it seems to be a mess of confusion. I was taking notes while playing like I do with every review and there are so many question marks and the word “why” written in big letters. This doesn’t bode well, I suggest maybe having some sort of online reference open with the story time line and events written out to get the maximum out of the game.

The Evil Within is at times a very good looking game. The grotesque detail in some of the environments look like where nightmares are born. The game takes you to a variety of locations and not once was I disappointed in what was presented to me. The lighting effects are brilliant, the way that light is used throughout the game is clever and charming and of course terrifying. Enemies have a good amount of detail even if some do look very similar to each other. The games bosses are where the character design and detail really are a cut above. You will see blood dripping off chainsaws or wet slimy hair from some horrible creature whip back and forward. Even if you are playing on an older gen console you will see some things that make you smile, although the PS4, Xbox One and PC versions look a lot better and take advantage of the hardware. One thing that might annoy some people is that on the console versions there is letterboxing that cannot be turned off. It might not sound like a big deal, but you always feel like you are not seeing something really important because the intruding black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.

If the effort made on the visuals can be described as solid, then the voice acting is weak at best. I am not sure if the reason for this is because of poor translation, poor voice actors, a poor script or a combination of both. It makes memories of the Jill Sandwich come flooding back, just when we all thought we had moved on from such atrocities.

On the other hand, if we look at the sound design excluding the voice acting, The Evil Within Shines. When you are out of breath you can hear yourself panting, enemies give off distinct shrills and groans which up the tension throughout and the games audio queues are well placed and sound great.

As soon as you are given control of the gameplay those that have played any of Resident Evil 4 will feel at home. Your view is a close up third person, over the shoulder affair and except when you are in close quarters or with many enemies it works fine. This viewpoint really breaks down when you are in a small room and you are trying to take out or avoid an enemy or group of enemies. It is sometimes too easy to get disorientated and that can severely cost you.

This is survival, there is no questioning that. The art of resource management is alive and well in The Evil Within. You are encouraged to treat every bullet like it is your last and every health item like your life will depend on it. For anyone who has played either Resident Evil 5 or 6 this will take some getting used to as they both handed out ammo like it was diabetes at Krispy Kream. For survival horror purists this will be magical, there is no better feeling than being down to your last bullet, facing a room of enemies then somehow finding a clever way out of the situation. It makes you tense, you can feel your heart rate rising and you feel alive in those moments.

Boss battles feel wonderful and a little tedious at the same time. You honestly feel like you are up against some truly formidable foes and that the odds are very much stacked against you. You quickly realise though that the bosses are simply just bullet sponges and battles with them can last way too long. You will often feel tense during these battles because you have been fighting for so long that if you die you know it will all need to be done again. Although I don’t think there was a boss battle where tension wasn’t felt one way or another.

Upgrades are handled in a rather clever way, you are transported through mirrors to a hub world. This other worldly place allows you to save, see the progress of different collectibles and upgrade your various stats and weapons with the green goo you find littered around the levels as you play. Upgrading is essential and feels very natural in the way it is handled. You will often have internal battles with your own mind on what your upgrade goo should be spent on. Like ammo, goo is hard to come by and a precious resource in it’s own right.

Nearly every moment of The Evil Within is filled with tension. For this reason, I find it hard to imagine that most people will be able to sit and play for hours at a time. The developers seemed to be aware of this and have delivered the game in a stress reducing chapter format. The chapters are a great break and give you a chance to go away, relax and come back after you have had some tea.

The post Review: The Evil Within appeared first on Press Start.

True to name, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel takes place after not only before Borderlands 2, but time skips to ahead. The narrative frame is set as the Vault Hunter Athena (any DLC players from Borderlands 1 will recognize her) is set to be executed by the original gang of Vault Hunters (Lilith, Brick and Mordecai), taking place sometime after Borderlands 2. The time skips back to before Borderlands 2 as Athena recounts her story, setting the story as truly, a pre-sequel. While this sort of narrative trick has been done countless times, it’s not unwelcome as there’s a lot of opportunities to inject some humour into the narrative, as the old Vault Hunters chime in with their opinions and exclamations whilst Athena recounts her story.

There is a lot of focus on one Handsome Jack before the Handsome: one of the more memorable villains in the franchise, he’s given a lot of screen/voice time as he slowly evolves into the pretentious asshole that eventually becomes the big baddie of BL2.

There are few memorable characters outside of the old bunch (Mad Moxxi, Vault Hunters, prototype Claptrap, etc) but the new gang of Hunters are surprisingly well focused and interact with each other to really make it feel like they’re a group working together. Previous instalments lacked this sort of touch, and it was enjoyable to see Athena interact with Wilhelm or Nisha. Each Vault Hunter has appeared in some form in previous games, so fans will immediately recognize the playable characters. Nisha appeared in Borderlands 2 as the sheriff of Lynchwood, Athena appeared in The Secret Armory of General Knoxx (BL1), Claptrap is pretty much the mascot of the franchise and Wilhelm was the major second boss of BL2.

Doctor Zed is of course missing, replaced by Nurse Nina, but they’re both equally annoying and disposable. Janey Springs acts as the new mechanic, and she’s well written and has some genuinely funny lines. Otherwise, there aren’t too many memorable new characters. The story falls flat outside of genuinely funny character moments, and it’s simply not very engaging throughout the 15ish hours you’ll spend on the moon of Elpis.

Humour is also way more inconsistent than in Borderlands 2. For every moment where I laughed out loud or smiled at the smart jokes, I cringed and groaned at twice as many. Quests are written pretty poorly to the point where I didn’t feel like doing many. I thoroughly did enjoy the Australian focused humour, which could very well be the best part of the game. There are some really shallow digs, but some really smart ones as well that’ll have any Aussie bloke or sheila laughing. Overall it feels like it was written by a B-team, or the normal writing team who didn’t bother. Weak jokes drown out the strong ones, there are some downright awful and cringey dialogues, quests are terribly written; it’s simply not an engaging story.

There’s honestly not much to say in this department, since the Pre-Sequel uses the same engine and pretty much looks exactly the same as Borderlands 2. Surprisingly enough, I encountered a lot more bugs and glitches than I did in BL2, which is just surprising. Textures are average, lighting system is outdated, there are a lot of shadow issues and the environment feedback to weapon fire or interaction is bare minimum.

Environments look a bit better than in previous games, in a creative sense. The moon of Elpis is genuinely good to look at and has some really wacky environments and architecture, at the start. Unfortunately the game doesn’t evolve, and soon you’ll be looking at the same old grey-moon-rock drab over and over again.

Like most old-gen titles, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is optimized for tri-core CPUs. It’s definitely not a demanding title, and midrange builds to beyond will easily squeeze a smooth 60fps out of max settings. Just make sure to avoid excessive Physx if your build is lower: On a GTX660 there was significant slowdown in huge firefights with Physx on high.

There a tonne of options to use, just like in the previous game. Ambient occlusion, bullet decals, colourblind mode, FXAA, it’s all here for the PC.

Overall, if you had no trouble with Borderlands 2, I see no reason why you would struggle with this one. It’s the exact same engine, just reskinned. And just like Borderlands 2, the outdated engine saves itself with a unique art style.

There’s very little to talk about Borderlands: TPS. It plays very similarly to the second game.
The biggest changes involve two new weapon types: laser and cryogenic. Both are not unwelcome additions, but they’re not gamechangers either. They’re both fun enough to use though, and I hope to see them permanently added to the roster in the next instalments.

In terms of characters, Claptrap is the only really unique player in the game. While the other characters have generic roles (Athena is treated as the melee tank class, Nisha is the enemy clearer and Wilhelm is the distraction) Claptrap has random unique traits, that all depend on the situation on hand. He can receive boosts from others, he can be a damage expert, and best of all is a skill that lets him use powers from other Vault Hunters depending on who he is fighting.

Since the game takes place on the moon, there’s a lot of gravity focused gameplay. You’re forced to juggle your oxygen usage, as there’s a limited supply when traversing environments outside of towns and mission hubs, and a specific ‘gravity slam’ attack that uses a lot of oxygen. Juggling oxygen usage isn’t a huge problem and the fun that leads to jumping in low-grav all over the place is worth the pain of recharging oxygen. O2 kits are also added to supply air when on the lunar surface; oxygen supplies can be replenished using generators, vents, and through oxygen tank items dropped by enemies. The kits can be used like a jetpack to perform double jumps, hovering, and ground slamming attacks; as with other items, different types of O2 kits can provide stat bonuses and affect how ground slams deal damage. I enjoyed the use of oxygen in this game- jumping high over enemies while shooting down upon them was a great strategy, and there were enough recharge stations and air vents around to make the O2 mechanic less burdensome. The low gravity allows for interesting exploration, as players’ platform their way across places that were either built for platforming or was pure level breaking.

Terrible issues from Borderlands 2 remains prevalent here, and it’s just a damn shame 2K Australia didn’t bother fixing the inventory, the skill systems or the maps. The inventory is a pure pain to navigate, and is incredibly cumbersome and clunky; its 2014, such an archaic form of RPG inventory should not exist in this sort of game. The skills systems are as broken as they were in Borderlands 2: some trees are heavily, heavily overpowered (Athena’s Aspis shield is fun to use but incredibly overpowered).  Most skills are useless (+1 ammo, +1 damage) but the useful skills are overpowered. It’s a balance issue of filling out the skill tree with useless ones, and it remains broken in this game. And the map system, already known for being terrible, is even worse due to the increased amounts of platforming you have to do. It’s just a damn shame that there are improvements in gameplay, but the same old flaws from the previous game drag it back down to mediocrity.

Loot is even worse: one of the cornerstones of any game like Borderlands, there’s no greater thrill than opening a chest and getting a better weapon. But the loot is crushingly disappointing: not once in my 20 hour journey did I get a legendary. Every loot chest contained mostly common’s, no unique or epic items. Vendors happen to have better loot, so in the end it becomes a grind for cash. It’s just a poor system, relying on vendors to give the best loot, and it’s the exact opposite of nearly any other loot-driven game.

The shooting is fine as always; I felt the hitboxes were way worse though; headshots weren’t landing where they should be, critical were wildly inconsistent, it just felt off. The very mechanics of shooting are still great though, and I was glad to see the feel of shooting with pistols is still incredibly satisfying. Lasers and cryo weapons were a neat touch, but they didn’t really elevate the gunplay beyond what was already done in BL2.

There’s not much here that’s worth playing, but fans of the franchise will still enjoy what’s on offer in terms of gameplay, especially if they’re used to the flaws that were prevalent in BL2. The low gravity mechanics are definitely fun, and the extra weapon classes are not unwelcome here.

There are bugs. A lot of bugs. Bugs that didn’t exist in Borderlands 2. Crashes to desktop, freezing, lack of collision in certain environments, textures missing, it’s strange that these bugs exist. And it’s a definite blow to the game.

The post Review: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! appeared first on Press Start.

Just Dance 2015 is the follow up to Just Dance 2014. There’s no story of sorts to push the player through the routines, it merely throws the player into the game with a large majority of the songs unlocked.

The improvements introduced in 2015 do their best to streamline the experience previously presented in 2014, as well as improve the sense of community and social interaction between players. In that regards, it’s widely successful.

In short, Just Dance 2015 is the perfect embodiment of the mantra “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. It’s improvements are iterative but it doesn’t break any of the components put in place in previous games.

As with last year’s game, Just Dance 2015 employs a very simplistic user interface that makes it pretty easy to find what you want relatively fast. It’s a kind of retro glam look that really fits in with this kind of game. During the actual dance sequences, the now ubiquitous Just Dance style is ever prevalent. A silhouette of the dancer moves in a similar way to how the player should imitate during gameplay. These moments have only gotten better as each game is released, being professionally animated and/or captured.

Similarly, to keep things interesting, most of them are stylised in a way that suits the song that’s being played or references some other aspect of the song (such as its lyrics or even its music video in some circumstances). A new addition with Just Dance 2015 is that many of the videos aren’t afraid to create a little bit more visual spectacle by zooming in during certain moments or even panning the camera. They’re small touches but they help keep an otherwise stale formula remain fresh visually.

With the Just Dance series becoming more of an annualised occurrence, it’s easy to sit back and assume everything is the same as last year, just with a different set list of songs, but thankfully it isn’t. Ubisoft have done a pretty good job at providing a fresh experience with a new set of routines but also with new and cool features.

Are they groundbreaking? Not particularly, but they certainly help the experience stop from stagnating despite the annualisation of the franchise although a lot of them require you to be willing to put videos of yourself dancing up on the internet which is definitely not something for everyone.

Those who have never played a Just Dance game shouldn’t have too much trouble adapting to the formula. You create a profile, pick a song, and mimic the character movements as they appear on screen to the best of your ability. The better you mimic these moves, the more you’ll score and subsequently unlock. Some songs are more difficult than others, so you’ll get a pretty good idea as you play which songs you’ll prefer.

And there’s a wide variety of songs too, with some old school groups like Gloria Gaynor and Aerosmith all the way up to Icona Pop, Calvin Harris, Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus. There’s even a few tracks from some foreign artists, like angry French rap or a Bollywood rendition of your classic Christmas songs. Just Dance 2015 takes on a pretty diverse set list and it’s something to be said where almost anyone of any age could easily join in and not feel left out. I don’t know how, but Ubisoft really have crafted one of their most diverse setlists yet and despite going on for so many years it’s baffling how they manage to keep finding the “greats” of each genre and include them while still feeling fresh.

The crux of the new content is relegated to multiplayer modes, which seems appropriate given how social this kind of game is. Community Remix is an interesting one – it allows players around the world to dance to a routine of Ubisoft’s choosing, and for Ubisoft to collate these videos together to make a choreographed routine as danced by the community. Ubisoft allegedly screens these before they’re put together, which is a job I don’t envy. But it’s a great way to add “multiplayer” and make players feel like a part of the community without incorporating proper, live multiplayer.

Other new modes include Challenger Mode, which acts to capitalise on similar asymmetric multiplayer experiences such as Words With Friends and SongPop. Every song can be performed as a “challenge” against another player. Once the first player completes their dance, their score and choreo is saved in the system until the challenger dances back. This is another great inclusion because it allows you to complete and compete against other players at your own leisure, and the community is already active enough that I’ll have three to four challenges ready for me each time I booted up the game. It’s not live multiplayer, but it’s so well done it’s hard to fault it.

World Dance Floor returns from the last Just Dance game too, where players can join up into crews (think clans, but dancing instead of shooting) and compete to climb a global leaderboard. This mode is pretty fun but it’s restricted by how many people are performing at that given time so it wasn’t always available for me to play during my sessions. But it’s still nice to see how you stack up against other people throughout the world and even within your own country.

One thing that’s immediately more obvious with 2015 is the way that the menus have been fine-tuned to be a lot more responsive. The user interface, in general, has been tweaked ever so slightly to reduce the time it takes to jump and select from song to song. It’s a very minor improvement but one that really streamlines the entire experience and one I really commend Ubisoft for, they’ve really built a solid case on how to use Kinect to completely control and navigate a user interface with little to no effort.

This streamlining also carries over into the playlists mode, which can also function as the Fitness mode. In playlists mode, as you’d expect, you can pick a certain time interval to play in or just pick a non-stop shuffle mode. Calorie counters are also included, and when activated, act as a replacement to the Sweat mode found in previous games. I appreciate the addition of non-stop playlists as they’re perfect for a pick up and play setting at a party or if you’re not sure how long you want to spend dancing in each session, but it is a bit disappointing to see you can’t skip a song if you’re not a fan of it.

On a technical level, Just Dance 2015 isn’t really one of the best demonstrations of Kinect as a motion tracking device. It’s particularly forgiving when it comes to scoring and there were many times when me or my group would score a “Perfect” just when waving our arms rather than doing the proper movements as shown on the screen. This feels like a bit of a moot point since it completely defeats the purpose of playing a game like this, but it’s worth mentioning especially when other games like Dance Central actively provide feedback on which parts of your body are out of touch. Just Dance does nothing of the sort, but you could argue it’s more about having fun in Just Dance than technical proficiency.

The game also supports downloadable content but I’m of two minds about how it’s been implemented in Just Dance 2015. There’s a few new routines available as of now, one of which is free, but there’s also several of the Just Dance 2014 routines available to download. I already own these routines in Just Dance 2014, so having to pay extra money just for the convenience of having them playable from the Just Dance 2015 disc seems a bit rough, especially considering that the game’s contemporaries have managed to migrate downloadable content from three previous games and even across generations.

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In a part of Tokyo there exists a town that is a haven for otaku (person with obsessive interests) and pop-culture enthusiasts alike. Enter Akihabara, or Electric Town as it is affectionately known. Nanashi, a young otaku who lives and breathes Akihabara, applies for a job that pays in out-of-print or rare figurines. One day Nanashi awakens in a basement; tied to a table, and told that he has been transformed into a “Synthister”, a man-made vampire whose job it is to feed on social energy and vitality, by the very company he applied for. But a girl named Shizuku comes to his rescue, and together along with Nanashi’s friends throughout Akihabara, turn against the evil corporation and defeat the evil Synthister regime.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed opens similarly to other adventure games localized from Japan, with an anime FMV sequence which is both ominous in storytelling but overly vibrant at the same time, accompanied by a J-Pop song. This sets the tone for the entire game; bright and detailed anime combined with synth-laden dance and rock music.

Cutscenes are also vibrant and rendered in two ways – a brief interlude of game-rendered models, leading into text-based conversations with anime midshots of characters as they talk. The gameplay models are faithful to their anime counterparts, but adopting the 3D-rendered anime style seen before in games such as Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z.

Characters are voiced by both Japanese and English voice actors, and upon starting the game there is an option to decide between the two. Each dialogue cutscene is fully voiced bar the playable character (as the character is generic and selectable as male or female). The dialogue is actually well-thought and at times quite hilarious, and does not feel generic or forced in any way. The music is catchy but can sometimes get a bit annoying; different songs play in different areas, such as a funky jazz tune for the ‘Akiba Freedom Fighters’ base where most of the missions come from, to different upbeat dance tracks when fighting Synthisters on the streets.

One of the most notable things is that the developers of Akiba’s Trip have faithfully recreated Akihabara within the game, right down to locations of stores and all. Having been to the real town myself in recent years I was blown away by the level of detail within the game, with notable stores and attractions being represented truly. The same goes for street vendors and the like; the street vendors, promotion people and even the coin-operated capsule machines were all present. It truly feels like Akihabara.

While Akiba’s Trip plays like a stock-standard beat-em-up, it has a large twist that changes the tone of the game drastically. In order for the character and their allies to defeat Synthisters, their aim is to use weapons and fighting styles to strip the enemy’s clothes off.

Yes, you read that right.

As the Synthesters are man-made vampires, the ‘only known way’ to defeat them is by exposing them to full sunlight. Triangle, Circle and X are reserved for high, medium and low attacks respectively, and each attack targets a specific item of clothing. Once the clothing is weakened, holding the button strips the enemy of their clothes, and once all but the enemy’s underwear has been stripped, the enemy is defeated. Combos can be achieved by chaining attacks and countering moves, and strip chains can be triggered when multiple enemy clothes are weak. When fighting with allies, massive tag attacks can be activated by filling a teamwork bar, which results in an enemy being completely stripped and any surrounding enemies being stunned. The R trigger is used for blocking and dodging, and also allows the player to counter attacks and chain combos. The L trigger (when held) restores the player’s clothing back to normal, and when simply pressed activates or ends battle mode.

While combat already sounds crazy enough, it occasionally gets clunky and annoying. Hits fail to register, camera angles change when evading, and battles can get downright frustrating when you are unable to block attacks or land any blows. This is amplified by the number of enemies on-screen at one time, and the environment that is being fought in as well. Battles can be lost easily when the player is surrounded by enemy units, and sometimes escape is near-impossible from the group. Playing on the PS Vita I often found that the controls were too small for my liking. While the Vita itself is a comfortable unit, the button-mashing battles managed to make the game uncomfortable and annoying. Some of the button functions did not work correctly, and half of the time I was putting my weapon away mid-battle, or trying to rip off clothing instead of attacking.

The majority of the game is accessible through the character’s smartphone (through the START button), where missions, character customization and communication can be selected at ease. Through the map application, fast-travel is available, saving the player from having to continuously run through zones to get to their destination. This is extremely useful as some of the loading times for the game are excessive, especially when traversing through smaller areas.

Side quests can also be activated through the smart phone, but the game suffers from an inability to display more than one quest; the primary mission is always displayed, and side quests become easily forgettable and difficult to find because of this. This becomes annoying as side quests are a major source of in-game currency, and forgetting to undertake them can lead to shortages of funds when buying and upgrading equipment. Thankfully salvaged gear can be sold to nearly anyone, allowing you to slowly replenish your funds as you play.

Even though the game’s story makes up for it, one of the biggest problems the game has is being too repetitive. With rarely any variation in gameplay, Akiba’s Trip revolves around hitting the streets and fighting Synthisters, returning to the team base, and repeating again. Occasionally this is interspersed with a training mission to keep the player’s skills current, but otherwise the game grows repetitive really fast.

The post Review: Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed appeared first on Press Start.

The Legend of Korra takes place between the second and third season of the popular animated television series. Korra is a bender – a special kind of person who can manipulate the elements of water, earth fire or air. Korra is an avatar, a person who can bend all four of the elements, and is thus responsible for maintaining balance in the world.

The game picks up with Korra being opposed by what’s known as a “chi-blocker”, who strips Korra of her bending abilities (conveniently providing her with a void to fill with powers as the game progresses). Following events of the second season, Korra herself unwittingly unleashed Hundun into the real world from the spirit world. An ancient evil, Hundun must be stopped before he spreads chaos throughout the world, and banished back to his spirit realm.

As you’d expect given how boring it sounds on paper, the story of The Legend of Korra is definitely not the focus here. It’s your stereotypical, Saturday morning cartoon type of storyline that only serves to push the action from locale to locale. There’s no surprises, there’s no thrills and there’s really nothing of note here. I’m almost willing to bet that everything in the series itself is more compelling than what’s on offer here.

Korra’s presentation is designed to evoke the look and feel of the animated series that it’s based on. In that regard it’s pretty successful, right down to presenting some beautifully animated cutscenes between levels to set the scene and the story. The colours are solid and vibrant and the characters move as if they were in an animated television show – even the powers themselves, such as the water and fire all look great and  the whole thing runs in an extremely fluid 60fps.

But it’s evident that a lot was sacrificed to achieve this fluidity – with many environments looking extremely bare. We’ve seen that Platinum Games can achieve 60fps with very detailed environments in their previous works, but for Korra everything just feels barren and rush. None of the environments feel alive or lived in, they just feel like static backgrounds to the action.

The voice work is similarly quite disappointing, although it is apparently making use of voice actors from the series itself. The performances are just dull and quite honestly, phoned in. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is great. Its action packed when it needs to be, it’s good at setting an air of ambience during calmer moments and appropriately melodramatic during the big (not to mention lacklustre) reveals during the story.

Legend of Korra’s gameplay is what ultimately saves it from being an utter disaster, but you’d hope so given the developer’s pedigree. Korra is a pretty standard action game – you play as Korra herself and can switch between the elements at will (as you unlock them), with each element serving a specific purpose. Each of these elements can be charged to augment Korra’s attacks and deal more damage too – for example augmenting the Earth power sends out rocks with every punch that can be pulled onto enemies for extra damage.

There’s four elements to bend in the game. Earth is a heavy hitting, but slow element. Fire is blazingly fast but does less damage than the others. Wind strikes a balance between the two, but provides a great degree of crowd control with its whirling tornadoes. Water is more of an all-rounder. All the elements are well defined and distinct enough to serve a purpose in the game against certain enemies, although there is definitely a tendency to rely on one or two more than the others.

This can be seen as either a positive or a negative – on one hand the game doesn’t force you to use all your powers outside of the moment they’re introduced (ie. like DmC: Devil May Cry’s forced polarity system) but on the other it’s entirely possible you might undervalue one of the powers and not use them at all.

The combat itself is rather simplistic – Korra can use a light or a heavy attack to deal damage to enemies, as well as dodge or jump to get out of harm’s way. Counters can also be initiated by dodging at the right second, allowing Korra to retaliate for good damage. From time to time, an enemy may block Korra’s attacks and the game will enter a short QTE which provides her with an opportunity to defend herself.

It’s a simple system combat system, but it’s very easy for the game to somehow keep putting players said QTE sequence – either allowing the player to abuse the damage that can be dealt without worrying about other enemies attacking them or just plain frustrating the player who might want to fight naturally.

There are some other scenarios interspersed into the main storyline that break up the monotony of Korra’s simplistic combat system against the same five or so enemies. Firstly, there’s high speed traversal segments where players control Korra’s pet, Naga, in a Temple Run-esque gauntlet. Secondly, there’s Pro-Bending, which is like a simple game of attrition and a competitive, regulated bending competition. Both of these segments are playable without having to play the story; the former from the chapter select screen and the latter from a separate mode unlocked upon completion of the game.

Between missions, Korra can visit a store to purchase items such as consumables that heal damage, new moves and abilities or other items that might buff her abilities at the detriment to others (ie. Double experience, but halved health). These should provide a nice air of strategy to the game but on your first play-through, the game is so easy that their effects and detriments are arguably negligible. It’s clear this system, as simple as it is, was designed for repeat play-throughs on higher difficulties.

And you’ll want to be replaying it too, since the entire experience could easily be over in five hours. It sounds short, and it really is, but Korra hopes that you’ll return to its higher difficulties to try to rank higher. Weirdly, the ranking system only really emphasises combo counts and time, so it’s possible to get a Platinum medal (theoretically) while still taking damage. We dabbled briefly in the unlockable “Extreme” mode, and it provided a challenge, but it should’ve been unlockable from the start for action game veterans.

The post Review: The Legend of Korra appeared first on Press Start.

Candy? Costumes? Why, it must be Halloween! Think of children running around, excitedly yelling, “Trick or treat!” or street parties where neighbours can come together to celebrate.

Costume Quest 2 opens on that high note, picking up siblings Reynold and Wren’s adventure soon after the previous game, just as they arrive in their hometown of Auburn Pines. A Halloween party is due to begin, but as is sometimes the case, there may be some unwelcome guests. And cue the arrival of invading monsters from another realm, led by the crazed local dentist Orel White. The kids must then embark on a journey to try and prevent the invasion from ever occurring, or risk facing a dystopian future where candy and costumes are outlawed.

All in all, the game features a simple story that is easy enough to follow. While it may certainly appeal to a younger audience, the simple premise of going around on an epic adventure wearing costumes and fighting bad guys is sure to also have a nostalgic effect on some of the older gamers out there. However, and as I’ll go into detail later, there is very little story beyond that which is made clear at the beginning.

I should probably take the time, however, to commend the writers for offering up a storyline that, for the most part, is able to stand up on its own. By that, I mean that newcomers to the series will quickly be able to grasp what’s going on, even without having played through the original game or had knowledge of its storyline.

I must say that I rather enjoyed the game’s simplistic design, aesthetically similar to Double Fine’s Psychonauts. At times, the game took more of a cartoon-like appearance, though that did little to detract from the experience. In fact, it reminded me of my childhood, with an environment that visually resembled ones from classic games like Crash Bandicoot.

It is also worth noting that I found some of the building and character models to take upon a lighter, and often, comical appearance. This was likely intentional on the developer’s part, helping to establish an atmosphere suitable for players of all ages, and to contribute towards the game’s focus on a child’s imagination.

With regards to sound design, the developers certainly did well to provide a score that matched the mood and atmosphere of the explorable locations. It was a nice touch to hear gentle guitar strumming as I explored the swampy bayou, to the upbeat, New Orleans-esque sounds of the French Quarter.

Central to the game’s premise is quite obviously candy and costumes. While the former’s importance was restricted mostly to purchasing upgrades and replenishing health, it is the latter that was of more interest to me.

I vividly remember owning several costumes as a child, but those don’t begin to compare to the variety featured in the game. They ranged from the starting superhero costume, to a clown, right up to a ghost. Each came with their own unique abilities, so it was fun to experiment with different combinations for my characters during battle. A number of them did have abilities usable outside of battle, like the pterodactyl costume allowing us to flap wings. I do find fault with this feature, however, given the lack of cues informing us what to do upon first encountering an obstacle we could clear.

In addition, the presence of several of these costumes did seem to be a matter of convenience. Sure, it was nice to have such a variety of them, but certain ones like the Hotdog outfit really only had one use outside of battle, and that was to distract a minion standing close by to where it was found.

Upon getting right into the main part of the game, I found myself in a bayou, where I began to familiarise myself with some of the game’s features. Throughout this stage of the game, I was tasked with carrying out a number of side quests, including locating children (hide-and-seek), knocking on doors for candy deliveries, and seeking out special Creepy Treat Cards for trade.

At first, I found these side quests to be a largely fun and challenging experience, although given the scale of the bayou, it often took some time backtracking if I missed something. However, when I advanced onto the following stages, I found that each area contained all of the above features, and little else. This gave way into repetitiveness, and as such, the game felt like seven monotonous hours doing the same things repeatedly. More than that, the hours spent running around had me forgetting that there was actually a point to all this, with a disproportionate amount of time doing errands to advance the storyline.

In their quest to undo Orel White’s evil plan, our heroes must often face off against the dentist’s minions. These take the form of turn-based battles, providing ample time for players to formulate strategies on how best to defeat their foes. Each character in the party would have an opportunity to use a regular attack, their costume’s special ability (if the special meter was filled), or a Creepy Treat Card.

I honestly felt that the Creepy Treat Cards made skirmishes far too easy. Despite encountering such a wide range during the course of the game, two in particular caught my attention: one that enabled enemy minions to attack themselves, and another that caused their attacks to heal your heroes. To put it simply, these two were overpowered. Perhaps to dampen their overall effectiveness, making use of them required cool down periods, and some were restricted for use only on minions and not bosses.

If I have anything positive to say about the combat system, it is that the game offered up some interesting special attacks. These attacks carried on between each battle, and gave me the freedom to strategically charge them up during a minion battle, and save their use for a boss battle. A particular favourite of mine was the ‘Declaration of Destruction’ that accompanied the Thomas Jefferson’s costume, and came with a neat little cutscene.

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Skylanders Trap Team follows the story of the evil Kaos. This time, Kaos has blown up Cloudcracker Prison which has obviously released all of the evil villains. It is the Portal Masters job to use the Trap Master in order to capture the escaped villains and return order to the universe.

The story won’t be winning any Golden Globes however it’s solid enough to keep the key demographic interested. I have to commend the writers for finding a way to keep the story going without making it feel too shallow. Cut scenes are well presented and are sure to suck young gamers in.

Skylanders Trap Team looks exceptional on PS4. It’s without doubt the most colourful and vibrant game that i’ve played on the console. Most elements of the levels are destructible and react beautifully with a ton of particle effects scattered around the creatively crafted world.

I really have to commend the various Skylanders teams at Activision. The game runs extremely smoothly which is impressive for the amount of consoles that the game is available on. The game rarely has any slow-down which is a great feat considering that a lot of enemies are always on-screen at once.

There are now over 300 Skylanders and they’re still looking just as inventive as the first wave. They’re all extremely unique and interesting to look at and animation of the characters are always smooth.

I also played the game on an iPad mini and was completely stunned with how great the game looked. Sure, it didn’t have the polish and sharpness that the PS4 version did, but it was extremely impressive to me that the game was able to run at all, let alone look so good on a tablet device.

?The concept of last year’s Skylanders Swap Force let me a little underwhlemed. The gameplay was solid but the concept of joining two different Skylander halves to combine a new one didn’t feel as special to me. It took away from the overall personality that individual Skylanders have and it didn’t make collecting anywhere near as fun. I know that my nephew definitely didn’t grasp onto the concept either. The naming conventions and endless possibility just left him confused to the point where he wasn’t able to get as involved as he usually does.

I’m happy to report that this is not the case with Skylanders Trap Team. Not only do you have the usual new lot of Skylanders, there are now 40 trappable enemies that are all playable within the game. You get two different traps with the starter pack and more are available to purchase separately. Basically you’re able to trap certain enemies with the corresponding elements trap. You can then tag this enemy into the game whilst the trap is inserted into the new portal. It sounds extremely confusing but it works. It adds a whole new dimension to the game that I didn’t think was possible after four straight yearly releases.

My only criticism of the game remains that unless you’re willing to play the main game over and over again, there really seems to no reason to collect everything. The game is over in about 10 hours and whilst it is an absolute blast, there really is no reason to replay the game unless you want to test out more characters. I’d recommend that you get at least one of each element for both the traps and the Trap Masters to unlock absolutely everything there is to unlock. What’s included in the Starter Kit is enough to get you through the main game but you’ll be going past a lot of gates that you won’t be able to access.

When getting through the game, you will also notice that there are a lot of gates that have the symbols of two unannounced elements. These have now been confirmed to be Light and Dark elements but no release date has yet been set for these figures. I’m a little bit unsure about the strategy behind this. It’s extremely annoying to have sections of the game that can’t yet be started because the figures haven’t been released.

I was lucky enough to get to play the game on both the PS4 and on a Retina iPad Mini and the game plays tremendously on both. For the first time ever, I can happily say that it is the exact same experience on both platforms. I can’t think of a AAA gaming franchise that has been able to achieve this so successfully.

On the Tablet version, you’re given a bluetooth portal that still has a spot for the traps to go in. It syncs perfectly out of the box with absolutely no effort. Similarly, Activision have given you a Bluetooth controller that also works on AAA batteries. The controller also syncs straight into the game without any effort whatsoever. I must say, the controller is absolutely wonderful. It’s a scaled down version of a 360 controller and feels every bit as good. I hope that Activision allow this controller to work as a standard bluetooth controller down the line as i believe that it is the best in the market.

The game apparently has to be online to download new characters once placed on the portal. It is a small annoyance but won’t be an issue for most players. I’d rather that the game do this as it’d be ridiculous to download character data for over 100 Skylanders when most won’t get the full catalogue. The good thing is that you’re able to play the game with no portal attached and you’ll still have access to two Skylanders at all times. You’re also able to play the game without purchasing the Starter Kit through the use of digital packs. These are quite expensive though so i’d opt for buying the Starter Kit.

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In a mystical medieval-inspired world, the substance known as Pluton is a rare and valuable mineral that is the source of all magical power. Humanity has fallen back to a single city, known as Feste, which is the last stronghold against the terrors of the land. In order to seek out more Pluton, the explorers of the city, known as Bergmans, hire bodyguards to delve into mines scattered throughout the wilderness in order to seek out more of the precious ore and maintain and power the city. Following the adventures of Geoff and Vasily, a pair of bodyguards hired to protect the Bergman Anka, players are cast out into the land to seek out Pluton and stop the rising evil from the mines below.

Keeping to the standard that is common with most JRPGs, the characters and environments in NAtURAL DOCtRINE (yes, that is how it is spelled) are represented on two levels; rendered anime screens and 3D textured models. However for this game it becomes an issue and adds a disconnection between the two. Characters are vibrant and detailed in images, yet the character models almost barely match their anime counterparts. The characters themselves come off almost like figurines, with permanent expressions plastered on their faces, and clothing and armour that seems mapped to their model rather than independent. The design also looks like it may have been ripped straight from Fire Emblem or a Final Fantasy game, as there is seemingly nothing unique about them. When fighting enemies in-game such as orcs, goblins and knights, there is little variation between the character models and ends up looking like an army of clones, which can get confusing when fighting multiple units at once.

Similarly, the world map and imagery of locations are vivid and colourful, but the 3D environments are dull and generic. From the tutorial level it appears something is amiss; gameplay areas are isolated and do not feel like part of a larger world. Some wall textures were noticeably pixelated and low quality. It really did not feel like a next-gen game when playing it on the PS4, and I found that the game looked a lot more at home on the PS Vita via Remote Play.

The HUD during the game becomes extremely cluttered at times; with the turn order occupying the top of the screen, a scrolling information and help bar occupying the bottom of the screen (with no option to turn it off either), as well as information on the left of the screen during attacking or defending actions. Accompany this with an at times awful camera and things begin to get extremely confusing, with just too much on screen at one time.

The soundtrack does not aid in alleviating any visual issues; tracks are recycled through each battlefield and get repetitive and annoying, especially with the speed of gameplay. Character voices begin to get annoying and each character has a limited quote range, leading to consistently grating comments that will have you reaching for the mute button.

NAtURAL DOCtRINE’s core mechanics shift away from a general turn-based strategy game, and it is here that things get very complex. While the game retains the general principle of being able to move about the map and attack adjacent enemies during your team’s turn, it also adds the ability for your team to skip the queue and attack as one. Certain actions of your units (titled “initiative) allows nearby units the ability to simultaneously attack, performing a ‘tactical link’ that can be used to greatly increase attacking power. The brief tutorial level throws you straight into it, and for most of the game it is up to the player to work out what they are doing.

Now here is where it gets even more complex; depeding on particular allies and their abilities, the distance between linked units raises the attack bonuses between them – for instance, four units in a square at each corner would yield a maximum attack bonus. Ranged units add critical hit bonuses, and can also be used to add attack power. Through careful planning and a mess of coloured bars, a single ‘tactical link’ move can exterminate a group of enemies in one fell swoop. Through this you can also eliminate the enemies that are next in line on the turn bar, preventing them from even making a scratch on your team. When this happens it is extremely rewarding; characters level up faster and levels progress quicker, and the game begins to become slightly more addictive. Risks and rewards begin to pay off. The downside to this is that one wrong move can lead to your team being defeated in a single turn by the enemy; one wrong character placement or maneuver and a member of my team would be killed in an instant. That isn’t to say that the difficulty level is high (ashamedly I started on easy), but the complexity of the tactics that need to be considered is sometimes just too much.

Targeting enemies is quite annoying, as it requires either a double-tap of the Triangle button to target the nearest enemy, or the right analogue stick to target a specific enemy. Multiple times I found myself targeting the wrong enemy and putting myself into a dangerous situation all because I hit the wrong thing. Advanced tactics are taught in the first gameplay level, but considering it takes a while to understand the basic mechanics, I still did not manage to employ many of them. With the amount there is to learn, the game could benefit from a prologue to introduce the story and characters, and a series of tutorial levels rather than a tutorial level that includes lumping the story in.

The biggest issue with the game’s turn-based system is that the developer Kadokawa Games seemingly tried to craft something good, but instead fell just short of the mark, leaving a system that takes a long time to get used to. Three days in and I was still making errors due to the amount of options I had to go through to complete a turn. It doesn’t help that turns can be extremely slow, and cutscenes are nearly unskippable, leading to lengthy rounds that leave you wondering why you got into it in the first place.

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Set 15 years after the events of Ridley Scott’s Alien, Ellen Ripley’s daughter Amanda (mentioned often in the films but never seen) is offered to accompany a team to Sevastopol, a giant space station, in order to retrieve the flight recorder for the Nostromo (the original ship in the film) and find out what happened to her mother. Of course, things go disastrously wrong: Sevastopol is a wreck upon arrival, androids are mysteriously hostile, survivors shoot on sight and a terrifying presence stalks the station. Allies are few and far between, enemies are everywhere and when the titular antagonist finally makes its appearance the tension that the game has built is so overwhelming it’s almost anticlimactic to finally see the Alien in its entirety.

The story cleverly uses the huge 57 year gap between the events of Alien and Aliens to tell a story that’s both flexible in storytelling and faithful to the franchise. There’s no cheap retcon or shoved in ‘canon’ material (thanks, Colonial Marines), it’s just an old school Alien story, one that will strike familiar to any fan of the first film. In fact, it’s just a bit TOO similar to the film. Everything that happened in Alien/Aliens pretty much is copied in Isolation. It’s especially detrimental when plot twists and story beats are pretty much ripped from the films. The most refreshing plot point involving openly hostile androids adds a mix to the story (and gameplay) that adds an extra layer of intrigue to the story. It’s all faithfully done, but Isolation forgets that it’s not an adaptation, it’s a standalone game, and the line is blurred just a bit too much as the game chooses to play it safe. There’s a lot of wasted potential to explore the Alien mythos and setting further, choosing to replicate an arguably perfect film.

However, all of this can ultimately be seen as a positive to the fans of the franchise, as there is no other game that will make you feel like you are actually in Alien more than Isolation does. The story reflects the atmosphere and presentation in that it just feels like a true part of the Alien franchise.

Isolation looks fantastic. The game nails the aesthetic and atmosphere that the original film had. It’s set in the future yet looks like the past: simple CRT monitors and binary displays, video tape tracking, monochrome and vector graphics. It doesn’t just look like an Alien film, it feels like one. It doesn’t take place on the Nostromo, but Sevastopol is so aesthetically similar that it feels like you’re in the film. Characters are dead caricatures of their film counterparts; with the exception of Jones the Cat, with no such double existing, tragically. And the titular Alien looks impressive: the tall, thin glistening monster with dozens of different animations depending on the situation. And thank God Creative Assembly got it right, because they manage to make the now iconic Alien look terrifying all over again. While years and years of films, media and spoofs have dulled the impact of the natural scariness of the Alien, Isolation manages to overcome 30 years of pop culture to make it look as scary as it did in 1979.

The flame effects in particular looks downright spectacular: engulfing the Alien with your flamethrower or throwing a molotov cocktail will result in a glorious eruption of flames that are hands down the best looking fire effects in a game since Far Cry 2.

The audio is exceptional: the dynamic sound range will have you jumping in terror at the mere sound of a vent opening and closing. The vibrant sounds that the Alien makes are terrifying: hissing when you get close, shrieking when it sees you, stomping around the vents. The mere creaking of a vent straight above you will send chills down your spine, whipping out the iconic motion tracker to see just how close you are to certain death. The sound is essential in any horror game, and Isolation nails it. It’s not just recommended to play with a great headset, it’s essential.

It also sounds like an Alien film would: monitors hum and beep just like in the original film did, with the limited technology and budget that the 1979 film had at the time there was a lot of old school technology used, and it carries onto Isolation. 20th Century Fox apparently provided The Creative Assembly with three terabytes of archived data related to the original Alien film, including notes on prop and set design, behind the scenes photos, videos, and the film’s original sound effect recordings, to help Creative Assembly authentically recreate the atmosphere of the film, along with the original soundtrack which Creative Assembly then re-recorded with an orchestra in order to get the perfect cues for certain scares, and it works damn well.

The voice acting is solid all around; thankfully, Amanda Ripley is a fully fledged character with actual motivations and emotions. She isn’t dead silent throughout the game and even in general gameplay she makes noises dependant on what is going on; hiding in a locker she may hold her breath if the Alien is especially nearby, a nearby explosion will cause her to swear and mercifully, she actually talks to characters instead of blindly following orders. Lip synching and facial animations are beyond awful, but since you’re spending 90% of your time alone, it doesn’t become a huge deal.

In terms of the PC version, the differences are pretty bad. The game uses a LOT of contextual actions: going near any object will automatically make you lean under or over; a nitpick that it does not have a separate prone button, with only a crouch button and contextual actions taking over the rest. The game was built for a controller, with leaning a KB+M function will only allow you to lean fully, instead of having a joystick to carefully put pressure on how much you would want to lean.

Graphical options aren’t so flashy: the only options for Anti-Aliasing are FXAA, SMAATX2 and SMAATX1,and they don’t actually get rid of aliasing. The aliasing is borderline awful and is especially noticeable with dark environments with sole light sources: something that is very commonplace within Sevastopol. The sliders are strange: FOV slider is reversed and is vertical instead of horizontal, SMAA T2X comes before T1X, HDAO looks worse than standard AO. The pre-rendered videos are also very bad: obvious compression and runs incredibly choppy. Depth of field would usually be turned off for me, but since this is directly involved with an important gameplay component it gets a pass.

However, even on Ultra settings the game runs incredibly smoothly: my rig is a mid-range build (i5-3570k CPU, GTX 660, 16GB RAM on Windows 7) and it was amazing how well the game was running, with a constant 60FPS on the highest settings.

As a survival horror, you cannot kill the Alien. This is a huge positive, as many so called modern ‘horror’ games become trivial due to the lack of fear that the enemy couldn’t be beaten. Like the Hunter in Dead Space, the Nemesis in Resident Evil 3 or the Regeneradores in Resident Evil 4 (sort of), the Alien is nigh invincible. Gunshots will just anger it; your best weapon against it would be the flamethrower which scares it off but doesn’t quite hurt it. Any weapon build or obtained by Amandais used to either distract the Alien of kill the weaker Working Joes; lethal androids who aren’t quite humanoid, but with their red eyes and grey complexion are a near equally terrifying presence on Sevastopol.

Segments with the Working Joes are refreshing because they can be overcome, and it’s a fun change over the unstoppable Alien as it lets you have a bit of fun with the weapons and the AI, exploiting whatever weaknesses the androids have. Using the revolver is especially satisfying against the androids, and words cannot describe the sheer terror of reloading the revolver whilst a Working Joe approached Amanda to throttle her. While the best scenario would be to sneak past the Working Joes or outright spring to the next destination (as they take a tremendous amount of punishment, requiring a few headshots with ), it’s still stimulating to have a bit more frantic and upbeat action in comparison to the almost torturously slow gameplay involving the Alien.

Moving slowly, softly and quietly is the only way to survive the Alien, and throughout the course of the 20 hour game it gets a bit tedious. Sheer terror sometimes devolves into tedium and boredom, and while the top notch audio and atmosphere keep you on your toes, it’s easy to see why some people would give up halfway due to the slow pace that rarely quickens. Save points are few and far between, doesn’t pause the game and are genuinely old school. A notification pops up when hostiles are nearby, and it’s up to you to decide whether to risk saving the game or waiting for the enemy to pass, because the Alien can completely sneak up and kill you right as you are about to save. While the save system is a good change over the trial-and-error quick save system, it can lead to a certain amount of frustration when you die just short of a save point, forcing you to retrace the last 15-20 minutes of the game.

The Alien is just about unstoppable in Isolation; it can smell you, hear you and once it sees you, you might as well restart from the last save. It’s a real shame that there’s no real chance to outrun the Alien, as like in Outlast, chase scenes can lead to exceptionally memorable and frightening moments. Rather, there’s no chance to outrun the Alien, just wave it off with a molotov, or distract it beforehand with a noisemaker. Amanda Ripley’s background of a technician is a good way to introduce a crafting system, as most items need to be crafted with ingredients picked up throughout the station. It make sense contexually, and adds a lot of flavour in the otherwise slow paced horror.

Little minigames exist throughout the station, but I feel they are fun only because of the old school CRT displays that are a throwback to the original film. They’re simple enough: decrypting codes to open doors, changing power outlets to certain elements (such as lights, sprinklers, alarms or doors) and generally hiding in lockers or cabinets and trying not to pee as the Alien stalks past you.

There is no heads up display thankfully; forcing you to explore the generally non-linear environments to reach your goal. It never gets difficult as the motion tracker gives you a mark on where to go and bringing up the map contains all the information you will need. In contrary, having a goal waypoint would be extremely detrimental to the atmosphere and gameplay. Pulling out your revolver, you have to wait several seconds to line up a shot; another great reflection on Amanda’s inexperience with a gun and the fear of survival.

The pace will throw many off, but survival horror gamers will love Isolation’s creepy, tense atmosphere that builds slowly and pays off in spades. The survival mode in particular has potential to become a huge party game: get a group of friends together and see who can survive the level. It worked with Slender, and I see it working with Isolation.

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Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes features an original story headed by Brian Michael Bendis. In The Avengers, players must defeat the Norse God Loki from rebuilding the Casket of Ancient Winters. Similarly to the film, The Guardians Of The Galaxy plot revolves around the Guardians protecting Nowhere from Ronan the Accuser. Spider-Man’s plot is heavily inspired by The Ultimate Spider-Man and features around defeating the evil Green Goblin.

The three plots will please fans of the Marvel universe as they each tell a new side of each franchise in quite depth. The Disney Original characters will not receive their own individual stories this time around and will only be useable in the Toy Box.

Disney Infinity 2.0 on PS4 is a big step-up from the Wii U version of the original game. Characters have a lot more detail and seem to have a lot more in common with their original on-screen characters. Maps appear to be quite a lot larger in scale and more seems to be destructible which is a nice touch. There are a lot more other things that help the open-world games seem a lot more alive. The worlds are full of cars and people which are all destructible and overall, more enemies seem to be able to appear on screen at once without the game slowing down.

I commend Avalanche with being able to represent so many different Disney franchises in so many different ways throughout the game. There are so many fan favourites ranging from different furniture items to Toy Box vehicles.

The main gripe I had with the game was the persistent loading times. When booting up the game or loading up the Toy Box, the load times were fairly long. Thankfully they’re not quite as bad once you get into a Play Set but it was still more than noticeable in certain instances.

In Disney Infinity 2.0 there are 3 separate Play Sets this time around. With the Starter Kit you will receive the Avenger Play Set whilst Spider-Man and Guardians Of The Galaxy can be purchased separately. The Spider-Man set was by far my favourite as I feel that they really nailed the Spider-Man’s ability to fly through the city. The completely different characters of The Avenger characters are well represented in game and really do well to provide some variety.

Unfortunately the overall lack of imagination in Play Sets means you’ll be stretched for creativity while playing them. The gameplay is still extremely solid however variety between Play Sets left me wanting so much more. Each Play Set has you going from point A to B in order to complete missions with the odd side-mission to keep you occupied. I can completely understand the gameplay is so basic as my seven year old nephew is able to understand what he has to do in order to get through the game. However as an older Disney fan, it’s still too basic for me. Countless films and games have shown that they can pander to both adult and children audiences, and it’s hard to forgive Disney Infinity 2.0 for not being able to engage adults well.

Some characters could be used across Play Sets through the use of Crossover Coins. It’s still limited to certain situations but wherever possible, characters can cross over into two play sets. This is something that wasn’t allowed at all within the original game so I was extremely excited to see how this works. Skill trees are also more fleshed out and seem to add much more depth to the overall experience. I would have liked to see both things taken further however it’s improved the game dramatically.

Power discs return and make a much bigger impact on the game. Whilst ability and toy box discs are still around, power discs also unlock alternate costumes for characters. Sidekicks make an appearance in the form of the side-kick power disc. Whilst not everyone’s favourite may not appear as a figurine, it doesn’t mean that they’re not featured as a sidekick. They play into the game as a timed power-up with their own exclusive health bars. The biggest new addition to the power disc collection are the Toy Box game discs. These are discs that unlock 1-2 hour mini-games within the toy box. Two come with the Starter Kit however it has been announced that there are at least 4 more to be released in later waves.

The Toy Box in 2.0 has seen quite a massive improvement. In the first game, it was extremely impressive with what Avalanche were able to do with the game however they’ve brought it leaps and bounds in Toy Box 2.0.

The first big addition are townspeople. These are characters from various Disney shows that will start building various aspects of the Toy box for you. For instance, Eve from Wall-E builds trees and foliage around the place. There is another character that also builds race tracks. The cool thing about this is that they build around each other and essentially create a world that will be unlike the last.

You’re able to take customisation further in the Toy Box by taking full control the camera angle and add in-game text to essentially create a story (with online approval from a Disney moderator). This basically means that players are now able to create a game that doesn’t feel like it was something forced and incomplete.

Another addition are INTerior Toy Boxes. You’re able to populate these inside spaces with popular items from all over the Disney universe. You can also put doors all over the place which can link to a completely different space. These can be linked to an extremely large scale and allow you to keep building until your heart’s content.

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Madden 15 is the 27th game in the extremely popular American EA sporting franchise. As they’ve done with previous years, EA allowed NFL fans to vote via ESPN to select who they wanted to see on the cover of the game. The vote lasted less time that previous years due to a later than normal release of the game. Seattle Seahawk player Richard Sherman was the chosen cover man for 2015.

EA Sports have always been praised on their wonderful presentation and Madden 15 is a great example of why they’re the leading sporting developer. Players have more detail and personality than ever before. Animation is smoother than it’s ever been but not without some glitches. What fun would the game be without them? Improved lighting means that light now reflects directly off players. Crowds are much more full and alive than ever before and bring a bigger amount of atmosphere to the game.

As always, a great soundtrack and commentary accompany this iteration of Madden. The commentary in particular seems a lot less repetitive than in years past and seems to match the situation a lot more closely. There is a high emphasis on replays that take place in key moments and this is well appreciated in highlighting the big hits and great touchdowns.

I’m not the biggest NFL fan however I can appreciate any sport game. Madden 15 boasts a number of new features which help make the game much more realistic and strategic than ever. Madden 15’s main new feature is War In The Trenches 2.0. This is something that the developers at EA have introduced to make much passing a much easier process. Passing quickly is more fluent than ever and you’re able to hit your target like never before.

Organising your plays has never been more of a tactical process. EA have added in a feature to show you which plays other players around the world are using as well as which play the opposing team are most likely to use. This gives a brand new insight into the game. Defence has also been rejigged giving players to choose between whether they want to make a more aggressive or conservative tackle.

A.I players have now been improved as well. This allows in-game players to make better defensive and attacking moves in order to pull off plays that weren’t possible in previous years. Zone Coverage ratings have a bigger impact on how quickly defenders will break through the line on throws. Defenders with higher ratings in a certain zone will react much quicker to those that don’t.

Madden Ultimate Team has also seen a new healthy additions. The new items screen shows you the latest items for use in your inventory. Changing your team lineup is more simpler than ever whilst still providing the same amount of depth as ever before. You’re also able to choose your best lineup by overall or play style.

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Bad Blood picks up after the events of the original Watch Dogs game, where Raymond Kenney, known by the alias “T-Bone” has some unfinished business to clean up in Chicago following Aidan Pearce’s subversion of ctOS and Blume Securities hold on the city. Despite the events of the main game, almost nothing has changed in Chicago and you’d be forgiven for thinking it took place at the same time as the original game. Still, Aiden has disappeared and is laying low while T-Bone is left to clean up his mess and finish up some loose ends for his own benefit.

T-Bone’s story treads familiar ground and while the conclusion it reaches is rather predictable, I can’t fault it too much because it was still genuinely intriguing. It does attempt to reincorporate some characters from the original game into its story to better flesh them out, but this feels quite forced. As you’d probably surmise if you played the original game, T-Bone is a much more charismatic protagonist than Aidan Pierce but he also errs the line between legitimately humorous and cringe worthy stereotype.

Since the original game, nothing has really changed here. Chicago looks just like it did in the original game. The city has a lot of action to make it feel believable and alive, but definitely looks better at sunset and night time as opposed to the day where colours look less vibrant and instead washed out. T-Bone himself looks great in terms of modelling and animation, even if he does borrow a few from the main game and Aiden.

As with the original game, there’s some very nice subtle lighting effects here and there – like the glow of T-Bones smartphone dynamically lighting up parts of his body if he’s holding it while running away from a group of enemies or his tasers glow as he beats up enemies up close. All in all it’s a game that looks great, but is still a far cry from the original reveal of the game several years ago.

From a sound perspective, the original score here is a step up from the original. The new pieces that are played during missions, whether high tension or ambient slower pieces, really fit the theme of the future that Ubisoft is trying to portray in Watch Dogs. Voice work is similarly an improvement – with John Tench easily outclassing Noam Jenkins (Aiden) in his portrayal of T-Bone.

Bad Blood really is more or less a Watch Dogs expansion pack, except barely anything here is new. While Ubisoft claimed the game featured “new locations within Chicago”, many of these were unfortunately just new areas within buildings that already existed. A major issue I have with the lack of expansion of the map (heck, even adding a new district might’ve been nice) is that it removes that sense of exploration from the town. As such, all your fast travel points and your map is fully viewable from the get-go. The core structure is similarly still like the original game – there’s a whole bunch of icons on the map, of which some advance the main story and others start optional content.

The main story missions themselves are pretty varied but still, at their core, provide the same experience that Watch Dogs did. There are a few missions that feature new (indoor) locations but they as a whole are pretty unremarkable. Most of the missions involve you having to raid an indoor location, hack something, and then leave or kill everyone in the area. It’s not a terribly bad experience, it’s just too close to home with what we’ve already experienced in the base game.

The biggest new addition to the game is Eugene, a small remote controlled car that T-Bone can use to infiltrate areas and scout out locations. Completing side missions will eventually outfit Eugene with a stun gun as well as explosives too, making him a little bit more useful than when you first pick him up. The idea of Eugene is a pretty small and yet simple way to make things feel different, but in his present state he’s hideously overpowered – being able to take down even heavy soldiers with a quick stun shot and no recovery time. He’s also, disappointingly, only usable during certain moments in the game (largely within missions themselves and not during open world free roaming).

The other new addition is the “Street Sweep” missions, which are more or less optional missions that further a minor storyline in the game. These are pretty run of the mill – including having to stand near a computer while hacked files transfer, taking out a certain target without harming anyone else and racing through a selection of checkpoints before a timer elapses. They’re apparently procedurally generated, but they’re so dull to the point where I wasn’t surprised to discover this. On the plus side, these missions can be tackled co-operatively with a friend, which is a nice touch and is much more enjoyable than I thought it would be.

As you’d expect, the ten mission run of Bad Blood is easily over within three to four hours but there’s a wide breadth of optional content to wade through to further extend the experience. Whether this is worthwhile, however, is a whole other issue. To unlock absolutely everything the game has to offer, you’ll have to complete at least sixty procedurally generated missions on top of the ten main ones, which quite frankly feels like the worst kind of padding possible in a game like this. Sure, it’ll easily extend the experience from a four hour one to somewhere between six and eight, but it’s simply too dull to warrant it.

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As the initial fence sitter of Press-Start regarding Destiny it seemed only right that I should be the one to review this game without any unrealistic expectations or exceptionally negative preconceptions. Three weeks worth of game time has certainly provided me with enough hands on experience and insight for the game. Here we go!

Destiny’s story is exceptionally dry, plain and simple. After the Earth entered it’s golden age of interplanetary exploration and began inhabiting other planets surrounding our own; thanks to the assistance of The Traveler, a large floating vessel the size of a small moon. After the appearance of this mysterious being, its long time enemy known as the darkness followed it and was lead to earth. The citizens of Earth and surrounding planets were either eradicated or pushed back to the last strong hold of Earth, which Guardians now struggle to keep protected. You play as one of those guardians and uncover the truth behind the mysterious appearances of both the Traveler and the Darkness.

This game is typically good vs bad, move from point A to point B as you shoot and loot your way through. It has received massive criticism for having such a dull and mundane story – it is peculiar coming from such a well known story developer, Bungie. However as i see it, yes an intriguing story is great but to have that it would completely miss the ideals and concept that is Destiny. I believe Destiny to be a drop in/out open world exploration to be experienced with your friends or as Destiny calls it, Fire teams. Many times during my hands-on I opted to join my friend’s Fire team only to be transported to missions or even planets ahead of where I was, to once again shoot and loot ’till my heart’s content. Essentially this is why I believe Destiny does not and cannot produce an in-depth story. If I am able to jump missions or planets ahead in the game, it would be like jumping pages or chapters in a book; I would be missing chunks of the whole story. Better to miss points of a not so great story than to miss them on a more crucial story driven scenario, right?

As an interplanetary experience your surroundings are going to change and vary immensely as you jump from planet to planet; I believe that Bungie has captured each planets essence perfectly. I won’t name what planets you can explore spoilers sake, but I can only reinforce the amount of work that has gone into creating unique worlds and true to what we non-astrological people believe it to be. There are certainly going to be moments where you just stop to take in the scenery and ponder on what the universe may really contain.

The voice casting of well known actor Peter Dinklage was definitely a strong move for Destiny but I can honestly say that his presence has no great impact to the overall experience. Sounding as bland and mundane as the robot companion he portrays. While the rest of the voice work accompanying him have sat in line behind “The Dinkle-bot” (as Destiny community members are calling him) are just as utterly dry. Perhaps it was a sales pitch to align such a big name actor from a popular TV series in an attempt to sway or intrigue people, but in this case they missed the target by a mile.

Enemies and Guardians have all received a deeply detailed amount of love and care providing a uniqueness yet familiarity, enough to associate themselves with their respective groups. For guns and ships it can also be said each differing variation is captured and displayed exceptionally whilst cut scenes, in particular the opening one will leave you mind blown with some of the visuals.

I was told long ago that Destiny does not really open to the player until they reach level 20 and that person couldn’t have been more right. As you trudge along completing the story across different planets and competing in the online competitions known as the Crucible; you grind and gain experience which is used to level up your character. These characters are one of three; a Hunter, good for longer ranged attacks, Warlock who has mid-ranged attacks and a Titan best used up close and personal. Obviously these characters can be used for any situation you choose but overall their upgradeable characteristics determine how you play as them. Each character has two classes – for example a Titan has a Striker and a Defender class which can be upgraded and managed to suit not only your style of game play, but also your fire team’s style of play, which has you constantly reconsidering your tactics as you make your next assault.

Weapons and armour can be found throughout the worlds or bought from the base of operations known as the Tower. Upgrading weapons can have a variety of impacts from increasing damage to reducing recoil with all sorts of weird and wonderful things in between. Armour is much the same allowing you to carry extra of a sort of ammo for example.

Throughout the Tower players can opt to participate in bounties that are active in both the open world or in the competition crucible to gain experience and reputation. Gaining reputation mark across all varieties allows the player access to a vast array of rarer and more powerful weapons and armours. Taking this into account and the grinds that appear having reached level 20 is where this game really shows it’s MMO head. Collecting specific items and achieving particular milestones are the foundations of exceeding the level cap of 20.

Bungie has taken an interesting look into the social aspects of the game, creating specific missions that require three participants to compete and another that requires 6. Along with random chance encounters to keep players on their toes and grinding for more upgradable materials.

I think a lot of people were not expecting the game to be so MMO focused or perhaps being console gamers have never really experienced this formula of game, however it may be that it has certainly left a bad or even confusing taste in some people’s mouths. The difference comes down to personal preference, some people may like this formula, others wont.

At the finer points what Bungie has created with their shooting mechanics is nothing short of spectacular. Tight responsive gun play with intense action heavy encounters are going to keep any FPS fan intrigued. As a side note, having reviewed this game for the PS4, I took advantage of the PS Vita’s remote play capability and found it to be an exceptionally thought out experience in terms of buttons mapping. Everything else still looks and plays the same and was a pleasure to use.

I can only recommend that any player participating do their absolute best to get friends involved or make new friends during their game play as it can be a long desolate road if you take this adventure by yourself. The use of a microphone is also a benefit for those tougher missions where strategies need to be formed but can be overcome without through trial and error.

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The Zombies are coming! When news broke at E3 last year that developer PopCap were adapting their popular tower defence game into a third person online only shooter many were sceptical and rightfully so. There are many reasons on paper to be sceptical of an online only shooter based on the popular franchise as it could have been very easy for PopCap to create a mindless cash in. They could have easily forced micro-transactions at every turn. Lucky for all of us none of these things have eventuated.

Garden Warfare is the online shooter to play for those who are FPS veterans or younger people who maybe haven’t ventured into that territory. Just don’t expect the classic Plants Vs Zombies experience, it is different and that is a good thing. There is as much story as what you would expect from an online shooter without any campaign. This might bother some gamers, but given that this game is being sold at a budget price of $49.99 AUD, it is hard for anyone to complain.

Plants Vs Zombies – Garden Warfare manages to bring the original 2D plants and zombies to life with high resolution, detailed 3D models. Each characters design is packed with the most impressive detail and it seems like nothing has been spared. Whether it be the dancing happiness of the sunflower or the butt crack on constant display from the zombie engineer, all of the eight plants and zombies have been given personality in spades which helps you connect with the experience. In addition to the standard gear that your chosen character is wearing there are hundreds of unlockables for you to dress your plant or zombie with. The extra layer of customisation really makes you associate yourself with your plant or zombie. They really become your pride and joy which really makes them your own, even if your zombie ends up dressed like Lady Gaga.

Unlike other shooters, Garden Warfare makes use of a full colour pallet to deliver an outstanding visual feast that pops with bright cartoonish assaults even when you are playing in the darkest map. All of this visual splendour takes place without any hit to the frame rate which will please shooting game enthusiasts. Garden Warfare looked and ran incredible on the Xbox One but i’m happy to report that it’s even more polished on the PS4. Running at 60FPS in 1080p, the game runs and looks incredibly. Colours pop and animations are silky smooth.

As bright as the visual design shines, the sound design shines just as bright. For anyone who has invested time into the tower defence Plants vs Zombies, you will know that a lot of the charm came from the various sounds throughout the game. PopCap have obviously realised this and Garden Warfare delivers a familiar and comical remastering of what the original games offered. Whether this be the grunts from the zombies looking for brains or the squeals and squees from the various plants, you will not tire of hearing them again and again. Crazy Dave’s incoherent ramblings are hilarious and the “Master Zombie” will have you trying to mimic his cry to war when you first start your battle. The melodic jazz tracks that plays through the game are just the icing on the cake and help to bring everything together. I found myself humming the tune online and whilst I was in party chat a few times I even caught my fellow garden defenders doing the same thing. The tunes are just that infectious!

The main concern with PVZ: Garden Warfare at launch was the lack of pre-DLC content. I’m happy to report that the PS4 version includes previously released modes, characters and maps. Since the Xbox One release, Garden Variety, Zomboss Down, Tactical Taco Party and Suburbination Packs are all included on the PS3 disc. This makes the PS4 version feel like a much more complete package and ensures that you’ll be able to spend longer with the game before it becoming repetitive. Remote Play works a treat with EA really taking the time to map out controls to suit the Vita.

Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare is an online only, 3^rd person shooting game. It bares little resemblance to the original two tower defence games under the Plants Vs Zombies name. Given the huge audience that the original franchise has, it must have been a huge risk for PopCap to try something new. Luckily they have taken this risk and thankfully they have taken the time to craft such a pleasant, charming and addictive game. You are given the choice of eight different plants and zombies (four from each side) to choose from. Instead of Popcap taking the easy way out and creating four class types and just re skinning them for the other team, each character is different from the last. Yes there is a healer/gunner class in both the plants and zombies team, but if you try and play them the same way you are not going to last very long. If you then add in the different varieties that you can unlock for each plant and zombie type that offers their own advantages and disadvantages it starts to become apparent that there is quite a lot of variety with how you can decide to play.

There are 3 game modes available and also a split screen mode for the Xbox One. The first game mode is Garden Ops. This mode is the Plants Vs Zombies take on a horde mode, where you and up to 3 of your friends take on wave after wave of zombies. Garden Ops is also the only mode that can be played solo. It also offers enough variety each play through to still feel fresh after the 30^th or so time, which is an achievement in itself. The next mode is Team Vanquish, which can best be described as classic team death match. It is set up as first team to 50 wins and is pretty straight forward for anyone familiar with any online shooters. Lastly is the Gardens and Graveyards mode. This takes place on an expanding map you are trying to attack and claim a garden if are on team zombie or defend the garden with your virtual life if you are on team plants. The three modes offer a decent amount of variety, however, after 20 hours you might be wishing that PopCap had included one more.

As mentioned before there are a huge amount of unlockable items in Garden Warfare and these are obtained by spending your hard earned coins. You earn coins for most things you do in the game, from killing another player, reviving another player or even just healing people the entire match. The coins open blind sticker pack which depending on the value, unlock a certain amount of items. This in itself can become addictive and provides a massive incentive to keep playing. The only shadow over this system as it is seems that it will be easy for PopCap to open this up for real world money transactions. As long as the micro-transactions are not mandatory to get some of the better gear, this shouldn’t really pose much of an issue.

There are some small gripes that have held this game back just a little. There were some issues trying to connect to or stay in a game at times. This appears to be minor as it doesn’t happen all the time but when it does it is frustrating. At times, an extended play session would result in getting booted from the game just prior to the end which would make all of the coins that had been earned lost forever. Other times the game just refused to let an entire party join the same game. This was by far the most frustrating encounter and forced us to all give up after half an hour or so.

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Tales of Xillia 2 is a direct sequel to the original Tales of Xillia game. Set roughly 12 months after the conclusion of the first title, you play the role of  Ludger Will Kresnik. The Kresnik family have a particular trait that allows them to interact with fractured dimensions. With these fractured dimensions playing host to a decent amount of the games controversy as its guardian cannot control the balance any more it is up to Ludger and his mates to solve the problem and an even deeper mystery. All the while trying to get a small child named Elle to the mythical land of Canaan who is instructed by her father to do so.

Characters from the original make a return and expand on situations explored in the first game. Needless to say previous knowledge of the original game is a basic necessity. This was my first time with the series and I was a duck out of water. Fortunately enough there is an encyclopedia of sorts accessible from the menu at any time for those unaware of particular circumstances or in need of a refresher. From a development or series veteran point of view, it is an excellent method to dive right into the game whilst skipping unnecessary introductory formalities.

As far as presentation is concerned, Tales of Xillia captures the very essence of what anyone would expect a JRPG to entail. It is exceptionally elegant whilst still maintaining a high standard of mystery and excitement.

Characters new and old are individual and intriguing enough to each warrant your attention and concern – some even have their own missions swaying aside from the main plot to dive deeper into their persona. As I mentioned before this is a direct sequel to the first game and revisiting previously explored areas from the old game may feel unimaginative for returning players of the series.

The worlds are expansive and varied (even for the recycled portions) enough for anyone to become fully immersed in the game. Where I believe the game truly shines are its anime segments that are used for the story introduction and particular cut scenes throughout the game. Being translated from a game that originally released in Japan a couple of years ago the translation has shone through wonderfully leaving no blatantly obvious hiccups in the transition and is well received by a decent to strong voice cast.

As with any JRPG there are numerous items to be picked up and collected each offering various advantages and perks. Particular foods can regenerate health, AC or TP. As always certain enemy types have strengths and weakness which need to be taken advantage of during battle and it is a basic system that worked well. It forces the player to take on new strategies with their item loading, attack patters and even who they take into battle.

Tales of Xillia 2 features a decision making system for the progression of the game. It is usually press R1 to say this or press L1 to say that, similar for actions as well, react and fight now or question a situation and don’t fight for example. Over the course of the game the different choices can create quite a separate experience over two different play through, which is a great design choice if players are willing to plough through a roughly 20 hour campaign twice. I found the decision system to be one of merit and moral, it wasn’t all black and white, good or bad as other games have based themselves on (cough InFamous). Some choices also need to be made within a short time limit which really shows the inner workings of some people as a quick hasty decision may often come back to bite them.

I didn’t mention this in the story segment as this is more of a game play trait but early in the piece Ludger acquires a significant debt to be paid and only by paying segments of this debt will it allow him to progress through certain chapters of the story. I see how it ties into the game well but found it to be an exhaustive system of farming money just to progress through an already interesting story.

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Hohokum tells the tale of a multicoloured serpent setting out to find his friends. After a brief gathering with them in your home (hub) world, they all disappear and it is up to you to explore the various interconnected worlds to find them. Basically it’s a wonderfully colourful game of hide and go seek with your serpentine friends across a multitude of fascinating and intriguing 2-D planes.

There isn’t much of a story set up or premise to compel the player to find their friends, the compulsion, however, comes from the adventurous nature of the gamer as they explore and immerse themselves in the artistically constructed world.

I was instantly mesmerised by this games artistic brilliance. It is such a simple design and concept but it is pulled off perfectly. The vibrant colours pop out at you from all spectres of the rainbow. The various worlds are bursting at the seems with their own unique charm and individuality. Underwater themed worlds where you interact with the fish is just one of my favourites along with others such as a brief space adventure as you explore the stars.

But that music – Wow, that music! I think it was the introductory stage of the game where you are left at your own whim to figure the game out; which is fine, it just emphasizes the point of its exploratory nature and that you actually have to think for yourself!. A bass line starts strumming, inflicting emotion like it was plucking the strings to my soul and right there was when the game got me, sunk its claws in and didn’t let go. That soundtrack is a definite side purchase.

As a genre this game is described as an art game. Like all art it is received and interpreted by the individual, some may like it, some wont; both perfectly acceptable opinions but I absolutely loved this game. It feels humble, emotive and courageous all wrapped up in a wonderful cross buy opportunity; but that is just my take on things.

Hohokum is exceptionally simple. You can steer your serpent like creature with one of the analogue sticks or the shoulder buttons depending on your preference, zoom in and out with the other stick, and control your speed and agility by pressing X for faster less controlled movement or O for the polar opposite, slow and precise. The controls make Hohokum extremely accessible for any gamer of any age or experience level.

This game solely focuses on its exploration features. The entire world is opened up to you from the start, it is simply just a matter of finding your way to free your friends. Each friend is unique boasting a different face and colour – slightly reminiscent of “Thomas was Alone” at least to me anyway. Only this time, however, there isn’t character unique or specific traits that really aid in your gameplay.

The puzzles involved in finding your friends are not very challenging, in fact you can complete this game in under an hour if you really wanted (there is even a trophy for it). The true fun comes from immersing yourself and taking the time to appreciate the experience. Some of the best moments i had were shared with my partner as I tried to write words on the screen with my character and she had to guess them. The Dualshock 4’s light bar changes colour with your serpent creature as it enters different ‘worlds’ or grows longer, which was a nice treat but one that I only noticed when it was my partners turn to play.

As I said before this is an art game, a differing experience for each individual some may appreciate it and others wont. The story isn’t fleshed out but that is part of the fun of Hohokum, and the whole point of creating your own experience. Throughout my time with this game I kept getting the feeling that this game would be perfect for a form of co op – whether it be couch based or online, something or someone to share the experience with.

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Everything about The Swapper is minimalistic, and that includes the way it delivers its story to the player. The game takes place in a universe where humanity has exhausted their natural resources, establishing outposts in the deep space to synthesise useful materials to send back to earth. Without divulging too much more information – humans develop “The Swapper”, a device that creates clones of the user, which is quickly shunned by the experts stationed on the outposts who claim it’s dangerous and unethical. You play as an unnamed character who has been dropped into this world, who eventually finds a “Swapper” and must explore an abandoned space station to discover just what happened on the station and find his own way out of the station.

It’s important to highlight how interesting The Swapper is in terms of it’s blurring of the genres. It’s a game that could easily be interpreted as a puzzle game, in similar vein to titles like Portal. But it could easily be interpreted as a horror title given how thick the atmosphere is. But thankfully, there’s no jump-scares, no pursuers, but only words that convey the horror. This works great for two reasons – first of all, those who are frightened of the genre can easily skip all of the text and play through the game as if it were an interesting puzzle game, taking in the very well-crafted atmosphere and wrapping themselves up in the mystery and isolationist viewpoint. But second of all, those who want a truly chilling story with a very unnerving finale can easily read into the audio logs and other text collectibles strewn throughout the game world to put the story together and come to the horrifying conclusion themselves.

It speaks testament to the games atmosphere that, while the story on its own isn’t particularly unique, the way it’s presented still makes it feel like something fresh and new. This isn’t just another one of those pretentious indie titles – but the game’s content is mature and much more cerebral than your typical video game narrative. But it is a fantastic ride that shouldn’t be missed that will keep most players intrigued, or for those not following the story, engrossed from beginning to end.

The Swapper is a very strange looking game that uses a very strange looking art style. But that’s apparently because it’s been modeled in clay, digitised and then animated. While it sounds like a recipe for disaster and that it might look like a poor man’s Wallace and Gromit impersonation. And in screenshots, it really does. But in motion, the game looks fantastic. Lighting manages to perfectly show off these unique and solid, if not slightly chunky, character models in the best light possible (literally). It’s a strange style that’s not been seen in a video game for a long time now and one that sounds a bit weird, but once you’re aware of the fact it’s clay then it becomes exceedingly apparent. And honestly, it looks great – to the point where it manages to capture that sense of isolation that games like Metroid have been so successful in doing in the past.

The sound design is similarly crafted in a way to ensure that the game draws the player into the world rather than play with their emotions as a result of what happens in the world. There’s little to no music – there are some sombre piano pieces here and there, but for the most part the sounds that players will be hearing in The Swapper will be the sounds made by the environment or pieces that emphasise the alone and overwhelming loneliness of an abandoned space station. The voice work on show here is minimal, but serviceable too, but really is so rare that it makes up little to none of the game.

The Swapper borrows elements from titles like Castlevania and Metroid but doesn’t in any way attempt to be them. Mixing these elements of backtracking and character progression with Portal-esque puzzle progression works particularly well. The player must travel through the space station, which is conveniently modulated, and collect special orbs. Each area will require a certain amount of orbs to progress through – so players who want to get by on the bare minimum can do so but those who want to explore will be able to find everything the game has to offer. There is some backtracking, but it’s nowhere near as excessive as other games in this genre.

As you might have expected, the crux of the game’s puzzles comes from the Swapper tool. The tool allows players to create up to four clones as well as to swap control between them at any given time. Clones themselves move with the player, unless interrupted by an obstacle like a wall or a crate. This is where the brunt of the challenge comes from in The Swapper – attempting to find the optimal setup to get all the clones to hit all switches simultaneously in a room or to get through a series of doors unscratched are just some of the challenges the player will encounter.

The Swapper attempts to change things up as the player progresses by introducing different lighting systems within the ship itself. These lights have varying effects on The Swapper and its clones – blue lights, for example, will prevent clones from being created in the area they illuminate. Red lights can block The Swapper from “Swapping” control between clones of those standing in red light, while purple lights block both. Towards the end of the game, The Swapper also plays with gravity to make puzzles much more difficult. And they are particularly difficult – but incredibly satisfying upon solving them. The pacing and the difficulty of the puzzles, thankfully, feels just about right although there is bound to be some players who will have to resort to a guide, and I wouldn’t fault them for doing so either. The Swapper can get tough during its later levels.

While it might seem like playing on a console would be less enjoyable than playing on a PC with a mouse, the console versions of The Swapper feature a surprisingly intuitive control system. While the cursor affects where created clones will appear, the game slows down time to allow for players to place their clones strategically without flustering about with poorly designed controls. Even better – this design choice allows the developers to incorporate some very interesting puzzles designs, where the player and their character can create clones and swap to them in order to climb large vertical space. Opening the exploration up to a vertical level gives The Swapper another edge to its exploration when compared to other games in the genre, although it’s rather macabre to see three clones just fall to their death after you’ve successfully climbed an area.

The Swapper itself will probably be over for most players within five to six hours, though to find absolutely everything the experience could probably last anywhere between six to ten. The trophies themselves are assigned to finding secret terminals throughout the game, which elaborate on the game world and what went down on the space station – which means most players will be able to easily complete the game without unlocking a single trophy. These collectibles are easily the most elusive, but as with the puzzles, will be especially rewarding if players set out to find the all – although most of them are hidden through what feels like unfair means at times.

The post Review: The Swapper appeared first on Press Start.

The original Ratchet and Clank trilogy from the PS2 has made its way over to the PS3 and PS Vita. The original trilogy (Ratchet and Clank, Ratchet and Clank: Locked and Loaded, Ratchet and Clank 3) follows the titular heroes as they protect various galaxies from regular foe Dr Nefarious and a few other nemesis with more than sinister intentions. Each game tackles a different story and are wildly imaginative and humorous.

The age of the games definitely shows visually, 2002 was the launch of the original Ratchet and Clank nearly 14 years ago to be exact but don’t let that deter you. There has still been a significant amount of work done to polish up and smooth the majority of the textures in game, as well as adding some more depth and layers to the back ground of the game.

The voices have been transferred without skipping a beat and from my unshakable memory they are just as accurate from the first time I played these games right through. Solid voice work mixed with the classic Ratchet and Clank sounds means an excellent HD port.

Focusing directly on the PS Vita iteration and considering this is a port from a much older system, I couldn’t be more impressed! Taking into account other ports of that era cannot consistently hold a solid frame rate, the Ratchet and Clank ports suffer from absolutely no drops that I encountered during my gametime. Sticking around the 30 frame per second mark is certainly a great feat.

The way the controller was ported over was basically flawless, following a smooth transition with great response time, unfortunately at times the game can feel a fraction clunky which is in no fault of the developers but the true age of the games showing itself. Mass Media made a conscious decision to eliminate any real need to use the awkward touch screen on the back, allocating it to the crouch button and a few menu movements was a brilliant move.

The main playable character is Ratchet, whom is controlled via third person, though a first person mode to view the player’s surroundings is available. The player traverses different environments with a large collection of unusual comic gadgets and weapons, using them to defeat enemies and pass obstacles. A staple of what made Ratchet and Clank so remarkable were the diverse environments, tight controls and sheer fun of third person shooting and platforming. Setting the bar for future action/adventure games, Insomniac implemented an XP system for both characters and for weapons, something that was carried on to Insomniac’s other IP’s. 

Trophy hunters will be pleased to know that there is a specific trophy list for each game, opening up an abundance of challenges for those who are so inclined. Purchases of this game on the PSN store are also gifted with a cross buy opportunity allowing them to play the entirety of these games on their PS3 and PS Vita. Unfortunately there was no cross-save feature that I found, which seems quite odd considering that the trophy list is shared between the consoles.

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MILD SPOILERS FOR ALL EPISODES FOLLOW – Set as a prequel to Bill Willingham’s comic series ‘Fables’, The Wolf Among Us is a fantastic neo-noire fantasy crime thriller drenched in blood and neon, billed as a mature version of classic fairytales. Focused on Sherrif Bigby (otherwise known as the Big Bad Wolf) trying to maintain order throughout Fabletown, the name given to basically a settlement based in 1986 Manhatten. The game draws upon the classic children’s fables, with characters such as Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Mr Toad, Bloody Mary and Ichabod Crane. All familiar names and characters, yet you’ve never seen iterations of these characters before. Snow White is tasked with running the failing Fabletown, Ichabod Crane is a greedy pervert, Beauty and the Beast are facing marital and financial troubles and Bigby himself is plagued by violent memories and behaviours characteristic to his old persona. It’s the Brothers Grimm mixed with David Fincher’s trademark whodunnit filmmaking and with a bit of Hitchcock thrown in as well. Let’s not forget Chinatown.

After meeting with a young prostitute named Faith, Bigby and Fabletown is thrown into turmoil when her head literally arrives on his doorstep, and as more prostitutes start to die, Bigby discovers a conspiracy that throws the entire Town into peril over the course of five episodes, that occurs over a 9 month period as Telltale once again delves into the episodic format, to varying degrees of success. As I had waited for the entire season to come out before playing it together (something I also do with TV shows), I didn’t feel the excitement OR the frustration that came with a trademark end of episode cliffhanger. I didn’t really need the recap and preview for each episode either, as I played most episodes in one sitting. This wasn’t a big issue, but it would have been nice to skip it. Again, this is only because Telltale does the episodic format so it doesn’t count as a negative.

To really tell more about the story would be spoiling what is mostly a fantastic murder-fantasy-mystery, as the plot throws twist after twist that soon become quick to lose track of. The first episode is clearly the best one of the bunch, with a focused premise, amazing character development and really throws the player into Fabletown. Most of all, I was surprised to see how much I connected with Bigby and the residents of Fabletown. As the crux of the investigation, it was essential for people to connect with Faith, even if she only appears for half an hour, and I was damned surprised just how much I liked her, which made my emotional investment into the game so much more satisfying.

Unfortunately the game loses track fairly soon, and by episode 4 plot threads start to feel muddled and the ending just doesn’t feel that satisfying. Plot threads are left open for no doubt a season 2, but the main storyline is resolved well enough that I just didn’t feel like I wanted another season, just answers to open threads. And while Snow White and Bigby’s interaction served as my favourite part of the game, it led to a complete lack of pay off by the end. Unlike the Walking Dead’s pure focus on Lee and Clementine, The Wolf Among Us plays with a more ensemble cast, no doubt due to the sheer number of iconic characters they’re given, but while it was fun to see random fairytale characters cameo, it led to a distinct lack of character growth or development. On the plus side, there are many memorable characters; from the efficient yet likeable Snow White to the sheer terrifying homicidal Bloody Mary, characters really leave an impression. Bigby is wonderful as the protagonist, and he is given sufficient room to let the player choose who to be: good guy or bad. While it may sound simple in practice, Telltale once again nails the morality of your actions by making everything not as simple as they set out to be. Good or bad isn’t black and white, it’s shades of grey (splashed with some neon-fantastic purple), doing good is a lot harder than one would think, and doing the bad thing is sometimes necessary. It’s everything Bioware wishes they could write; and most importantly, choices matter. For the most part choices play a big role and while it suffers from the Walking Dead symptom of needing to come to a boiling point for every player The Wolf Among Us remedies it by letting the choices play out better. Actions mean something, people actually remember something bad or good you did and it’s just satisfying to see a plot thread from episode 2 surface in episode 4.

All in all, much like The Walking Dead’s first season, it boils down to how much you are willing to invest into the story. If you find yourself attached to characters and invested in the mystery, it’ll pay off in spades. If not, it won’t be enjoyable. This is a game that is 80% dialogue and conversation choices, 10% QTE action and 10% mindless walking around.

Using the signature Telltale Tool engine used in most (all?) of Telltale’s games, It’s surprising how much better The Wolf Among Us looks in comparison to The Walking Dead Season 1 and 2. Fabletown is a neon soaked setting that drips of atmosphere. Purple is the most prominent colour here, and during night time scenes the game really looks downright amazing, with some very good camerawork and lighting. I was hitting F12 (screenshot) non-stop during my playthrough.

The Wolf Among Us nails the aesthetic of a 1980’s corrupted town with joy, as the shadows or the flicker of Bigby’s lighter to a cigarette providing a singular light source makes The Wolf Among Us look more than remarkable. It’s easily one of the most beautiful games I’ve played this year.

Character’s also look great. The usage of Glamours (potions to disguise the Fables true form) led to some remarkable transformations when Fables chose to reveal themselves, and the appearances of characters who couldn’t afford Glamours and spent the game walking around in their true form was almost jarring compared to the crime and poverty ridden Fabletown, but somehow it worked. Seeing a chain smoking little Pig banter with Bigby was something quite unique to see.

Unfortunately, the same old Telltale Engine bugs pop up here. Terrible lip sync, strange character animation glitches and most infuriatingly, towards the end I encountered a terrible bug that led to a blank screen with ‘This choice is blank’ dialogue boxes, and open clicking a box would launch me back to the very start of the episode. This was all solved with a restart, but it’s still a bit messy nonetheless.

As per norm of Telltale’s recent successes, The Wolf Among Us eschews any reasonable form of gameplay with story driven narrative. If you’ve played any old school point and click adventure game, than The Wolf Among Us will be a breeze to play. Telltale once again chooses to ditch puzzles (complicated ones anyway) in favour of dialogue and plot, which mostly works, though this time to less satisfaction. Because The Wolf Among Us is primarily a murder mystery, an emphasis on suspect chasing and evidence solving would have gone hand in hand with the dialogue and choices, yet there never really is anything overly engaging for the brain. I found myself frustrated when I linked evidence together on my own, yet had to wait for the plot to hit the pivotal moment before Bigby himself could link it to progress the story. While The Walking Dead can be forgiven for focusing on a narrative driven dramatic piece, The Wolf Among Us suffers more, mainly due to the potential of real puzzles and Telltale once again putting 100% of effort into dialogue.

But where puzzles fail, the dialogue and conversation choices are so crisp and open ended that they form a puzzle themselves; having to study characters and choosing which way to go was always refreshing and satisfactory. Deciding whether to take a tough route or a sympathetic one was a lot harder than I expected, and I genuinely felt bad for characters I rough-housed or bullied and got angry at people I let go. The Wolf Among Us nails the dialogue, nails the morality choices and proves why Telltale are the masters of storytelling.

QTE’s make up the rest of the fast paced action, and they’re serviceable, if nothing spectacular. I managed to beat all QTE’s without failing one, but this was probably a good thing since QTE’s aren’t really engaging to begin with. The gameplay is once again merely serviceable, but one doesn’t expect gameplay revolution from a Telltale game.

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Inspired by real letters from the trenches of World War I, Valiant Hearts is a harrowing tale about four lives and how the Great War affected them. Their paths constantly crossing due to circumstance, as well as life’s great motivators; love, family, pride and even, in one instance, hatred that cuts deep to the bone.

Valiant Hearts is as genuine and authentic a wartime story as we’ve ever been gifted in this medium, and it truly runs the gamut from brutally bleak to hopeful. One hundred Call of Duty titles couldn’t paint a picture depicting the horrors of war like Valiant Hearts has, and it has done so all the while maintaining a tongue-in-cheek slapstick that rears its head from time to time.

It’s an odd, yet brilliant, balance that is struck by Ubisoft Montpellier.

Valiant Hearts begins its story in 1914, at the time of Franz Ferdinand’s assassination and Germany’s declaration of war on Russia. Karl, one of our four heroes, was a German living on a French border town with his new family at the start of this conflict and, as a cruel act of fate, is deported, being forcefully separated from them. This is the crux of the plot in The Great War, though there’s a lot of undertone and subplot at work, keeping the game compelling for its respectable run time; it took me around eight hours to see and do everything.

Baron Von Dorf, responsible for both the killing of one hero’s wife and the kidnapping of another’s father, acts as the tale’s main antagonist. That is until the war itself emerges as the senseless, greater quagmire of misery.

In a year where I thought Wolfenstein had a lock on the most refreshing wartime story—and don’t get me wrong, The New Order is an excellent game—out of left field comes Valiant Hearts, an honest and, by the end, heartbreaking glimpse at just some of the atrocities wrought on nations full of innocent people.

Powered by Ubisoft’s in-house Framework engine, as seen previously in Montpellier’s Rayman titles, as well as Child of Light, Valiant Hearts unfolds beautifully across the horizontal plain, almost like a living comic book, bursting to life from the page. Thick, bold lines trace the outlines of our characters and the world they inhabit, only to be filled in—more often than not—by the dullest of greys and service colours.

While beautiful, the game never lets you forget that this is a dire time in human history we’re reliving here. It’s the moments you remember the underlying themes in Valiant Hearts that the art is most poignant and heartbreaking. Like when thick plumes of smoke obscure the once beautiful skyline of quaint Saint Mihiel, it really hits home how quickly beauty can be ravaged by such senseless things.

Considering that Valiant Hearts draws on war as its lifeblood, graphic depictions of murder rarely take place. Bodies litter the battlefields like grains on a beach, but you don’t often see the act of death itself—unless it serves a narrative point. This came as a surprise, as I did expect the game to be heavy on all fronts, though this choice helped the gameplay remain light, while the story being told acted as the grim framing for it all.

Primarily a side-scrolling puzzle game, Valiant Hearts doesn’t reinvent the wheel as far as the core game goes. It’s more a cinematic treat than it is a challenge, though that isn’t to say there weren’t a small selection of puzzles that had me stumped.

Each of the game’s heroes offer up a different experience throughout the game’s four chapters. In one scene you might be digging underneath trenches to escape aerial bombardment, and then, as another character, you’ll be running bull true through a battlefield peppered by gunfire, propelled by blood lust. Valiant Hearts paces itself nicely, never letting one hero’s feel overstay its welcome, mixing them up quite frequently.

Though it’s a simple platform-puzzle game at heart, there are a handful of incredible sequences that set Valiant Hearts apart. They’re artistic and, as I mentioned earlier, add a little light to what is truly a terrible set of circumstances we find our characters in. One specific sequence features Anna, a medic in search of her father, happening across two of our other heroes whilst driving a taxi. The resultant scene, which sees the three of them fleeing a zeppelin blitzkrieg to the romantic composition of Johannes Brahms, is masterful.

The post Review: Valiant Hearts: The Great War appeared first on Press Start.

Taking place in Salem, Massachusetts, Murdered follows Detective Ronan O’Connor, a crook who was “born again”, more or less, and eventually decided to right his wrongs and become a member of the police force. In pursuit of a relentless serial killer, known by the townspeople as “The Bell Killer”, Ronan meets his grisly death by being thrown out of a window and shot several times. Revived as a ghost, Ronan must track down those involved with the murder and use his new found spectral powers to not only solve his own murder, but to discover the true identity of the Bell Killer too.

Unfortunately, Murdered never really takes full advantage of its locale or characters to provide an interesting story. Ronan himself is as uninteresting and generic as ever, and his support cast members are consist of poorly written, shallow caricatures of exactly what you’d expect to come out of a game set in Salem. With such a colourful history, it’s a shame to see such an interesting locale be wasted. It’s honestly as if the setting was chosen just to explain a way why Ronan can’t do certain things as a ghost that he should be able to do too. To make matters worse, the conclusion to the story is not fulfilling, nonsensical and quite frankly, unreasonably misleading.

Murdered is a pretty drab game to look at, unfortunately, and features a rather generic artistic direction too. The environments are large and empty, the characters are locked into generic and canned animations and there’s little that could really be considered impressive for game released so late in the consoles life cycle. What does save it, however, is some pretty nifty lighting effects that really five a great mood and vibe to the streets of Salem and its surrounding areas that Ronan explores as part of his investigation. On the PC version, light even shines through the bullet holes on Ronan’s body, which is a great and nice little touch. The visual effects used to depict all the ghostly objects, on the other hand, doesn’t quite look right and cheapens the whole look of the game.

In terms of both original scoring and voice work, the game does quite a good job at providing character and emotion to the people Ronan encounters throughout his journey. Most of them, like their designs, obviously fit into a predetermined trope and as such are rather generic, but they are serviceable. Sound design and music is possibly the game’s only saving grace, on a presentation level, and gives Salem and its surrounding areas a dark and brooding feel.

At its core, Murdered could really be considered to be a glorified point and click adventure game, harkening back to the days of Grim Fandango and Monkey Island. Players can control Ronan completely, but generally speaking the gameplay can be distilled down to finding objects, piecing them together using a “logic” system and then moving on to the next area, only to repeat everything again in different environments. The game throws a few “encounters” with devils along the way as well to mix things up.

Essentially, Ronan will enter many crime scenes in the game and be told how many clues there are to find. Upon finding some clues, he’ll be able to examine them in a case file and then put them together to answer a question, usually posed to the player on-screen. It’s an interesting system that has worked in games like Ace Attorney in the past, but Murdered’s system is so simple that it’s downright offensive with how stupid it presumes the player is. As an example, the player is asked “what will remind this person of the murder” and is required to present a clue. Of the eight clues, roughly four or five of them were reasonable responses to the question. But the correct answer was “The murder”. It’s just too simple, most players will overlook it because it’s too simple and it provides little to no challenge for the player.

From time to time, Ronan will come across demons who are remaining in this world, not moving on. They have the ability to steal Ronan’s soul and thus end his journey – think like a Dementor in the Harry Potter series because they more or less look and behave exactly the same. When seen, Ronan must hide in “spirit pockets” and jump between them to avoid detection by the demons to the point where they return to their normal patrol route. To make matters a bit fairer on the player, approaching a demon slowly from behind allows Ronan to eliminate them with a brief QTE sequence. While this idea of stealth-based combat and encounter design sounds like a great one to ramp up the tension, the cumbersome nature of hiding and the lack of visual feedback to the player makes it hard to pull off correctly. As such, most encounters will lead to frustration rather than tension.

Being a ghost, Ronan has a few abilities up his spectral sleeve that he can utilise to make his life a little bit easier. First off, he can pass through almost any object – which makes for some easy traversal – but doesn’t include certain items that have been “marked” by people in Salem’s past. It’s a dumb and easy way to limit the game’s boundaries but it still feels a bit restrictive. Ronan can also reveal items that used to be place somewhere, possess people to hear their thoughts or even just to look at what they’re looking at. They’re simple but useful abilities that take this beyond your average adventure game.

Besides the main story itself, Ronan can also engage in several side quests and collectible quests to uncover more stories about the history of Salem. Most of them are tied to collecting a set of collectibles (there’s roughly 200+ of them) and in most cases are actually more interesting than the main narrative itself. While delivered over a static image with scrolling text, these are told well. Other quests involve helping ghosts discover what happened to them so they can “move on” as well. While these are nice ideas, they only really boil down to tedious fetch quests and feel like a lazy justification for making the streets of Salem the “open-world hub” of the game. If you do decide to find and do everything in Murdered: Soul Suspect, you’ll be looking at roughly nine hours of play time, although players could easily breeze through just the main story in six.

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Our last Team Review was for GTA V the reason we did that was because we felt everyone on the team would find something different to enjoy about the game, seeing how expansive it was. While I can’t speak for the others, I can use my experiences in previous open world games to describe my feelings of Watch_Dogs. I love open world games, from Prototype and Infamous, to Sleeping Dogs and GTA V. In each of those games movement is a big deal, if it isn’t fun to to move around, and explore your environment, all side activities become uninteresting and just tedious to perform. Unfortunately, that was the case for me in Watch_Dogs.

When I wasn’t driving point to point, you will find yourself doing a lot of vaulting and climbing over objects and that works just fine. The problem is when you are required to climb up anything to reach an objective, like a building to reach a collectible for example. Instead of just being able to scale the building like assassins creed, it turns into a frustrating puzzle game. Find that ONE set of suspiciously placed set of boxes that you can climb, or find the ONE cherry picker you can hack so you can climb what feels like the ONE way up to the next level or a structure or environment. It feels like the developers remembered that Aiden was a hacker and not a traceur. So they had to shoe horn in some hacking, or make it feel like Aiden is really not suited for parkour at all by removing the ability to jump and including some climbing height inconstancies.

So after an hour and a half of trying figure out how to reach a collectible, I decided to just marathon the campaign since I did not find any of the side activities compelling, especially after realising that campaign missions were giving me all the ammo, materials, money and skill points i needed to progress through the game just fine. The campaign structure will be familiar with anybody who has played an open world third person game before. You will infiltrate, assassinate, assault, tail, spy, retrieve, and participate in chases. It’s diverse enough to not overstay it’s 5 Act length. I found I was having the most fun with the infiltration and action missions. I played it a lot like Splinter Cell conviction. I took my time, scouted the entire area via hacking cameras and tagged enemies so I knew where they were at all times then made my way through killing them off one by one with well placed head shots or stealth takedowns.

It plays as a really solid third person shooter, that lasted me a good 15 hours. Though with multiple issues with the non-compelling side activities, annoying parkour, Aiden is not a good protagonist at all with a personality that ranges from brooding jerk to batman impersonator, and hacking that doesn’t feel like the game defining mechanic it should be. Ultimately the game doesn’t do enough to stand out from the rest of the pack, and for me it just ends up as a good third person shooter, not the unique open world adventure I was looking for.

Having spent most of the launch period downloading, logging in and waiting for uPlay to fix itself, I found myself questioning why I continue to support Ubisoft as they have proven time and time again how poorly they optimize games for the PC. Because many of my brethren here at Press Start will be focusing on the game itself, I chose to focus on the actual PC performance and whether it’s worth playing on the PC.

Let’s have a look at the graphics and display options:

Not going to lie here, there are some impressive options on hand here. With V-sync you can choose between 1 frames, 2 or off. 2 frames caps the FPS at 30, which provides stability (which is useful here considering how atrocious the game runs) but honestly, why would you want to play a PC game at only 30fps? (Answer: stable framerate trumps a wonky one, even if it is capped at 30).

Anti-aliasing support is great, probably the best I’ve seen. FXAA, SMAA, MSAA and TXAA. Obviously if you know about anti-aliasing then I don’t need to go into detail, but if you don’t then if you’re running a mid-base rig I would recommend SMAA or MSAA if you’re feeling brave. I’d avoid FXAA since SMAA supersedes it performance wise and graphics wise, and obviously if you’re running a high end rig feel free to max it out. TXAA is a Nvidia exclusive so if you have a GeForce card go ahead and take advantage of that.

So moving on to the graphical quality, again, we have a wealth of options, but unfortunately here is where performance takes a nosedive. I’m running Watch Dogs on an Intel Core i5-3570K @ 3.4 GHZ with a GeForce GTX 660 at 16gb of RAM, not a high end PC but definitely in the middle spectrum. It’s good enough to run most games on High quality at a steady 60FPS+. That said, on custom settings set at high, Watch Dogs barely hits more than 25FPS, which is an absolute travesty. In fact, once I hit the open world, on medium settings I’m struggling to maintain a steady framerate. And the differences between low and ultra are drastic. Playing on low means you’ll be missing out on a LOT of neat graphical effects. Car reflections, water and lighting effects, random debris and foliage on the ground. It’s all eye candy that doesn’t reflect the actual gameplay, but you’ll be missing out on a lot of immersion because of the poor optimization. Texture settings scale with video memory, so on medium you need 1GB, high needs 2GB and ultra needs 3GB.

All of this will vary based on your rig, but right now Watch Dogs is bordering on JUST playable for me. With Ubisoft announcing a patch (hopefully) I could not recommend the game based on my experiences. Ubisoft have given us a HUGE amount of customization and range of settings, but they cannot get the execution right. I managed to find a sweet spot between medium and high that gave me mostly 60fps but dipped quite shockingly once I started driving. Watch Dogs IS playable, and it is fun and diverse and interesting, but honestly I would wait until Ubisoft have released an official patch before diving in. If this was how it played now, I’d hate to have seen it when it was due for release six months ago.

It’s worth noting that there was a uproar about the supposed Nvidia exclusive deal that was struck between them and Ubisoft. You can see some Nvidia exclusive graphics on games like Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Assassin’s Creed IV, but here the cry is unjust, seeing as the game still runs poorly on a Nvidia graphics card. I have noted that I am not alone with these issues, so while you should take my perspective with a grain of salt, you should also know that I am not the minority.

UPDATE: As of 3/06/2014, Ubisoft have officially released a stability patch, which has tackled some of these issues I have mentioned. So I guess if you’re on the rope on whether to get Watch Dogs or not for PC, now wouldn’t hurt.

PS: One completely nitpicky thing I took away from this game was in regards to the side missions where you had to hunt down random targets that have committed crimes of various nature. The game perplexingly FORCES you to commit a non-lethal takedown in order to beat the mission, with killing of the target resulting in instant failure, yet due to reasons unknown to me, not only are you forced to get up close to every single enemy, scan them with your profiler and determine if they are the target, there are no distant non-lethal options, no tranquilizers or any other method other than beating them down with your justice stick. Not only that, after the mission cleared I instantly pulled out my pistol and shot them in the face about 6 times. I did this for EVERY target that required a non-lethal takedown. Why bother restricting us so much in the game when you’re not going to even follow through or give any reason whatsoever that they should ‘survive’? Especially since I could kill any target I knocked down without ANY punishment whatsoever after I had completed the mission. This forced mission structure is just another reason why I walked away feeling that Watch Dogs was a poor experience.

I believe I was one of the few who was not mesmerized by the hype of this game. Sure I took a look at the initial reveal trailer in E3 2012 and I thought to myself that I should keep half an eye on it, which I did. Prior to the launch of the New Generation of consoles, Watch_Dogs was toted to be an all new next gen only experience that would raise the bar for gaming. Alas, it was delayed nearly on the eve of its launch for some more “polish”. Six months later the world finally got Watch_Dogs.

The concept of hacking from your smart phone which opens up a vast playground of technological infrastructure certainly is an original idea. Unfortunately, the main man you are playing, Aiden Pierce, is about as paper thin as he appears on your game cover. A character that contains absolutely no depth and given some very personal dilemmas ha faces in game he barely seems to recognise them as such with little emotion exposed at all. It stands out like a sore thumb on a cold winter’s day in comparison to some of the other major characters that will be appearing throughout your invested time.

Ubisoft have done a remarkable job of creating a living and breathing open world. The individuality in each NPC and each of Chicago’s suburbs is a plus that surely everyone will recognise. At first being let loose upon the world, I was amazed at all the hacking opportunities presented towards me. Which is great, as Ubisoft really wanted to enforce the fact that yes you are a hacker. There is no need for weapons during car chases, learn to use the city to your advantage and make it yours. Talking of cars, there was a slight learning curve I felt with the roads being extra slippery, perhaps someone buttered them?

A multitude of side activities are present that mainly consist of perfecting your hacking and parkour movements, which are briefly fun but can become tiresome and repetitious for the reasons John mentioned above.

What I was really impressed with was the shooting and cover mechanics. Basic cover to cover manoeuvres but it worked well the same can be said for the aim and shoot mechanics. In comparison to GTA (which lets face it, is Watch_Dogs sole competition) when free roam aiming then weapon aiming would require a small but significant refocus, Watch_Dogs stays on the mark all the time, saving you time and health in those heated moments.

Keeping to the tune of GTA comparisons, I feel GTA’s sound track always has the perfect song playing for each and every moment you encounter in the game. Watch_Dogs only had about 4-5 songs which I liked (and spammed the hell out of for the duration of my gameplay).

Online multiplayer elements are a great idea, the way that it has been seamlessly incorporated works a surprising treat (for when you are being hacked), although can become a pain when solely setting your task to side quests as online hacks usually mean you end up all the way across the city.

If you decide to go on the hack-attack, you had better pray for some luck. If your game synchronises to a players that has already left the spawned area, your screen will have more hiccups than the in-game alcoholics you compete against. Managing to get closer and dodging the instantly appearing cars deserves a reward in itself!

As I mentioned previously, Ubisoft gave Watch_Dogs an extra 6 months polish. This is where the game really lost me and I gave it every absolute chance to win me back. There were so many unpolished aspects I really, really would have loved to see what the game would have been like if it launched when first anticipated. For example; during a few side missions you are tasked with taking down a person for whatever various reason they provide and that’s fine, until the game forgets to load the person I am supposed to be chasing. This one example happened more times than I cared to count. Stacking a motorcycle during another side mission wouldn’t let me pick it back up, I was forced to restart (then for curiosity sakes I crashed again, in the same spot or near enough too and was able to remount the bike?). The biggest one that got me was during a cut scene your character comes under enemy fire out in the open, instantly cutting back to gameplay I was already nearly dead with no decent cover very close, God help the people trying to tackle that scene on realistic difficulty. I know it may sound like I am having a whinge and it may be so but if you are going to take 6 months to polish something at least do it right!

I believe Watch_Dogs certainly isn’t the next gen experience it was hyped up to be, far from it in fact. Yes it does have some innovative and original designs, namely the hacking concept and its endeavour to make Chicago a living breathing world. Frankly, I don’t think this game should be franchise material but I already know I am wrong, which is a shame for honest people’s wallets. For an open world experience of similar value gamers are better off going for GTA. Or at least wait for a decent price drop and dive head first into the digital trips, these barely mentioned side augmentations are the game’s ace in the hole.

The post Team Review: Watch Dogs appeared first on Press Start.

Entwined is a tale of two souls that are hopelessly in love but can never be together. One soul is a fish, whilst the other is a bird; these two souls always co-exist throughout multiple points in time and space.

This games presentation is easily the strongest aspect. As you continuously move down the lifetimes’ seemingly endless cylinders you will absorb shimmering aspects of the location that each is set in. For example, one may be a suburban environment or a desert landscape. The variations to the levels and their puzzles are great. Each level has a rhythmic tone that is perfectly suited to the level and to each beat of the puzzles.

Entwined takes great inspiration from thatgamecompany’s Flower, taking great measure to make your experience as tranquil as possible. It certainly delivers.

In terms of graphical presentation, characters and elements are comprised primarily of squares, rectangles and a few triangles. Obviously in today’s graphical standard it doesn’t sound like much but it does an absolutely brilliant job of igniting your imagination and adding to the enormous amount of tranquility this game already boasts.

Each soul is controlled by an individual analog stick on the controller. The fish, identified by the colour orange, is on the left and the bird, blue in colour, is on the right. Your goal as a player is to simultaneously guide these two souls through various colour coded zones ranging in size and movement as you continuously travel down a cylindrical tunnel. Collecting the respective coloured orbs in between these colour coded rings brings you closer to unifying these two souls.

Each soul is only allowed to rotate in their own hemisphere, making things a lot easier than what it could have been if it were the whole 360 degrees. Don’t let that fool you though as you progress through the many lifetimes (read: levels) of the game the complexity rises and excels beyond what I initially expected. Counteractive to that though, as bad as I was at certain lifetimes, I never actually failed, I just kept delaying these two souls from becoming one.

Collecting the aforementioned orbs is the key to progression. Collect enough for both sides and you enter a fusion (fu-sion, ha!) segment. It becomes critical during this moment that you do not miss any of the colour coded zone movements as the slightest error can knock you out of the fusion and leave you looking for more orbs.

Once the fusion is complete, you are certainly in for a treat.

The post Review: Entwined appeared first on Press Start.

LEGO The Hobbit tells the story of the first two Hobbit movies. The story sees Bilbo Baggins team up with a group of Dwarves as they try to claim back their homeland from the evil Smaug. The only argument that I have is that they could’ve waited until the third movie was released in order to release a completed package. As it stands, the game ends quite suddenly and feels like an incomplete story. The developers have done quite well in bringing a bit of humor to quite a dry story.

I played LEGO The Hobbit on the PlayStation 4 and was pleasantly surprised with the game’s visuals. The recreation of Middle-earth is full of colour and personality. The game looks much better than the previous LEGO Lord of the Rings games. The developers have hit a good balance of LEGO-like graphics and semi-realistic graphics. As expected, the character models and animation are incredibly solid and also do well to capture the essence of Middle-earth.

The voice acting is pulled directly from the film sequences. It creates a faithful representation but can also fall quite flat in terms of a unified experience. It felt to not fit in with the overall presentation at times.

Coming from The LEGO Movie Videogame, LEGO The Hobbit is quite a disappointment. It reverts straight back to the formula of the LEGO games that you’re used to. It’s the rinse and repeat formula of repetitive combat mixed with unlocking new characters. Its only saving grace is when playing the game with another person. The LEGO games were made for co-op play and it’s always their redeeming gameplay feature. It’s one of the only games that let you sit down with another person and hash it out with a bit of old-school local multiplayer.

One of the biggest issues with the game are the boss fights which are comprised of QTE events and frantic platforming sections which can still be frustrating due to the camera angles.

LEGO The Hobbit retains the blueprint formula that was introduced in The LEGO Movie Videogame. This was a new gameplay mechanic that required you to find a bunch of missing parts in order to build something new to advance to the next section. This does well in breaking up the repetitive gameplay, but it is now quickly becoming something that is overused and being relied on to break up pacing. Another new addition are buddy attacks. You’re able to get together with another character to unleash a more powerful attack that can be used to take down larger enemies. It’s a good addition, I just wish that more new gameplay mechanics were introduced.

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You are Spider-Man, local hero of Manhattan and web slinging nuisance to the thugs that engulf his city. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 game serves as more of a prequel to the film of the same name for the most part, which then diverts sharply into an alternative timeline. Frankly, I couldn’t decipher if the reason for this choice was to save spoilers from the coinciding film or just a reason to cram as many of Spider-Man’s rogues into the game.

After a brief flashback which ignites the beginning of the story, Spider-Man is left to uncover the mysterious murders that are only referred to by police as “The Carnage Killings”. During the game’s duration, many characters inject themselves throughout the course of the story, offering no real depth but what feels like a filler or even unnecessary deterrents to extend the length of gameplay out.

Having the opportunity to review this game on the older generation of consoles, I went in feeling at a slight disadvantage in terms of experiencing the best presentation I could. Realistically though I think it didn’t matter in the slightest, as current and new gen are that close together in terms of graphical fidelity there is a difference measured by the skin of your teeth. In terms of game development this game felt like it could have snugly fit rubbing shoulders with games released early in the last generation. Character models were bulky, unrefined and during cutscenes moved worse than robots from 80s movies.

It just feels like fuel to the fire that the videogame/movie tie-in combination is horrendous. This is supposed to be a movie tie-in videogame but it doesn’t even utilise the cast of the film, the only original cast member who reprises his role is the master of cameos, Stan Lee. Other major characters barely resemble their on-screen counterparts, a huge departure for a supposed “tie-in”. The cast for the game did little to offer any form of engagement, leaving me feeling like they were just simply reading the scripts rather than feeling them and truly portraying their characters.

Spider-Man tries to be funny delivering his trademark smart ass comments and cheap shots to the bad guys. Typically I would love these sorts of antics, being the person I am. Unfortunately, these comments completely miss the mark of humorous and become painfully repetitive pretty quick.

At various points also, Spider-Man will be presented with an interactive conversation where a button press opens a conversation path revealing more information that is usually irrelevant to anything. Spider-Man is exceptionally agile; I understand that, the world understands that. I don’t see why it is necessary for Spider-Man during these conversations to be excessively moving or jumping around, or even creeping up on captured foes, during the conversations. The latter example is flirting dangerously close to disturbing.

The big open world that is Manhattan is unlocked to you from the get go. Traversing Manhattan is one of the best features available to the player, and although it may take you a little while to finely tune the perfect rhythm for web swinging and navigating the city it is certainly one of the more richer experiences to be taken from the game. Using the respective shoulder buttons to make either your left or right hand deploy a streamlined web is probably as close as anyone will get to being a real web slinging Spider-Man any time soon.

Combat is a vital aspect of the game in both stealth situations and normal combat. Beenox tries to use a system similar to Arkham’s “Free Flow” but makes a mockery of it rather than a flattering imitation. Building a sense of strategy and rhythm is what the developers aimed for in their concept and imitation but unfortunately it results in a bash the attack button with a few counters performed to save yourself.

Stealth portions of the game borrow from, again, what feels to be a gimmick of Arkham’s Predator encounters; stalking your adversaries (as you battle beyond confusing camera angles) biding your time for the right time to strike. Often I was in clear view of a patrolling goon (for longer than the required recognition time) as I subdued one of his allies for no punishment or even acknowledgement of my sloppy stealth tactics. The range in which stealth takedowns can be performed also felt very inconsistent: sometimes I could be meters away whilst the other times I had to be right on top just to perform the same basic takedown.

Dispatching goons and bosses as well as collecting special items throughout the game will earn Spider-Man experience points for boosting abilities and enhancing skills. Some examples of the skills are strengthening your web to entangle goons for longer or to swing quicker and more precisely as you navigate the vast open world. These upgrades aren’t really necessary or relevant to the gameplay, as I had long forgotten about them and didn’t purchase any upgrades until I was well into the later portions of the game and it was simply just to spend the experience rather than a necessary purchase.

Boss battles aren’t big or epic nor even really inventive or challenging. Generally you are just facing off against one super strong person as you mash attack and counter his moves. Rarely they might spawn a few lackeys to help them out only for Spider-Man to eliminate, though basically you are dodging a character specific move then attacking, which is nothing really memorable.

Finally, there is an abundance of side missions to complete which actively control your hero/menace meter. Being a hero or a menace determines if the Enhanced Crime Task Force (this team gets explained to you in-game) targets Spider-Man during this game. Whether you are being targeted or not isn’t an issue, usually it is a small one or two button quick-time event to continue. Over the course of my time with the game I became less concerned with the meter as the side missions that affect your stance are repetitive and offer little reward other than keeping the task force off your back.

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Wolfenstein: The New Order opens in 1946 during the midst of an intense battle of World War II in Europe. Nazi forces have mysteriously turned the tide on the Allies and General Wilhelm Strasse (known as Deathshead) overcomes the Allies. Humanity’s greatest hope is lost, and the Nazis win the war. Fast forward to 1960, and the Nazi’s oppressive regime is spreading, utilising mysterious and advanced technology from beyond their years. Playing as B.J. Blaskowicz, who was there and fought in the same battle in 1946, you must stop Deathshead and their iron fisted regime.

While the story in Wolfenstein might not sound like anything interesting, it’s presented in such an interesting way that it’s hard to be disinterested while playing. Blaskowicz does have his broody monologues from time to time, but his supporting cast in particular stand out here. Every character is characterised well, is likeable (even the villains) and behaves somewhat believably – giving a greater emotional weight to the story. While the themes explored are somewhat confronting, Wolfenstein does not shy away from any subject matter and provides a compelling story from beginning to end that’s not afraid to shock or terrify.

Wolfenstein is a pretty mixed bag visually speaking, although for the most part a strong and bold artistic direction saves it from looking generic and uninspired. Environments themselves are well designed to capture the era of the 60s well, but with an obvious twisted “what-if” scenario with the Nazis having won the war. The most interesting of these is a museum which tells the “history” of the moon landing in a different way than most of us would know. The combination of the time era, as well as the alternate timeline gives Wolfenstein’s environments subtle changes to illustrate an overarching larger change. It’s this subtlety that helps elevate its visual design above the rest.

While on a technical level, it’s definitely not what the newest set of consoles is capable of. While the game runs in full 1080p and 60fps on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4, there are times where the textures could have perhaps been a little bit more detailed. The team have obviously weighed this sacrifice up with achieving a higher frame rate, and for the most part, in motion, it appears they have made the right choice. At any given time bullets will be flying, blood will be splattering walls and walls themselves may be falling apart. There’s a lot going on in any battle during The New Order and it’s admirable that the engine manages to keep up during all of it, never dropping its framerate.

Cutscenes in particular have a very film noire feel to them – although some players might find the transition between them jarring as they are filmed at a lower framerate (assumedly for a “cinematic feel”) and presented in a letter box format. Character models themselves look great and animate beautifully too, further cementing their presence in the scenes in which they feature. While the game performs very admirably on the Xbox One, PC and PlayStation 4; older consoles are visibly struggling to load everything at once with some bad cases of texture pop-in from time to time.

In terms of sound design – the soundtrack itself is a very strong offering. Featuring some sombre and downbeat acoustic tracks seen in other games like Metro: Last Light as well as The Last of Us, Wolfenstein’s score does a fantastic job of painting the world as a worn down, oppressed one. During scenes with a greater degree of intensity, a more heavy metal tinge is applied to the soundtrack and it works surprisingly well here. Voice work is also pretty spot on – with both the German and English performances in the game sound realistic and well directed. It’s saying something about the game’s direction when you can watch a character speak in German and just by their actions and intonation tell what they’re feeling.

The worst thing about Wolfenstein was the game’s sound mixing. There were times where characters would be speaking but the music would be overpowering them so it was near impossible to hear what they were saying. Similarly, some guns lack a certain bass to them, which makes them feel rather weak. For a game with reliance on stealth and epic set pieces, having poorly mixed sound can ruin the illusion and/or atmosphere of a game.

The New Order is a first person shooter, and it’s extremely unapologetic about it. It employs all the standard tropes of the genre, and provides something that many developers seem to have forgotten about recently. It provides a solid, fantastically paced single player game filled with interesting and unique set pieces, but rooted in updated design choices that feel like they’ve been lifted straight out of the 90s and early 00s. It sounds like something bad – but it’s not, the game has been designed to give a classically influenced experience but at the same time modernised to be playable and enjoyable today in 2014.

Most of the areas are designed to be approached in multiple ways, either with a gung-ho approach or a more stealthy one. Similarly, environments are physically designed to accommodate both play styles, with more than enough ammo and health packs around to support a spray and pray philosophy and more than enough concealed entrances to sneak through. Essentially, Wolfenstein: The New Order brags the ability for players to change up their approach as they see fit – and it follows through on this brag with the design philosophies to support it. While the stealth approach is a nice inclusion, it’s also quite broken – the AI has clearly not been fine-tuned to detect dead bodies, so it’s sometimes easier to be silent than loud if you’re feeling particularly lazy.

While it appears to be a rather standard shooter from the outset, Wolfenstein’s shining gem is the gunplay itself. Everything feels well-adjusted to the point where the game is just a blast to play. Controls are tight, guns feel great and there’s options for players to duck in and out of cover that work whether wielding one or two weapons. And, in a nod to games less preoccupied with gritty realism, BJ can wield absolutely any two weapons. It’s a simple and yet enjoyable addition that has been missed from a large majority of shooters recently – and while you’d think it’d make the game too easy, the game still provides a good (but not immense) challenge.

While the game is entirely single player, it employs a perk system similar to most multiplayer shooters in the industry at present. Completing small but manageable tasks (like killing a certain amount of enemies with a certain weapon, or within a certain time limit) awards perks. Completing these unlocks perks, which in turn unlocks minor buffs for BJ, like increased magazine capacity for certain weapons and replenishment of health after certain takedowns. The perks system is a great addition because it entices players to play the game utilising all kinds of different play styles, as most of the benefits of earning a perk carry across to all players of all play styles. The tasks are manageable and approachable too, so most players will have no issues attempting them.

As you’d hope, with The New Order being an entirely single-player experience, it’d have to be something substantial to warrant the price tag, not to mention something that keeps players interests from beginning to end. Thankfully, Wolfenstein is very well paced. Every encounter feels meaningful, and nothing feels like pointless filler. There’s a good mix of exploration, stealth and action along with the odd on-rails segment or two. It just feels well-constructed – and despite being roughly fifteen to twenty hours long, it never gets boring and there’s never a dull moment throughout. Nothing ever lingers too long or overstays its welcome. Nothing overwhelms to the point where you have to put the controller down. It’s just extremely well balanced, extremely well-paced and surprisingly enjoyable to play for long periods at a time (and without finishing it too).

When all is over and done, there’s quite a bit to do. Collectibles provide compelling and interesting backstory to characters throughout the world, as well as unlock new modes that place “rules” on the player – such as completing an entire run of the game with one life. At the beginning of the game, a choice can be made which also unlocks one of two timelines. Both timelines will take in excess of twenty hours to complete easily – but neither of them differ too dramatically. One provides access to a lockpicking skill, another provides access to a hotwiring skill – with armour upgrades being hidden in the former and health upgrades being hidden in the latter. Dialogue options, and themes explored in the story will change in each of the two timelines – but outside of the collectible changes and some subtle nooks and crannies to explore, barely anything changes between the two timelines.

So essentially, your mileage may vary with whether or not you’d enjoy and benefit from a second playthrough. As The New Order’s characters are so well written and the story is so well delivered, personally, it was definitely worth it to play it through twice just to experience the different character interactions.

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Swords & Soldiers HD is essentially the original Swords & Soldiers game with a fresh coat of paint for high definition systems. Originally released on Nintendo’s restrictive WiiWare platform, the game was understandably quite scaled back to fit on the service. “HD” manages to bring the full Swords & Soldiers experience to the Wii U, albeit with some clever and intuitive extras.

The general gist of the story is that three different factions – the Vikings, the Aztecs and the Chinese are all vying for the attention and power of various gods and deities. Of course, this requires them to carry out all kinds of mundane tasks, many of which require wars against the other factions. Which forms the basis of the game’s gameplay.

Generally speaking, the story in Swords and Soldier’s is easily the component of the game that the developers were least concerned with and it certainly shows, but the game is still enjoyable without.

Visually, Swords and Soldier borrows a lot from bright and colourful cartoons like Looney Tunes. Characters are well drawn, have distinct and unique (if not mildly culturally insensitive) designs and all looks great. The jump from the original Wii version to the high definition Wii U version is noticeable too, with everything looking brighter, much more colourful and much crisper. Sometimes some of the game’s art and environments err on the side of boring and lifeless, but the characters themselves more than make up for it.

The game also has a very surprisingly well put together and epic-sounding orchestral soundtrack which adds a sense of urgency to each battle and complements the action rather well. There’s a dynamicity to the game’s soundtrack too, with the background music ramping up when the action starts and settling down when it subsides. There’s minimal, although comical voice work that also gives personality to all the different units and three factions available.

Swords and Soldiers is a real time strategy game with a twist – the entire game takes place on a two dimensional plane rather than a three dimensional one. Units can move from left to right, automatically attacking anything they come into contact with. It dramatically simplifies the game itself, but it feels like a perfect fit for a game like this appearing on consoles. It’s simple, but there’s still a degree of strategy involved – like determining what to send out, and when. On top of this, players themselves can cast spells to either buff or debuff units as they (automatically) march towards their goal. In between sending out units, other units can be deployed to collect gold, which can be used to unlock upgrades and deploy even more units.

The use of three different factions changes how each of them play. The Vikings are very straightforward – they pillage gold and use this to pay for upgrades and units. The Aztecs employ methods of sacrifice to further their own means – adding a real layer of strategy to their metagame. The Chinese, on the other hand, must erect statues to gods in order to progress and are easily the most complex faction to master. Each plays differently enough to carry players’ interests throughout the campaign, and it’s especially encouraging to see that each of these factions plays differently rather than being the same thing with a different skin.

Swords and Soldiers comes in four main varieties – a campaign mode, a skirmish mode, a challenge mode and a multiplayer mode. The campaign mode is probably the most interesting – featuring different objectives for players to complete along with some ridiculous but comical justification. Some levels even have multiple ways to be completed too, adding some variety to the fold. Skirmish mode allows players to just have a quick, traditional match while challenge mode adds novel spins to the game’s traditional gameplay. Multiplayer is also quite cleverly implemented on the Wii U, with each player having a whole screen, be it the GamePad or the TV itself, to themselves. There’s also a set of achievements to unlock too, so most players will manage to squeeze at least five to eight hours out of Swords and Soldier’s offerings.

The Wii U version implements a very intuitive touchscreen interface that helps to control units and deployment with a greater degree of finesses and speed than in previous versions of the game. Even better, this control scheme is also available to the player when playing off-screen for a more portable experience. Those who don’t enjoy this admittedly superior control scheme can also control the game with a Wii Remote – as the second player will in multiplayer modes too.

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MLB: The Show has been the standalone baseball series in the last few years. It’s obviously never taken off in Australia but has always been held in high regard overseas. The game is developed by SCE San Diego who are primarily known for their work on sporting titles.

On the PS3, MLB 14 isn’t a huge step up from last year’s iteration. The visuals of the players are pushing the limits of the PlayStation 3, however the crowds still look significantly worse than in other sports games. Animations are as great as ever and the lighting makes the stadiums look realistic and true to their real-life counterparts.

The Vita version holds up surprisingly well. Players are still recognisable and stadiums still look brilliant. There are a few oddities here and there, but SCE San Diego should be commended for their ability to keep the experience consistent.

On the PS4, the game really shines. The player models are much more detailed and the stadiums are even more true-to-life. Lighting changes based on weather and time of day and the crowd looks more lively than ever. A bunch of new camera techniques have been introduced to really emphasise the enhanced visuals. Unfortunately, commentary hasn’t seen a huge overhaul and is still quite repetitive on all consoles.

Ultimately, it’s a nice graphical overhaul but still a transitional one.

Two of the most noticeable additions to The Show this season are Player Lock and Quick Counts. It’s not hyperbole to trumpet Player Lock as a visionary new way to experience a sports game; the ability to step into the cleats of individual players at any point in any game in every standard mode introduces a staggering amount of possibilities. Feel like being your franchise’s star slugger for a week? Go for it–then switch over to your closer for the final three outs in every key game. Want to play Opening Day as the entire team then see what it’s like to be your second baseman for the next month? Simple. Player Lock powers a fundamental, spectacular new way to play The Show.

The first thing that I’ll say about MLB: The Show 14 is that it’s totally worth owning at least the Vita version and one of console versions. The game syncs your data better than any other sports game so it’s an absolute treat for baseball fans.

So while Player Lock lets you take control over individual players, Quick Counts makes for quicker matches. You can now play a full nine-inning game in around thirty minutes. Previously it would take nearly an hour to get through a full game. I found that it didn’t lower the realism of the game in any way, it simply took away a lot of the unnecessary filler content and made for a much more tense match-up.

Road to the Show has seen a few new additions. Rookie Showcase lets you alter your position in the draft process and the attributes system has been rebuilt to eliminate the multi-tiered rankings that have confused gamers in previous years. It’s still a great mode with a lot of depth however it’s now less confusing in the way that it presents information. The menu is still quite boring to get around but I’d expect that’ll be the next thing to be revamped.

The biggest let down of the game is its online system. The developers stated that it was built from the ground up to fix connection problems that the series has been criticised for. Unfortunately, lag is still a huge issue and makes the game almost unplayable online. This is obviously a huge issue for a game that is based solely around perfect timing. I admire the developers for being so ambitious in the Online Franchise mode however the online infrastructure means that it just doesn’t work to its full potential.

The overall gameplay is generally the same which is a good thing. MLB: The Show has always been regarded as the most realistic baseball game so we’re glad that not much has been changed with the fundamentals. Ultimately it’s a better experience than in years passed and definitely a solid one.

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I’ll preface this with a disclaimer, I have little to no experience with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. I played the JoJo’s Venture arcade game and it’s subsequent HD remaster in 2012, but that’s truly the extent of my experience with the franchise. For those who don’t know – the franchise follows people who have guardian angel-like entities following them, known as Stands as well as a family known as the Joestars.

In terms of narrative, All Star Battle runs the gamut of roughly eight different story arcs previously seen in the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga series. Most of it is typical of what you’d find in this medium of entertainment, but it’s especially bound to be a veritable treasure trove of exciting moments for fans of the franchise. There’s too much narrative content to properly detail here, but fans of each of the manga arcs should be pleased with the treatment their story arcs have received.

This is the type of game that should be a labour of love by devoted fans, and in terms of narrative, it definitely feels like it has been treated as such by CyberConnect2. There are some moments of narrative that feel sparse, but all in all the game covers the events (from what I can tell) competently.

Those who are foreign to the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure narrative, however, will probably feel lost and struggle to understand and/or grasp most of the concepts presented here. It’s really a package for the fans and not a way to properly digest the story that’s being presented without consulting external media.

Story elements aside, it’s worth mentioning that hardcore followers of the franchise (which has a little following here in the west) will notice that most character names have been changed to “official” English versions (presumably to prevent lawsuits – for example, one of the “stands” is known as “Red Hot Chilli Pepper” and “Pearl Jam”). It’s great that Namco Bandai went to the effort to bring the game over, which is quite faithful to the source material, regardless.

There’s one thing I gathered from the one and only time I played a previous JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure game – and that’s the fact that the franchise is riddled with an over the top abundance of camp, sparkle and fabulousness. As such, it makes sense to see that All Star Battle is a pretty good looking game, but assumedly this comes at a compromise. The colours are bright and vivid, the artistic direction is superb and the visual effects are grand in scale. It all looks fantastic. But the framerate is rather low – while 30fps is the standard for most games, it doesn’t feel right for a fighting game, which relies on fluidity and response. This problem is unfortunately exacerbated by the games over the top visuals – where lots of items appearing on screen bring the game’s framerate down considerably. It’s by no means a deal breaker, but when every other of All Star Battle’s contemporaries are doing it, it’s hard not to notice it.

Character models and their animations, while colourful, move and behave beautifully as well – bringing the eccentric world of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure to life. Every character has unique animations too, bringing each character to life more than you’d see in other fighting games. They’re small touches to hammer home the authenticity and faithfulness to the original source material, and they help the game feel quite well polished.

The game continues to bring the atmosphere of the manga to life by using this colourful and interesting artistic direction to bring scenes directly from the manga to life. The presentation of the special moves, in particular, are quite long winded but they’re so over the top and zany that they’re just a joy to watch regardless. Music is, on a whole, flamboyant and over the top – but it fits the game’s atmosphere perfectly too.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle may not be a deeply intricate fighting game that you’ll be seeing at fighting game championships like EVO but it’s also not really trying to be. All Star Battle plays like a typical 2D fighting game, but there’s a sidestepping mechanic that attempts to spice things up. Players can side-step any projectile or attack at any point. This isn’t your only defensive option either, as there are also stylish evasive moves that not only look stylish, but they slow everything down when they occur. Schmick. While these moves look cool, it’s worth noting that doing them too many times punishes the player – so most of the metagame in All Star Battle is around offensive manoeuvres rather than defensive ones.

Each character has their own style, which is written to be similar to how their character behaves. Each of their respective styles is depdendent on a singular “style button”. Some fighters can taunt an enemy and fill up their enemy gauge to pull off supers. Others can call their “stand” to assist them in battle, similar to Marvel vs. Capcom. Others can switch between battling on foot and on the back of a horse and some can even freeze enemies. Each of these stylistic attacks are great and give each player some variety, and they look good too. But the large variety can hurt the balance somewhat – giving players the ability to completely freeze their opponent, for example, can give more of an edge than recharging a super gauge, for example.

Besides there being flashy special moves, the game gives players basic moves that don’t differ from other fighting games – there’s Weak, Medium and Strong strikes. Those who are put off by the idea of stringing together long combos can activate an ‘easy’ mode that strings together moves and finishes with a super move with little input from the player. But advanced players can eschew this system completely and instead string together longer combos with more variety and ability. It’s a simple system that takes inspiration from many modern fighting games, but it’s not nearly as deep as you’d be lead to believe. One thing should be praised about All Star Battle though, and it’s that the developers have worked out a way to implement the taunt as not only an aesthetic ending to a combo but also a functional one – providing players with health bonuses or meter bonuses.

Taking a page out of games like Injustice and the lesser known Mortal Kombat games, All Star Battle also features environmental weapons for players to utilise when they are standing on specific areas of the arena. These hazards can be as simple as falling cars to as zany and ridiculous as raining blue coloured frogs. They’re a tried and true inclusion in a fighting game painted with the ridiculous and over the top aesthetic of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Completing levels with a super move, as previously mentioned, also initialises “situation finishes” which recreates moments from the manga. Similarly from games like Injustice, players can attack each other and mash buttons in a feature that can only be described as the videogame equivalent of an arm wrestle. These inclusions are minor, but help to shift up the variety of the admittedly shallow gameplay.

Story Mode is the main attraction for those looking to play by themselves, and while the game attempts to make things interesting by adding objectives (i.e. wipe out your enemy in less than sixty seconds) it still feels like a very monotonous bore to get through. What’s even more disappointing is that a large majority of these parts take place on the same stage, which adds to the monotony. Story Mode allows you to unlock costumes and customisation items, though these really are things that only true fans will strive to unlock – there is little appeal to slog through the content for the mainstream fan. Though this game really isn’t for that person either, to be fair.

There are multiplayer modes too, such as your typical local versus mode. Online mode is a bit of a weird affair though. You don’t actually fight against other players online, but rather you fight against AI-controlled opponents to unlock more items. You can then customise your own AI character, who other players then proceed to fight against. It’s very strange – it feels like a badly designed free-to-play game that you have to keep checking on to see how your AI character is doing. For those who are put off by this weird, AI ghost kind of system, there is typical Ranked and Player matches too. While the online modes were sparse, the games we did play performed rather well – though some matches very far across the pond struggled quite a bit. Considering this game’s limited appeal to a western audience, it’s unfortunate that most of your online battles will be of this kind.

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The LEGO Movie Videogame tells the exact same story as The LEGO Movie. Emmet Brickowski is your average construction worker in LEGO Land. An unfortunate series of events leads him to being the ‘chosen one’ that has to save the world by defeating Evil Lord Business and ‘The Kragle’. As with the movie, the game’s story is hilarious, however I’d highly recommend not playing this game before watching the movie, if you have any interest in seeing the movie that is. The game spoils the best lines from the movie and whilst they’re just as enjoyable the second time around, the movie will be almost pointless to you if you’ve already played the game.

The LEGO Movie Videogame looks almost as good as the LEGO Marvel Superheroes. The biggest graphical change is the fact that the environments are now all made out of LEGO, where in previous times they LEGO was limited to some of the characters and parts of the environment. I really enjoyed the change, as the game was able to separate itself from a series that has become quite stale.

The cut scenes in the game mostly consist of original sections from the movie. They look slightly more compressed and less visually impressive but that’s to be expected. The sound in the game does a perfect job of making you feel like you’re in The Lego Movie. It’s not out of this world, but it’s enough to put you in a believable environment.

The LEGO Movie Videogame differs slightly from previous games in the LEGO universe. It tries to add more variations of gameplay through the use of mini-games and interesting character missions. For instance, the game kicks off almost instantly with a Dance Dance Revolution type mini-game to the ridiculously catchy theme song “Everything Is Awesome”.

The game also introduces a new play set mechanic in which Emmet must build large city items using instructions from a play set. They usually involve finding specific bricks that are missing from your collection in order to build the item required to advance. The game also features Master Builders, which can create structures using blocks without instructions, as you’d expect from previous games (and the movie). Unfortunately this gets repetitive fairly quickly and the game feels like it relegates back to the standard formula of previous LEGO games.

In fact, this is the thing that disappointed me most about the game. The game starts out as the most innovate LEGO game to date but quickly morphs into a repetitive game that screams rushed, clearly in an attempt to coincide with the release date of the movie. It’s still a ton better than the majority of movie tie-in games, but it still falls a little short.

Thankfully, The LEGO Movie Videogame introduces a stellar roster of characters. Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman and even Gandalf are all unlockable and provide an exciting burst of gameplay for a brief amount of time. As always, the game is better played with a buddy. It’s easy enough for anybody to pickup and is great in short spurts. Unfortunately, for older players there is almost no challenge in the gameplay, but this means that it’s completely achievable to beat for its target audience.

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“Cold, Cold Heart” is set less than a week after the conclusion of Batman: Arkham Origins, Bruce Wayne is hosting Gotham City’s Humanitarian of the Year Award at Wayne Manor on New Year’s Eve. Not long into the evening Mr. Freeze captures award recipient, Ferris Boyle, leaving Wayne Manor in a horrific mess. It is then up for Batman to swoop in, save the day and uncover all he can about this mysterious new villain, Mr. Freeze.

Right from the get go, this game feels cold, even before Mr. Freeze appears the cavernous mansion that is Wayne Manor just feels draughty and chilly, which is perfect in terms of setting the tone for the cold progression of the game.

Visually, “Cold, Cold Heart” is what you’ve experienced before, the recycled snow storm from the main campaign’s Christmas Eve night is used as expected with a few frozen assets in various places to add to the frosty destruction. These include such things as people or cars, but perhaps the most awe-inspiring piece off the icy mayhem is the glacier that devours the Gotham City bridge. (Thank God, we don’t have to waste time crossing it again.)

Inside the other few buildings you enter, things feel just as bleak and desolate. Doors are frozen over, rooms are filled with cryogenic vapour as a deterrent for The Dark Knight, and lift shafts are totally encased in ice and barely navigable.

Voice acting is brilliant once again; Roger Craig Smith doesn’t skip a beat reprising his role as Batman, portraying a younger Dark Knight. Maurice LaMarche again represents Mr. Freeze perfectly. Nolan North takes the reigns of Oswald Cobblepot (The Penguin) and Alfred is none other than Martin Jarvis. The class of all these brilliant. individual and talented voices combines to produce again some of the deepest and true to lore Batman experiences that can be had. On a personal note, it was brilliant to see Bruce give Alfred a little more respect rather than acting like a stubborn teenager toward him, just six days ago (in game time).

“Cold, Cold Heart” allows players for the first time to really explore Wayne Manor with a few rooms for combat and predator encounters; which fans of Batman will enjoy, even if the mansion is extensively cavernous for some architectural reason. Mr. Freeze brings along with him a new type of henchman, a freeze-ray wielding thug. Whilst not overly difficult to overcome, they do add another element to take note of during your free flowing combats. A distinctive click can be heard before the gun fires. Simply evading the beam will suffice, allowing for any other enemy caught in the crossfire to be frozen stiff until subdued.

During Freeze’s terror spree he has frozen over access for most of the districts, allowing Batman to openly explore roughly 50% of the southern island that was available in the main game. It might sound like a restrictive move from Warner Bros. Montreal but the available area is more than enough to encase this story. As is tradition with all games in the Arkham series, there are a few side missions ready for the player to tend to at their own leisure.

Perhaps the biggest focal point of the frozen world Batman must survive is the introduction of the X.C. Batsuit (which stands for extreme conditions). A bigger, bulkier, internally heated suit that looks similar to a miniature Transformer, you may expect such a thing to weigh down the Bat but it doesn’t, movement is still as fluent with the suit on. After donning the X.C. suit, a few subtle mechanics change your gameplay, batarangs become heated by holding your aim which dislodges ice stalactites to obliterate the opposition. Batman can also generate a heat force strong enough to unfreeze victims of the freeze-ray and melt the ice over doors or vents. Also rather than continuing with the shock gauntlet combat power-up, they become thermal gauntlets; the name is different but results are the same. A quicker, unblockable power-up for free flow combat, which I always try to avoid as I feel it takes away from the excellent free flow combat experience.

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You play as Aurora, a young girl with long flowing locks of red hair. She is the daughter of a Duke of Austria in the year 1895. Her mother’s identity has remained a mystery to the young girl and the absence of a motherly figure has created an extremely strong relationship between her and her father. Although as time passed, her father grew lonely and eventually found the company of another woman. On the night of her father’s wedding, Aurora becomes ill and would not awaken. For all intents and purposes she is announced deceased.

Aurora awakens in the mysterious land of Lemuria. A strange world full of stranger monsters, where she is greeted by a new friend, Igniculus. Aurora eventually learns that Lemuria’s sun, moon and stars have been taken from the land by the mysterious Queen of the Night. It is then up to the small child to recover these divine figures in the hope of reuniting with her father.

Ubisoft Montreal has crafted Child of Light on the ever so popular UbiArt Framework Engine, the same engine that has re-invented and re-defined the Rayman series.

The use of this engine presents the player in a 2D side scrolling world, none the likes of which the world has seen before. Every piece of the game has been hand-drawn to an incredible amount of detail. The world will ignite your inner child’s nostalgic imagination of all the wonderful stories and fairytales you heard and dreamt of when you were younger. All of this occurs before the magnificent watercolours are delicately placed into the world.

Traversing from one side of Lemuria to the other, is like bearing witness to an evolving and growing children’s book. It’s incredibly soothing and calming to the soul and leaves you in a state of awe. Accompanying the humble visuals is a restful, yet engaging string ensemble with a masterful pianist performance keeping the rhythm and the flow to this enchanting soundtrack.

I mentioned that Child of Light is reminiscent to that of a children’s book, and keeping to the nature of that, the game has an exceptional narrator delivering outstanding guidance and background to the elements of the game. Keeping in tune of the children’s theme is the way that the dialogue has been fashioned to speak only in rhymes. If more voice actors were cast I feel it would have enriched the experience, although in saying that I understand the design choice as story books are read, not heard. It is a wonderful design choice as time and time again I found myself chuckling at the entirely predictable outcome of a conversation in regards to the rhymes. Some particular characters even take it as far as to correct other characters who do not speak in rhymes.

I have already mentioned the word ‘child’ a few times in this article. Don’t naively let that fool you into thinking that this is a children’s game. At it’s core, Child of Light is essentially a turn-based RPG, with all the item collecting, experience gaining and levelling up that goes with the genre.

Very early you are introduced to Igniculus, a rain drop looking fire fly. Igniculus can be controlled by you at the same time as you control Aurora or separately by a local co-op friend. Igniculus is invaluable to your quest, lighting dark treacherous paths, gathering the fuels for your health and magic but most importantly, his battle aids are vital to your success.

Once a battle is engaged, you are able to attack based on your speed and how long it takes to complete your chosen actions. The game makes use of an Active Time Battle System, popular to the genre; taking skill and finesse to manage your health and magic as you wait for the right time to strike with your attack. Evading your opposition’s attack is obviously one of the best strategies to survive, but to use Igniculus to your advantage is sheer brilliance. Utilising the second (or single) player firefly you can shine a light over your opponent as they strike to ‘blind’ them which may result in a miss, resetting their action timer. Not only is attack offered, but healing is also an option from Igniculus and various other party members who join you along your quest.

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Set three months after Origins—the prequel Rocksteady are more than prepared to exclude from the saga—Blackgate follows a night which sees the Dark Knight’s most ominous foes rise up and seize control of Blackgate Penitentiary, with The Joker, Penguin and Black Mask each holing up in a ward of the prison.

The world’s greatest detective is quick on the case, as we see an expansion of his origin tale, including the first time he happens upon the seductive Selina Kyle, better known as the cunning thief Catwoman. We’re also able to see a young, hardboiled Jim Gordon as he and Bruce continue to forge a relationship that’ll define their lives, as they throw their bodies upon the gears of Gotham’s crime rings.

It’s a serviceable addition to the Arkham saga, though narrative has long been a strongpoint for the franchise.

Being a handheld port, I didn’t expect this game to look the part when scaled up for the big screen but it holds up surprisingly well. Blackgate, like most other games in the series, has a tonal darkness that beautifully suits the consistent, gritty presentation of Batman—which has been commonplace pretty much since Nolan’s film adaptation, Batman Begins, almost a decade ago. It’s almost hard these days to imagine the campy, 60s iteration of Bats ever returning. Any chance of that died a grim death at the hands of Joel Schumacher.

Blackgate Penitentiary serves its role as a battleground for Batman to overcome his great adversaries, though like most prisons it’s a bit drab and yearning for colour—which makes The Joker’s deranged scrawls littering the walls all the more striking as they burst luminously from the open canvases that are Blackgate’s walls. The setting does undergo a change once you make your way through the prison’s administration offices so it remains not only foreboding, but fresh also. The game’s cut scenes aren’t presented in the traditional Arkham fashion.

Due to the initial restrictions of being a handheld game, the major narrative plot points roll by almost as a storyboard with almost static images being complemented by the odd flourish and a stellar cast of voice actors. Considering our hero’s roots lie in the comic books, this is a logical choice in style that I’d say pays off handsomely.

Heavy hitters Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker—who’s in pretty much anything and everything these days—reprise their roles as our favourite dysfunctional duo, Bruce Wayne and his number one nemesis, The Joker. Their rich vein of form from Origins continues as they turn in great performances, particularly Baker who is on his way to creating a Joker that he can own. Granted, he’ll never be Mark Hamill but if the torch is to be passed, he’s making an excellent case for himself.

Blackgate plays like a “Metroidvania” game, with map exploration and using upgrades to reach hard to reach places playing a huge role, making it much more like Asylum than City. That said, despite being a 2.5D title, the franchise’s focal point—being its combat—remains more or less intact. Of course, with threats only converging from the left and right, a lot of the challenge has been sapped out of it, though the fundamentals are still in place with timing being key. Counters remain the name of the game, as a well timed counter will put the attacking thug squarely on the deck.

Similar to other Arkham games, Bats gradually stockpiles an arsenal of handy gadgets that open up new avenues of exploration within the prison. That weakened wall you couldn’t penetrate at the start of play will succumb to your explosive gel, which comes later on as you progress. It’s definitely rewarding to explore and discover all of the hidden collectibles in Blackgate, though the map isn’t without its flaws.

There was a point early on in Blackgate, after I’d chosen to first pursue The Joker, where I became seemingly stuck thanks to my lack of an upgraded encryptor. The poor in-game map made finding an escape an impossibility that eventually led to my reboot, it’s an inelegant design that made Blackgate a terror to navigate.

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Luftrausers doesn’t portray much of a story, therefore I won’t give it an official score but I will use it as an opportunity to explain the premise of sorts. Basically you are an Air Force pilot who is based on a submarine. As each battle begins you are launched from the sub onto a horizontal view on a 2-D plain over a vast ocean, with the ocean and skies as your only barriers. You are then tasked to destroy the enemies you encounter during your round. Enemies come at you from all directions, large and small, by sea and by air.

First of all you may have noticed that Devolver Digital published this game. Prior to my knowledge of this, I had already associated the games strong soundtrack with the engaging and invigorating styles of Hotline Miami (a game also published by Devolver Digital), so clearly there was a very positive influence from the publishers. For Luftrausers’ soundtrack nothing changes, each song is a strong, powerful motivating force with a hint of techno/light dub-step. Overall I feel the soundtrack was a great accompanying feature to the game, heightening the experience.

Visually, a basic colour palette of browns, blacks, creams and white make up this vastly detailed pixelated game. This was an absolute pleasure to look at.

When I first picked up Luftrausers, I naively expected it to play out like a twin-stick shooter, naivety at its finest. Controlling your aircraft is used only with the left thumb-stick, which steers and rotates as you command it; it also has a speed boost that engages when you press the thumb-stick in the direction you are already travelling. On paper it may sound like a simple mechanic but really it has quite a steep learning curve, that once mastered becomes a fluent joyful process to destroy the opposition.

This game is extremely lenient to the players, offering a world of opportunity and chances to create your own luck. As I mentioned before in the story section, the skies and seas are your boundaries, but only to an extent; your plane is able to take a quick dip into the ocean or soar into the clouds to inflict some damage on a resting enemy or just to simply use it as a sharp turning circle; although at the expense of health.

Accumulating points is the sole means of progression and unlocking upgrades. Points come in bountiful amounts provided you can keep your points multiplier alive; one multiplier point per enemy destroyed then maxing out at 20 (each unique enemy destroyed earns you the various points to be multiplied). The difficulty in this stems from the fact that your aircraft can receive copious amounts of damage but can only recover when you are not firing, so it becomes a sort of balancing act between increasing/maintaining your multiplier and keeping your health up.

Earning points rewards the player with new variations to the aircraft, weapons, body frame and engine. There are multiple variants across all three categories including laser beams, a frame that is a nuke and explodes destroying all your adversaries when you die and a water resistant engine, for example. Each variant in their respective category open up increasingly difficult challenges to earn more points and unlock further forms of aircraft.

The beauty of this and the real testament to “create(ing) your own luck” is that you can change any of the three variants to overcome said challenges. For example, let’s say you have the laser beam wielding, water resistant, nuke combination I mentioned earlier and you are challenged with destroying 20 airborne enemies in 30 seconds. Inevitably the direct focused beam of the slow moving nuke isn’t going to cut it for that, changing those two variables to a wider spread shotgun sort of weapon and a lighter quick and nimble frame increases your ability to complete the task. Many combinations can be created to succeed in the challenges thrown at you.

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Playing the role of Yaiba instead of Ninja Gaiden regular Ryu Hayabusa seems like an interesting design choice, especially when turning Ryu into the antagonist, but the story is shallow and devoid of interesting motifs or characters. Yaiba acts as the playable character, seeking vengeance after Ryu bests him in combat and chops off his arm in a bold presentation  to throw you into the action straight away, but the tradeoff being that we cannot connect or understand Yaiba outside of his singular motive. Which all comes to nothing, as Yaiba may be 2014’s most despicable and disinteresting protagonist.

Topping off the tragic excuse of a story is the game’s blatant sexism and pathetic excuse of ‘comedy’. The humour is juvenile and utterly disgusting. It’s one thing to have black/dark humour, another to just thrust sex and gore onto the screen and practically grabbing the player and telling them to laugh. The sexism is so childish and immature that to get angry about it isn’t even worth the effort, and hell, at least all of this follows a pattern so you could hardly accuse Yaiba of acting inconsistently. One must feel sorry for the pathetic skills of the writer/s that were hired to write this drivel, or applaud the dozen monkeys that were trained to write SOMETHING that was coherent, if barely.

Yaiba briefly comes alive with some sleek looking animations and a cel-shaded look that manages to be a little interesting to look at. Unfortunately as I will explain later on, it’s these two things that will directly contradict the gameplay and actually makes the game worse to play.

The colour scheme works fine, but when you throw in hundreds of enemies, a huge hit counter, an intrusive HUD and a fixed camera that does not work, it’s a complete and utter mess, and makes what should be a unique looking game look forgettable and terrible. The collision detection is completely off and the constant pop-ups that completely intrude the combat (something that pissed off many Far Cry 3 players until they patched it out) is such a detriment to the game. But hey, as long as the game plays good, who cares about graphics, right?

The crux of the Ninja Gaiden series has always been its tightly refined combat, tough mechanics and punishing difficulty (ignoring the third instalment seeing as that was a complete disgrace). What made Ninja Gaiden Black/NG2/ ? so good was how tough the enemies were, how they would smartly counter your attacks forcing you to adapt on the spot with ultra fast combos, mixing it up with different weapons and magical powers that would help turn the tide of the battle. Yes, Ninja Gaiden had a near perfect combat system (second only to that of Bayonetta or Devil May Cry 3), so naturally, the next step was to add zombies. To add mindless shambling crowds of zombies that holds none of these qualities of previous games’ enemies, no semblance of smart and fast combat, Ninja Gaiden has truly jumped the shark here.

Yaiba is a complete mess gameplay wise, and a further betrayal to the Ninja Gaiden name that was so cruelly spat on already by the third instalment.  What was once a tightly wound and finely tuned combat system has now been reduced to a button mashing mindless mess, a shamble of spamming buttons and mindless repetitive asinine gameplay that is so dull and unengaging that it’s an utter disgrace to have the words ‘Ninja’ or ‘Gaiden’ in front of it. Despite cyborg ninja Yaiba’s apparent talent with the sword (sadly limited to cutscenes), he is a complete brick to control. Buttons are unresponsive, dodging is completely useless, and the fight system is so terrible; old NG games let you interrupt and cancel your combo whenever you wanted to block or dodge (which was a necessity to survive), therefore shaving precious milliseconds off animations in order to USE said milliseconds to do something of worth. Unfortunately in Yaiba, when you press an attack button, you have to wait for the entire animation to complete its cycle before you can even think of blocking or dodging, leaving you open to attacks. The screen is so full of useless things that it makes it very, VERY hard to tell what is going on. Throw in some horribly implemented QTE’s and you certainly have a mixture of a terrible game.

Let’s not even mention the incredibly unfair difficulty. Ninja Gaiden has always been about tough but fair (for the most part) difficulty. NG2 may have gone overboard with the off-screen projectile spam but even that was a cakewalk compared to Yaiba. Fighting off hundreds of zombies is so easy that you could do it blindfolded, but then they throw in such a huge difficulty jump in the form of bosses that it’s completely unfair. Having to slice up zombies is all well and good, but to go from that to chipping away at slivers of health with bosses that can take out all your health in 2-3 hits is complete bullshit. The options to use potions is gone here, forcing you to “absorb” lesser foes in order to revive your health. It’s a decent premise, but here it’s an utter failure. Because of the mess of graphics and HUD and blood and explosions, it’s impossible to tell when you are able to grab an enemy to absorb their health, and during a boss fight if all enemies are dead, well then you are just completely and utterly fucked, forced to restart from the start and try your luck again.

The gameplay is much like the new theme of Ninja Gaiden; a zombie. A mindless, shambling, pathetic, and utterly disgraceful shadow of its former self. Yaiba should be a once in a lifetime level of bad, but Spark Unlimited have already proven just how pathetically low they can sink. The Uwe Boll of video games, Spark continue their trend of ruining decent premises. Yaiba will make you question why you play games, as it certainly made me question it.

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Please note: This is the review for both chapters of the Burial at Sea DLC. To get the full benefit of understanding and enjoyment of this downloadable chapter it is highly recommended you complete the main campaign of Bioshock: Infinite first. A decent knowledge of the first Bioshock game wouldn’t hurt either but is not essential.

Burial at Sea is set after the original game and continues the theme of ‘Constants and Variables’ among many other themes explored in the main game. Booker Dewitt has found sanctuary in the underwater city of Rapture, re-establishing his private investigators firm. A client Elizabeth (taking more of a femme fatale role), approaches Booker with a job. Elizabeth is being very vague of the details but divulges she has to find a girl named Sally. The two set out on the eve of 1959, right before the riots that eventually destroy the underwater utopia.

Irrational Games have taken the Unreal Engine 3 and re-created Rapture from the ground up. Bioshock Infinite was and is a visually amazing game, set amongst the glorious bright lively colours in the open spaces of Columbia; which are then perfectly contrasted by the darker, sombre, confined spaces that make Rapture. Visiting both the cities throughout the episodes comes as a perfectly timed change of pace to the story and a pleasure to be in once again.

As stunning as Bioshock is visually, the main emphasis of the series has always been the story telling. Utilising the strong, emotive voice talents of Troy Baker as Booker and Courtnee Draper as Elizabeth, combined with Ken Levine’s creative direction; is a masterpiece that culminates in a bitter-sweet yet perfect conclusion to the series and perfect send off for Irrational Games.

Burial At Sea arrives in two chapters, adding a few new elements of gameplay to each; the first primarily set in Rapture sees you controlling Booker. Introducing the mechanics of Bioshock: Infinite to Rapture, was a simple and elegant treat. Also being introduced are a set of new vigors/plasmids and a new weapon; the Radar Range. Episode 1 takes a more hostile approach in terms of open conflict and guns blazing in the confined limitations of Rapture.

Concluding in an only natural cliff hanger, the second chapter puts you in control of Elizabeth. Elizabeth is portrayed to be not quite as competent as Booker in the battlefield and in doing so is given a set of weaponry and plasmids that accommodate for her intended play skill. Stealth and evasion is what is suggested for her but ultimately I felt that I could just run and gun most of my adversaries on my review. Although the creations of the Rapture and Columbia segments are crafted wonderfully for stealth play through.

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Note: There is one thing that I need to mention before the review. This game will be around $50 in Australia. The cinematic experience by itself, without considering the replay value, is extremely short. So a huge part in your purchasing decision should be, determining the value of your own personal time. How much I value my time, may be completely different to how much you value yours. Personally, I got Ground Zeroes for roughly $40 through the US Playstation Network on the PS4, and I felt like I got my money’s worth.

Guys, here is a little reminder. Metal Gear solid 4 came out in 2008, and Peace Walker came out in 2010. Either way you look at it, it’s been quite a while since we have had some original MGS content. My frustrating bout with Vamp in MGS4 feels like a distant memory. Now with taste of Ground Zeroes on my pallet, the wait for Phantom Pain is going to be, well, painful (Forgive the pun).

I’m going to have to say it straight up, I can’t really comment on the story here. Ground Zeroes is so short, that I can only really give you a brief synopsis without pretty much describing the entire “Theatrical” experience. What I will say is that it does what it aimed to do, set up the story for The Phantom Pain. Think of it as an appetizer, it’s there to prepare you for what’s coming. In typical Kojima fashion it’s very cinematic, and engaging. The trademark Metal Gear insanity takes a little bit of a backseat here, but if you’re an MGS fan,I’m sure you’re going to buy this regardless. However, a warning for the newcomers. Ground Zeroes is technically the fourth game in this story arc, so there is quite a lot of backstory to cover. Thankfully GZ offers a way to bring you up to speed, but don’t expect to just jump in and understand what’s going on and why it’s important. Oh, heads up. It’s eleven pages of backstory. Have fun reading.

As mentioned previously, I got GZ on the Playstation 4. I haven’t played the game on Xbox 360 or PS3, so I can’t talk about the visual differences cross gen. If you’re interested, Kojima put out a graphics comparison video which you can find here. All you need to know is, I played the version that was in 1080p.

Ground Zeroes is our first hands on with the brand new and shiny FOX engine. Boy, oh boy is it pretty. Lens flare deluxe, weather effects, impressive lighting displays and a rock solid 60 frames per second are things you can look forward to gawking at. Then you have pop in issues, and some textures that look a little rough when you get up close and personal. For the most part it’s pretty smooth sailing.

As per usual, the sound in MGS is top notch. Guns have a kick, ambient noise makes you stay aware of your surroundings, and when things go awry the soundtrack does a damn good job making your situation feel all the more dire. Now for one of the many Elephants in the room, how’s the voice acting? I’ll say this now, by no means is Kiefer Sutherland doing a bad job as Big Boss. There was no point where I thought it was totally egregious. That being said, Snake doesn’t really talk much. Certainly not enough to decide if I’d prefer Kiefer Sutherland over David Hayter, let alone adjust to the change. Not to diminish all of the other talent, Robin Atkin Downes, Tara Strong, and Antony Del Rio return, reprise their roles and do a damn good job alongside everybody else.

A lot of controversy has been surrounding Ground Zeroes in the lead up of it’s release, most of it concerning the length of the game. Here’s the deal, Metal Gear Solid has always been a fairly linear and lengthy series. This is no longer the case, MGS is changing fairly significantly, while still retaining the excessive amount of detail that makes MGS so great. Much like Metal Gear Solid 4, the game plays a lot like your typical 3rd person shooter, for the most part controls are intuitive if you have played this type of game before. Snake also feels more agile then ever, the trade for this is that there is no more radar. If you want to keep track of enemies, you’re going to have to manually tag them by spotting them with your binoculars. This leads you to pay much more attention to your surroundings and assessing the situation, how will you handle the assassination of a target quietly if your suppressor is broken? Situations like this gives a chance to show off the new open world type system we can expect in The Phantom Pain. You’re given an objective, kicked out the door, and told to figure it out. That’s the beauty of Ground Zeroes, you figure it out.

The entire game takes place at Camp Omega; a Military black site, so there is a whole lot of things in the environment to take advantage of if you choose to. Want to do things fast and loud? hop on an AA gun and lay waste to everything around you. Want to infiltrate quietly? try hiding in the back of a truck. The amount of things to see and experiment with, is easily enough to warrant subsequent playthroughs. On top of that you have diverse side missions, more guns to unlock, collectibles, and a learderboard to compete with. Yes, you could finish the game in 2 hours. Yes, that speed runner did finish the game in 7 minutes, but he played through the game multiple times and learned the optimal route. Everyone has their preferences, some will come to this just for the story. Some will stay longer for the fun gameplay. It’s all down to how you play, and how much you value your own personal time. Mathematically, it may seem like a bad deal, a $40 demo. Personally, I thought it was worth it.

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Slight spoilers for the main game of The Last of Us to follow throughout the review. 

Following the conclusion of autumn, Joel and Ellie have fought off a gang of thugs at the University of Eastern Colorado. During the struggle, Joel contracts a life threatening wound and Ellie is left to fend for herself in the hope of finding treatment for Joel. The opportunity to aid Joel’s recovery may be found in the local shopping centre. After Ellie secures Joel’s safety, she sets off in search and the ensuing locals forces Ellie to reminisce of a time roughly three weeks prior to the main game.

Elle finds herself reflecting on a time shared with her best friend, Riley. The last time Ellie saw Riley was well over a month before she left the military boarding school they both reside in. After a brief reunion and a small reconciliation for Riley’s leaving, Riley talks Ellie into visiting a local deserted shopping centre.

The Last of Us still looks greater than a lot of current-gen games; the Left Behind DLC is no exception. It is graphically flawless, totes a powerful and perfectly timed soundtrack and perhaps most importantly the strength and emotion portrayed through the voice acting is breathtaking. However, all previous statements are testaments that go hand in hand with the Last of Us and for that you can check out our review here.

I am going to focus on Naughty Dog’s work in creating such an interesting and heart felt chapter as the main point of Presentation. Not only is Ellie’s compassionate nature in full swing as she strives to bring Joel to full heath but in her flash back segments, you are treated to a different side of Ellie. A more naive, slightly more innocent and what feels like her being completely ignorant to the true horrors outside her quarantine zone. Basically Naughty Dog have portrayed a much more fragile Ellie in Left Behind, she isn’t quite the totally tough teenager yet that she will become.

It is the relationship between Ellie and Riley that is truly magnificent throughout this journey. The chemistry between Ashley Johnson (Ellie) and Yaani King (Riley) is the pinnacle of the DLC and without spoiling anything, the events they experience throughout their journey reinforce their strong individual characteristics and the strength of their unique relationship. Naughty Dog has completed another marvellous job in character development.

It’s been quite a long time since I last booted up The Last Of Us, i’m sure it’s the same for you. Thankfully, Naughty Dog has acknowledge that it has been over six months between initial launch of the game and the launch of the DLC. When setting up your three hour journey, the option for more generous on screen tutorials are available and greatly appreciated.

Whilst the Left Behind DLC has a more explorative and character developmental focus rather than conflict; there is a great addition to the gameplay which was not in the original game. When the player is confronted by both opposing humans and infected at the same time. You can utilise the environment to turn the Humans and Infected against each other. This is an amazing aspect of the DLC that really immerses you further into this world. After the turmoil concludes it is then at your discretion to engage the remaining forces or to stealthily sneak by undetected.

There are no other new features in the gameplay but that is perfectly acceptable. What is present is more than enough to work with. A small gripe I found was that the unmistakeable ping of the hint button chiming at frequent intervals. Majority of the time this pulled me out of an extremely immersive section of the game.

I definitely felt that the Left Behind chapter was not as emotionally involved as the main game. It did do an
absolutely brilliant job of portraying Ellie as a truer more grounded teenager, the awkward stages of this point in her life are difficult enough without the added stress that the world she lives in forces upon her.

With the character development and exploration being the main focus of the DLC, it does open up for a few fun and engaging mini game segments. With an excellent reference to Jak-X included for fans of the developers to chuckle over. The three hour journey perfectly jumps between a present day predicament and flashback portions, leaving you on the edge of your seat, hanging to find out what happens next.

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Both of the Final Fantasy X games take place within the world of Spira – a world that has gone thorugh a golden age of industrialism, brought about by a mysterious advanced civilisation and their own creations, the machinery known simple as the machine. However, to ensure that civilisation does not rely too much on its progression, a colossal and malevolent entity known as Sin is conjured to the land every thousand or so years to destroy everything. Only the grand summoner can take down Sin, and Tidus, a man who survived a Sin attack, accompanies Yuna on an adventure to awaken her true power as a summoner.

Final Fantasy X-2 takes place roughly two years after the conclusion to the original game, and sees Yuna adapting a new persona and a new role within society as a bounty hunter of sorts. But when she sees someone looking like Tidus, who she has since fallen out of contact with, she enlists her most trusted femme fatales, Rikku and Paine, on an adventure to discover the truth behind this mysterious apparition and the forces that may be related to it.

The story in both the Final Fantasy X games are surprisingly rather good for a Japanese RPG. They aren’t unnecessarily convoluted like earlier 3D Final Fantasy games and they tend to touch upon stories and issues that might occur in real life – such as the use of religion to exploit the fears of the masses or the ramifications of over-reliance on technology. Combine this exploration of themes with some genuinely likeable characters and Final Fantasy X’s narrative still stands up today. It’s biggest downfall, however, is just how cliché it is.

HD Remaster’s primary drawcard is that it sports a fresh new look for games that are over thirteen years old now. The backgrounds have been revamped to provide a greater degree of clarity to its standard definition counterparts as well as add detail. Most of this detail in the environments thankfully steers away from anachronism – providing a fresh new look while retaining elements that made the origins so fantastic.

What doesn’t feel the same is easily the character models themselves, which have been completely upgraded to the point where it seems as if they have been rebuilt from the ground and up. The supporting cast are fine – but the main characters (namely Tidus and Yuna) themselves appear to be “over-stylised”. That is, they look so ridiculously smooth that they look almost comical and less realistic. To make matters worse, the new models seem to have trouble syncing their speech to speech animations and it results in a notably worse lip syncing performance throughout the entire game. It was bad in the original version due to the syncing to an originally Japanese voice track, but it’s even worse here in HD Remaster. It’s not all bad news, however, as the full motion video cutscenes, which rarely survive the transition to HD without some kind of degradation of visual quality, have made the move in one piece and still look fantastic.

Besides these issues (that are entirely subjective based on personal tastes, by the way), on a visual level, both Final Fantasy X and X-2 both look fantastic. These aren’t full blown remakes to the point where they are unrecognisable – but every meticulous detail (besides what has been explained above) has been recreated to look fantastic on any modern television set. Even smaller details have been added in to give life to the game – including a completely revamped GUI for the option and battle menus, as well as pulsating animations for paths along the sphere grid and certain weapons. All in all, a lot of care has gone into the little details to make things look more alive within the game world.

It’s quite rare that a remaster of this caliber would receive the full treatment and feature a remastered score too, but several of the tracks in both Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 have been remastered to give them a lot more depth and impact. Considering how well constructed the soundtrack of the game was all those years ago, it’s astounding that the team has managed to expand on these tracks to help give them more impact to the games scenes and set pieces. Voice work is still quite cheesy but generally speaking the cast all give good performances (especially considering the material they have to work with). The HD remaster is alleged to feature improved audio for the voice work too.

For the most part, both Final Fantasy X and X-2 play similarly to how they played all those years ago. And despite the time that has passed, they still play quite well. However, it may be to player preference as to whether a turn based battle system still is enjoyable today (especially after the advent of games like Kingdom Hearts). If players aren’t fans of this style of battle, neither X or X-2 will win them over. Despite the limitations of a turn-based battle system, both games manage to feel fast paced.

X is a rather pedestrian affair – allowing players to input commands and watch them play out in order, though it is one of the only turn-based games where a higher speed stat means that a player will be able to act more than once in one turn (given the right circumstance). X-2, on the other hand, is much faster paced and rewards players who input their commands faster (and even simultaneously) rather than waiting around. The game also feels a lot more active – requiring input during certain moves to maximise damage. This kind of “active” way of battling, that is, requiring input from the player after they’ve chosen their initial commands, helps the game feel less monotonous and would later be implemented into many role playing games. Both systems still stand the test of time, and are especially enjoyable.

Character progression in X is handled via the Sphere Grid – a giant board game of sorts where players unlock the ability to move spaces as they level up. Using a “sphere” on a space will unlock the characteristics of that sphere (Ie. “Learn Ability: Fire” or “Attack +2”). Two versions of this board are available – the traditional one which gears each character towards a specific role, and a new schema (new for PAL region players, called “Expert Mode”) where players can craft each team member individually as they see fit on a separate board. The Sphere Grid is an interesting way to implement the traditional “levelling up” mechanic in a role playing game, and to this day it still feels just as unique as it did previously upon its original release. The Sphere Grid consists of hundreds of different nodes too, as players who are keen enough can experiment with different builds on repeat plays.

Progression in X-2 is a completely different system that harkens back to the traditional, job-based Final Fantasy games. Each of the three player girls can equip “Dresspheres”, costumes which grant unique powers depending on which one is equipped at any given time. Each of the playable characters can take up to six dresspheres at a time into battle and switch between them at will – effectively allowing players to adjust their strategy mid-battle to adjust to their enemies. The Dressphere system allows players to earn new abilities simply by using each of them in battle, which encourages players to experiment to unlock a worthwhile slew of abilities to use. To add an extra layer of strategy to the battle, changing dresspheres in specific orders during battle can grant the player extra benefits or buffs.

There’s heaps to see and do in Spira between main quests too, with both games featuring a veritable plethora of side quests and mini-games to indulge in. Both games will take roughly forty to fifty hours to complete on just a simple, story based run with a few distractions – while completionists will easily get at least sixty hours out of each. Combined, that’s a lot of game to play and even better – none of it really gets too old or droning. X-2, in particular, features a mission based system that removes filler content (like wandering vast landscapes endlessly) and provides a more open-ended experience.

Most recent remasters improve the visuals and little else, offering no reason for players of the original to return besides fleeting nostalgia. X and X-2 HD Remaster includes a treasure trove of new content for the player, assuming they haven’t imported international versions back when the games released. Besides the two main games, HD Remaster also includes “Eternal Calm”, a fifteen minute bridge between X and X-2. It also includes “Last Mission”, a rogue-like follow-up to X-2 which sees the girls reuniting to tackle a multi-story tower. It’s a nice idea, but its ending is ultimately depressing and quite uncharacteristic for a game as happy-go-lucky as X-2. Completely new to the HD Remaster is “-Will-“, a thirty minute audio drama that details the fate of the major characters in Spira. All this content is great, and for those who are returning it’s all selectable from the beginning too.

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Dark Souls 2 is a difficult game. Yes, the ‘Souls’ franchise IS difficult by nature, but no, this is a difficult game to review.

It’s remarkable just how much Dark Souls had changed over the course of its launch to the PTD (Prepare To Die edition, the final form the game had taken) launch. The game was a completely different species by the end. First time players and reviewers were jumping into a terribly unforgiving game with brutal, brutal difficulty. Online wasn’t as popular, stats were different, soul drops were lower, humanity drops were even lower. The PTD patch had changed a lot of things, and having started off playing the post-patch edition (and beaten it twice), I found myself stuck only a few hours into the pre-patch. Guides were something of a myth, YT personalities like EpicNameBro and Vitya weren’t so prominent and reviewers talked about the infamous ‘chain of pain’ email that they so desperately relied on (the article that details this struggle is absolutely fascinating, and is yet another example why Dark Souls was so remarkable at the time). I have no doubt Dark Souls 2 will face a similar evolution.

We have also confirmed that Dark Souls 2 New Game+ will be a nearly completely different experience to the first playthrough, and not only that, it will drastically affect the lore. Obviously the NG+ option is a part of Dark Souls that is so large that it’s considered criminal to ignore it, but again, this review only touches upon the first playthrough, as I had struggled to finish the game in time for release. In this light, I urge you to read this as more of a guide of whether you should buy it or not (and relative to your previous experiences with Souls games) and more of an exploration of the game and the base mechanics, and less of a detailed intrinsic analysis and exploration of the more advanced nuances of DSII, which is something I will definitely do a couple of months down the road.

as of review, the Dark Souls II online servers are not activated. Unfortunately another crux of the Souls series cannot be touched on here (or in most, if any reviews) because it’s simply not activated for us. Thus the online part of the game, some would say the best part of the series, is not reviewed here. Does this make my review not worth reading? Of course not, I’ve spent hours upon hours with both Dark Souls before patch and Dark Souls PTD, with Demon’s Souls, and of course, with this instalment. But as always, you must take this review with a grain of salt because the Souls franchise is far more unique than other games. A playthrough or revisit of DSII in 3-6 months time would prove far more beneficial than just playing now and ignoring it for the next year. Without further ado, let us prepare to die.

The world of Drangleic is the story. Well, there is an official story, which involves the player trying to find a cure for their curse, while not directly set after Dark Souls, it is aesthetically linked to it. No, outright handholding with storytelling was never the point of Dark Souls. To really invest in it, one must go and find a story. The world of Drangleic is full of information, and while the dialogue and cutscenes are minimal, they do enough to convey what needs to be said (most cutscenes are dedicated to introducing a boss that will in all honesty kill you). Item descriptions, level design, NPC’s are around for the journey and to help you get to know the world of Drangleic a bit better, but it’s a story that doesn’t present itself outright, and doesn’t feel like it needs to.

Dark Souls 2 is something of a mixed bag in terms of visuals. Escaping the barren tunnels and oppressive landscape of the tutorials and into the sun drenched hub of Manjula is as breathtaking as taking your first steps out of the vault in Fallout 3. Without a doubt, Dark Souls 2 carries some absolutely breathtaking environments. Each area carries a distinct personality and some areas absolutely astound, with breathtaking visuals of delightfully decrepit forests or of gorgeous castles, which quickly lead to fear as you encounter the incredibly deadly enemies that haunt these places. The new engine is fascinating on a physics perspective: right off the bat you’ll notice the gorgeous cloth physics that affect the armour and clothes you wear, as you walk and sprint down a corridor and the tattered robes of your armour wave and flow behind you, you’ll notice the immediate upgrade from the first game.

The lighting engine is also fairly solid: holding out your torch to light a dim cave or slowly creeping down a corridor with a slowly depleting light source looks gorgeous. Even the simple act of lighting a bonfire is remarkable and memorable: something that will reinvigorate your joy and hopefully motivate you to trudge onwards through the dark dangerous world of Drangleic. Unfortunately, the differences between pre-release and the final review copy are perplexing. From Software had stated that the torch would be a necessity in certain areas, having to choose between having a light source or shielding yourself, yet there was no area that necessitated the NEED of a light source. Sure, places were dark and dim, but they were manageable without a torch.

Up close the visuals are pretty unimpressive. Rough edges and the graphics engine is quite old. Yes, From Software know how to pull off a unique aesthetic and memorable environments, but the outdated visuals hit hard, and the frame rate, while steady, does tend to chug heavily. If anything, I remain very excited for the PC release to see if the same problems will remain or disappear (though comparison videos have shown that the E3 demos were most likely run on PC’s).

Those of little faith and the legions of people who cried in horror when From Software stated the game would be more accessible and easier can rest easy. Dark Souls 2 is possibly the hardest instalment of the series so far, and sometimes not for the right reasons.

Dark Souls 2 feels very much like Demon’s Souls, rather than a sequel to Dark Souls. The UI for instance is very reminiscent of Demon’s, every death will knock off your health bar permanently and the level up system happens through one lady instead of at bonfires. The now trademark trial by fire combat is not only maintained here, but upgraded and near perfected. The controls have been tightened so you can’t blame the sloppy controls for your cause of death anymore (something very prevalent in the first). While death very much remains part of the journey, it’s a shame that such a harsh punishment is given with each death: a decent portion of your health bar goes down with each death up to 50% total, unless you use a Human Effigy, something that is very rare throughout the first third of the game. It doesn’t make sense to punish you so harshly for trying to learn from your mistakes, while some people can see it as motivation to NOT fail. Regardless, I found the penalty to be quite harsh.

In terms of actual combat, yes, it is amazing. Dark Souls II is a finely crafted puzzle of observing enemy patterns, and countering said patterns with carefully placed strikes and precision damage. Having to learn the speed and strength of your weapons is essential: a sword swing too slow is the difference between life and death. Having to pick the right weapon for the right situation is more necessary than ever, and the new 3 weapon limit (six with both hands) is a welcome addition. Dual wielding is a viable option now, sacrificing defence for more damage, and it’s thrilling to quickly change to dual swords, deal some lethal damage and quickly retreat with shield back on hand. Dark Souls II is unforgiving, and From’s attempts to one-up its predecessor is fairly evident: crowd combat is now a common thing, and is incredibly hard to come out of unscathed. Having not only to dodge and counter one enemy, but 3 or 4 is a dance of death that you may very well come out the losing side of many many times. It could be seen as difficult bordering on unfair, but no, death is never the game’s fault, it is only through the player’s failure that they can learn and adapt.

While many people tended to stick to one build and go with it, in Dark Souls II it’s encouraged to experiment with ranged, magic and bigger weapons. Ranged weapons can be used while moving (a huge tactical advantage) and every move now uses stamina (including magic). Having a giant weapon can trigger an execution move, while using daggers can trigger bleeding. Yes, great care has been given to the weapons system, and it’s here where Dark Souls II shines.

Stamina was always important but in Dark Souls II it’s so essential you’ll pool many points to raise the bar. Stamina depletes even quicker then previously, and taking hits and dodging will quickly see your stamina drain to nothing, leaving you open to a deadly attack. The concept of parrying and backstabbing are essentially the same, with slightly different timings depending on the weapon sets you end up using. Weapon degradation now happens at an alarmingly fast pace, but this is remedied by being instantly fixed as soon as you rest at a bonfire; a change that I found quite confusing and arbitrarily pointless. Healing items are more plentiful, and the trademark Estus flask is also readily available.

It’s the small things that make Dark Souls II a better experience: travelling between bonfires is now available right from the start and the item box is automatically given to you. Having the option to travel between any bonfire that had been unlocked was a great way to revisit past areas, and a great way to encourage repeat exploration and certain grinding exploits (something that is curbed sometime towards the endgame) without having to trudge through the same paths over and over. Yes, Dark Souls II is more accessible and it’s all for the right reasons. The difficulty is crushing, but it’s always surmountable. While there was nothing like Ornstein or Smough (solo) here, each fight is a reward or punishment in itself.

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Thief is set in a dying city overruled by the tyrant Baron. You play the role of Garret, the lonely master thief. As the city falls apart Garret finds himself thrown among a revolution he does not want to take part in. The revolting citizens will try anything to get the city back from the hand of the Baron. The revolution is coming, and if Garret doesn’t get involved the streets will run red with blood and the city will tear itself apart.

As a master thief there is nothing out of your reach. Precious possessions, gold and secrets. If you listen closely you will find even greater prizes. The main story centres around the fact that Garret awakes after he has been missing for a year. Completing jobs and travelling the city you will find small clues that will unravel the untold mystery behind your missing time.

Thief is a very dark and dull game, but it does have real beauty within. Amongst the many shades of black you will find a dash of colour that will contrast beautifully. This could range from the flickering of a fire, the shine of gold or the scarlet red of a rose petal. Thief has some fantastic colourful moments that really does take your breath away. Eidos have made some mistakes though. With frame rate issues plaguing certain areas and textures popping in and out, they really did drop the ball in a few instances. As you travel around you will find some unique conversations that slowly become very repetitive and soon ignored.

Although the story is compelling and really grabs your attention, the lack of overall colour and the repetitive nature of the textures and sounds, makes it hard to play for a large amount of time. Although the story will keep you wanting to finish it, it does become a chore in some cases. The overall product definitely doesn’t represent what Eidos said this game would be.

Thief is a first person stealth game that introduced a lot of great mechanics. With running, climbing, and sneaking, you have the ability to move around the world in a variety of styles. Although you can choose how you approach a situation, you only have one choice on how to do it, stealth! If you do not sneak past the guards you will die. The sneak mechanic seems like it could’ve been pulled from a variety of other games. Sneaking is ignited by clicking on the left analog stick. You have the ability to slide which will allow you to get around in the quickest way. Travelling large distances becomes a hassle because you can’t run without alerting the guards, so your only option is to sneak. Sneaking is unbearably slow and the map layout makes it impossible to get anywhere fast. There are a number of bows and a mace to use in the game but these are purely about knocking the enemy down in order to get away. The game is about stealing and sneaking not bashing your enemies heads in.

The 3rd person climbing mechanic works great if you’re next to something you can climb, but these instances are few and far between. The focus vision mechanic works great but you only use it to find traps or loot. With the blue glow staying after you turn it off you will be spamming the button to turn it on and off and save your focus bar. With no Regen on your health or focus bar, you have to make sure you have food and poppies stacked up in your inventory at all times. You have an impressive array of equipment to use but there isn’t an instance where you really need them. The only equipment you will find yourself using is the rope arrows to get to high places. Except the rope arrows only have specific areas you can use it, making it useless everywhere else.

There are small quick time events to get between areas but they’re identical every single time. The lock picking is so simple that they could’ve left it out. It definitely felt more gimmicky than anything. The only difficult puzzles are the safes located in random areas. You need to find the combination which is usually located within the immediate area, whether it be in a document or on the environment. You will be constantly spamming the X button to pick up loot and open draws.

The save feature is irrelevant, hiding in cupboards is almost unnecessary, so finding that feature was very difficult. The peek feature is useless, if you stay in the dark they can’t see you, so there is no need to peek around the corners. You can blow out candles and hit fire with water arrows to create more darkness, or you can find a better path that is already dark.

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Gran Turismo 6 is a game that has baffled many people since it’s announcement. Speculation began when series creator, Kazunori Yamauchi said that his team had started work on GT6 in 2011. After heavy speculation, Gran Turismo 6 was finally announced on May 15th, 2003. Despite being announced after the PS3, it was confirmed to be a PS3 title.

As to be expected, Gran Turismo 6 looks incredible on the Playstation 3. The car models are extremely realistic and the tracks are beautifully detailed. The damage engine still leaves a bit to be desired. This is something that the game has never fully captured and I was hoping for more from this iteration. As always, the in-game photo capture is a hoot. It’s really amazing to be able to take photos of your realistic looking cars in different scenarios.

Another huge improvement are the weather effects and the day/night transitions. Both really add to the overall look and feel of the game and make the environments that little bit more dynamic. The game installs as you play it so load times are a lot less of a problem this time around. The first track will probably be the longest load screen that you encounter but as time goes, these will shorten to an unnoticeable amount of time.

The first thing that you’ll notice when you boot up the game is the impressive main menu. It is spread across multiple panels and gives you access to career, car dealerships tuning features and a host of other things. The well-presented menu makes tracks and cars an absolute joy to sort through. It’s a huge improvement from Gran Turismo 5 in every way.

The tracks in Gran Turismo 6 are some of the series best. There are 37 locations with about 100 different layouts. This ensures that you won’t get sick of the same repetitive tracks in a hurry. There are a total of 6 grades to get through which will take you quite a while. When it comes to racing, the most noticeable improvement is the new suspension model. It’s obvious from the get go in the sense that cars respond better to sharp turns and hitting the curb feels more realistic.

This is most noticeable in the higher-end cars. Super cars which are weightier now feel much heavier and respond this way when turning corners. Karts on the other hand have much more control. This ends up being a much more rewarding experience and really puts you in control of your vehicle, so if you crash, it’s most likely going to be your fault. There are times where I still felt that the AI lacked a little in comparison to the Forza series.

There are over 1200 vehicles available within the game. You can buy all of these through the dealerships and thankfully the used car system has been removed. Gran Turismo 6 introduces the Recommended Cars area. The good thing about this system is that it suggests which cars you should buy based on your career grade and discipline, making it much easier for you in return. One of the biggest surprises is the introduction of micro transactions. All of the cars are available without them but they’re an effort to get.

Local multiplayer is a slight disappointment due to the fact that customization options are limited. Online is a whole different story. Gran Turismo 6 introduces seasonal events and other traditional racing modes. Finding a game is extremely easy and I had a great time playing with real racers.

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Man, oh man, ever since Final Fantasy XIII’s international release in 2010, the FF fandom has been divided. Those who enjoy the Final Fantasy XIII series, and those who don’t. I am in the former of the two groups, which is definitely the minority. I feel that FF13 and 13-2 were unfairly treated, just because 13 was really linear, for the most part. They are both good games in their own right, and I wish more people would understand that. Over the years of defending the XIII series on message boards and in arguments with my friends, I have found myself really emotionally invested to the series. So here it is, the final installment to the XIII saga I’ve been waiting for since that gut wrenching cliff hanger in XIII-2. Here is my review for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

The first thing I should mention about the story that should be obvious by now is that this is the final part of the XIII trilogy. If you’re looking to jump into the Final Fantasy XIII saga, I have to highly recommend that you play Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2, watch all the cutscenes or at the very least watch this short recap that Square-Enix pushed out last week.

The reason I say this, is because Lightning Returns is very unfriendly to new players to the franchise in terms of story. You could roughly piece together what has happened in the previous two games, but you don’t get all the information you need until pretty late in the game; until then, you’re left in the dark.

If you are like myself, you have gone through the previous two games and have an emotional investment to the story. So you shouldn’t have any trouble understanding what’s going on with the exception of the beginning of the game. It starts similar to Final Fantasy XIII-2 in a sense that it just throws you into the situation without an explanation to start with. The jist of the story is that Lightning has awoken from her crystal stasis to a world that is on the brink of destruction. She is appointed as savior by god, and it’s her job to save as many souls as possible before the world ends. The core cast of the previous two games return in one way or another, in a world filled with despair and devoid of hope what happens when the unbreakable are broken?

These story settings and themes certainly allows us to see a new side of the characters we haven’t really seen before in the series, and sets up for some really touching moments in typical Final Fantasy style. Themes of love, hope, and light make their strong return and if you have played enough Final Fantasy games you should know what to expect. Some love it and some don’t; I’m in the former of those two. Lightning Returns is much easier to follow than the convoluted stories of the previous two games, that being said, the story of this installment is for the people that stuck with the XIII saga until now.

I’m in two minds when it comes to the presentation for Lightning returns, as usual, Square-Enix shows off their CG muscles with some breath-taking cutscenes. The OST is a mix of styles of the music in XIII and XIII-2, so at some points, you have some beautifully orchestrated symphonies and in others, Metal and Hard Rock. Music is subjective, so if you enjoy it or not is completely up to you. A mixed soundtrack is a good way to accentuate both differing styles though, so it works in my mind.

When it comes to Voice Acting, I have a tough time judging it. The main cast returns to reprise their roles, and they are what you expect, unfortunately, there weren’t any stand out moments of excellence, but there were no terrible lines either; unless you count some of the sidequests that are really campy and awkward. There are some standout visual issues in game though, the frame rate is something I would hardly call “stable”, Which is a huge problem for me, seeing as one of my pet peeves is an unstable frame rate.

While the environments are diverse, the nature of some of these environments means that the frame drops a lot, like the bustling city of Yussnan is certainly lively, but my frames are dead in the water. Aiming to do a lot of AOE Damage? A quick Runiga followed by a Blizzara will certainly tank that frame rate. The point is, this game buckles under the load it’s given a lot.

Behind the frame problems though, there is some beautiful animation, character design and environments that won’t leave you without something to look at. I also love that the gear you give Lightning shows up on in-game cut-scenes now. It’s a give and take situation that somewhat ends up breaking even in my mind. Man, frame rate issues really rub me the wrong way.

The Final Fantasy XIII saga feels like an encapsulation of an idea, implementation, refinement and now evolution. Lightning Returns is mechanically dense, so expect things to get heavy really quick. The biggest change in my opinion, is probably the battle system. I feel that the comparison a lot of people are going to make, is that it is a cross between X-2 and XIII which is unfairly dismissing it. Lightning Returns takes the combat system from XIII(-2) and kicks it up a notch. You still have the basics of the paradigm shift system, which is that you can change what you are mid battle.

What you are in battle, is up to you. Commandos, Ravagers, Sentinels, Synergists, Saboteurs and Medics are a thing of the past. Let me explain, instead of being tied to class archetypes, you have three Schema (Equipment loadouts) you can switch between while in battle, these three Schemas can be customized to your whim. They consist of a garb, weapon, shield, accessories, and four attacks or spells you can assign to the Facebuttons; there is a lot of room to make your playstyle work.

Want a fast attacking damage dealer? It’s possible. Want a high defense saboteur (debuffer)? You can do that too. A huge part of how your classes play is in the garb, of which there are many in Lightning Returns, and all of them have their  own specialties. The battles themselves feel akin to an ARPG, with each Schema having it’s own ATB with many segments. depending on how your Schemas work , most of the time you will be attacking, evading or blocking. You never really stop moving, it’s a lot of fun and exhilarating. The stagger system also returns from the previous two games, in the form of a wavelength that appears with the enemies’ health bar. It’s not as clear and concise as the bar in previous two games, so it can be a little irritating at times, but once you learn each of enemies stagger conditions, that situation resolves itself pretty quickly.

Outside of battles and Schema customization is a giant numbers game. It’s all about time management. Your goal is to survive the maximum amount of days, and finish all the main quests given to you in each area within those days. Think of it as Majora’s Mask without the time travel. Unfortunately, the world can end prematurely, so on top of finishing those main quests, you need to extend the remaining time left by saving souls, which you mostly do by completing side-quests. If you collect enough souls by the end of the day, time will extend, which makes Side-quests more or less, mandatory. Whichever ones you do however, Is completely up to you. The harder the sidequest, the bigger soul you get.

Consider it this way, should you do a lot of simple side quests? Or risk a lot of time by doing a complicated one? Time management is the core of this game. From doors that only open at certain times, to the fact that there is no dying, when you fall in battle and have no reviving option, your only alternative left is to escape which costs you an hour in game time. Unlike the terrible time I had in Dead Rising 1, the time management in Lightning Returns is oddly enjoyable.

Lightning Returns follows the trend of it’s predecessors and doesn’t have your typical leveling system; matter of fact, there is no leveling at all. Stat improvements come in the form of quest rewards. Of course, you also improve with better gear, with the aforementioned Schemas, but for the most part though, they are only available via vendors or story progression. Grinding is pretty optional in Lightning Returns. The only annoying thing I really discovered while roaming around the world of Lightning Returns, is that sometimes the game asked for some precise platforming, which it isn’t really built for, luckily these moments are few and far between.

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Set in New Orleans towards the end of the French and Indian War (1765 and 1777). You play the role of Aveline de Grandpré, an African-French Assassin and the first female protagonist for the Assassins Creed series.

During your time in Assassins Creed Liberation, you will scale the heights of a bustling 18^th century New Orleans and navigate the boggy crocodile infested marsh that is the Bayou. Aveline’s personal journey is quite intriguing, having lost her mother from an early age and ending up joining the Assassins Brotherhood in secrecy from her adopted family. Aveline does what she can to do what she feels is right, by liberating slaves, aiding her adopted family and uncovering what really happened to her mother.

Like all Assassin’s Creed games there is a present day aspect but it takes more of a back seat approach in liberations; passing off Aveline’s tale as a form of interactive media from Abstergo, the front for the Templar organisation and enemy of the Assassins.

Utilizing the same engine that Assassins Creed 3 was based on (Anvil Next), Liberations looks below standard in comparison to AC3; even the HD remastering didn’t really appear to have helped the visuals. The scope of New Orleans is quite small in size and quality, but we must remember that this title was first on the Vita. The architecture is simplistic, with timbre based buildings mixed with the local flora that makes traversal a breeze. Perhaps the better of the locations explored during your adventure is the Bayou; fallen trees and hanging branches are a joy to navigate though (when it works) and I feel that the creation of the Bayou is certainly one of the games strongest points.

Voice acting was a mismanaged portion of the game. My first missions in the bayou threw off my sense of immersion due to the poor voice acting from the natives, they didn’t sound convincing, and all in all, it was just a poor performance. This however was just one instance that stuck with me as Aveline herself was fortunately,  a well cast figure. To accompany this experience is a quality soundtrack that invokes a sense of mysticism and tension,  Particularly throughout bayou missions where you can’t help but feel that there is a touch of voodoo in the air.

Liberation is easily the most streamlined of the Assassins Creed games to date, not hesitating to dive right into the action and unleash Aveline in New Orleans and a few surrounding areas.  For the re-release of Liberations, Ubisoft have removed a few of the Vita specific missions where tools such as the camera or touch screen were required, but the experience is not hindered by this transition what so ever.

Aveline controls like all Assassins in the series, making it a comfortable swap between games, but unfortunately her interactivity in her world is beyond painful. The system fails to recognize movements and doesn’t interact within its world at all. Attempting to scale a ladder and dismounting at the base of a slanted roof saw Aveline fail to recognize the difference in heights over and over again, making her fall, igniting my frustration. This wasn’t an isolated event, it happened many times whilst on missions, causing a fail and of course, the impending restart.

There are a few new variations to the Assassins Creed formula not seen before that do provide some unique variations. Aveline with her French-African heritage utilises differing outfits for various missions, but obviously, the most iconic is the Assassin’s outfit. The second is a lady’s outfit where she is a well-dressed, respectable member of the community and finally is the slave outfit, where she dons a raggedy set of run down clothes. Each of these outfits gains and loses varying abilities. The Assassin’s outfit allows her to perform all of the assassin’s usual techniques, but gains notoriety much faster. The slave can free run but has lower health and fewer weapons and finally, the lady cannot free run and is limited to only one weapon. It was a well thought out mechanic that I found enjoyable and made certain missions much more approachable and understandable.

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Trine 2 takes place sometime after the conclusion of the first game. Our three heroes, Amadeus The Zizard, Pontius The Knight and Zoya The thief are summoned by the Trine. The Trine is a sort of watchful protector of the land and summons the trio when trouble lurks. Trouble certainly is brewing, the kingdom is in disarray as the forest seems to be growing a mind of its own and the goblins have taken over the castle. To add to the trio’s already growing list of problems it seems a mysterious witch is watching their progress and is soon to reveal her intentions.

Trine’s graphical presentation is phenomenal; the vast array of colours that are produced is breathtaking. Frozenbyte reinvent the rainbow with the spectre of colours on display. The levels range from forests, castles, icy caverns, dungeons, underwater and even lava filled pits. Apart from the already mentioned fabulous colours on display, each individual level is bursting with details that deepen the experience. The trio’s voice acting isn’t anything special but they don’t get a great deal of opportunity to talk apart from a few humorous wisecracks now and then. The majority of the story is narrated through enchanting story book segments at the beginning of each level whilst it loads. The narrator is cast superbly and tells an interesting story, setting the atmosphere for each level. Each level’s accompanying soundtrack is unique and emotive and does a great job of adding to the experience.

The Trine is a mysterious relic that bounds the three characters into one, making things much easier for the player or players involved. Throughout your adventure the three characters will use their specific traits to solve a series of physics based puzzles which incorporate a couple of the elements as well as magic and gravity.

Amadeus uses his wizardry skills for the puzzle solving, he can conjure up planks or boxes and even levitate certain objects. Pontius is the muscle of the group doing most of the battling against the enemies and Zoya uses her agility and archery skills. Each character has a skill tree which can be developed through the collection of vials in-game. The branches offer more tools which can be used for puzzles and attack. Zoya for example can shoot flamed arrows, Pontius can use his shield to glide and Amadeus can conjure more than one object at a time.

Three players can join in the adventure either locally or online. Locally works fine and is great fun with a bunch of mates. The exact same goes for online where players can drop in and out as they please and your unlocked skills transfer no matter where you go. Online flowed smoothly without a hiccup but I feel it may be worth mentioning that using Amadeus levitating skills resulted in a jerky, imprecise and uncontrollable experience. Also from what I could tell, there was no online chat.

The puzzles offer a great challenge that have a good steady rate of increasing difficulty. Time and time again players will sing the accomplished “Ah-hah!” moment. Replay-ability comes not only great multiplayer available but also through the collection of secrets such as poems and portraits that dive deeper into the lore of Trine.

The PS4 entry offers a few unique opportunities to control actions of your player through the use of the Dual Shock 4’s touchpad. Aiming Zoya’s bow, levitating items with Amadeus or defending Pontius with his shield can all be controlled through the touch pad. Of course if this isn’t comfortable for you it has been mapped to right thumb stick.

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Set in the not too distant future, you are recruited by the Solaris Corporation. You goal is to mine the planet mars for precious resources that the earth is in desperate need for. The already scarce amounts on earth have created uneasy agreements between the governments. However, on Mars something else seems to be just as unsettling.

From the moment I booted up Super Motherload I couldn’t help but feel like I was playing an arcade game loosely based on Total Recall. This is a huge credit to the game’s presentation. The sound track is upbeat and full of synthesizing that feels so natural and welcoming on such a remote foreign location, yet strangely reminiscent of the film. Perhaps the biggest association that connects that movie to this game is the dry heat that Mars entails. In the game there is no mention of heat but the way the game portrays mars will certainly have you heating up and cranking your fan or air conditioner.

There is a very loose story in the game with some considerably strong voice work accompanying the scenes. However, most of the time communications are just read off the screen.

As the player you can select one of four individual miners to begin your job. Characters don’t have differing abilities, just the aesthetics of your character inside are different. Upon arriving on the Mars you are simply tasked to dig, collecting gold, silvers and other precious jewels. Only ever surfacing to unload a full load of cargo, to refuel, repair your rig or upgrade your rig. There is a great array of upgrades available ranging from the obvious such as fuel and cargo capacity, to the well thought out drill bit strength and rotor speed.

Super Motherload’s fun wears out extremely quickly. The fun and adventurous exploration transforms into a tedious repetitious system. You get stuck in a pattern which involves digging until your fuel is empty or cargo is full, returning to the surface to unload, refuelling, repairing then maybe buying an upgrade then go again. Unfortunately even participating in the games local multiplayer doesn’t make it any more fun.

As you progress deeper and deeper into the core of Mars, service centres or outposts are found which serve the same purpose of the surface base. As you get deeper, a few puzzles are thrown at you which entice the player with a reward of high paying gems and are generally completed with an array of bombs that explode in their corresponding name.

Although a PS4 launch title, it offers little in terms of PS4 specific features, you can use the touch pad to select your bombs but you can do that on the L1 or R1 buttons. Running out of fuel offered no serious consequence to the player, no loss of cargo; no respawn at the top minus x amount for towing or anything along those lines. You simply just move slower as you climb up and up to your closest outpost.

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You play as Dawn, Didi’s imaginary friend and master of the shadows. Didi is unfortunately going through a tough time at the moment; her father recently having left her and her mother. However she still misses him and wants him to come back. Whilst her mother is routinely working at the local club where she sings, Didi with the aid of Dawn manages to arrive in time to listen to her performance. Afterwards overhearing a few interesting revelations regarding her family, she endeavours to get to the bottom of these discoveries.

Taking place in a beautifully crafted early 1900’s noir French setting, the world of Contrast looks the part and sounds it too. An absolutely brilliant jazz soundtrack drives this game and really is the force that can connect a lot of players to the game. During the course of the game the only people whom you encounter in the flesh are Didi and Dawn, while the remaining cast is portrayed by shadows that can fully interact with Didi during conversations.  For instance, one of the parents giving her a cuddle still connects their shadow to the young girl.

It may seem like an odd idea to portray other characters like this, particularly when you enter a room full of chitter chatter and cannot see anyone, but it is all adequately explained in the stories resolution. The environments just give the right feel to the noir setting; a café table complete with umbrella and chairs right next to an old theatre might not sound like much, but the way Compulsion Games have infused them together does a remarkable job of setting the atmosphere. I  also cannot stress enough just how good the jazz soundtrack is, particularly the first time you boot the game up.

You see the world through the eyes of Dawn. Dawn is quite a unique individual, as she can shift in and out of shadows. Whilst out of the world of shadows, you navigate from a third person perspective in an open world, and as you enter the shadows, it instantly shifts to a two-dimensional platformer. The shadows are always puzzles of different variations that will keep you progressing through the story. One time you are untying an anchored air balloon or even a shadow fueled puppet show, the latter being extremely fun and humorous. Outside of the shadows there are sections to explore for “luminaries” and collectables.

The luminaries are the power source to active light sources to create shadows to solve puzzles, which can be projectors and spotlights. Some of these light sources are interact-able in terms of movement; finding the correct position to solve the puzzles is vital to your progression and at times requires some precise timing with the mechanisms that you create a shadow from. Unfortunately, I felt that the controller responses were not accurate enough at times when solving puzzles, this mainly occurred when I had to jump up to enter a shadow. Collectively however, the puzzles are by no means difficult, only offering a solid challenge but overall approachable to anyone willing to give this extremely interesting take on puzzles a go.

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Taking place 15 years after the conclusion of Assassin’s Creed 4 you play the role of Adèwalè, first mate of Edward Kenway and Quarter Master of The Jackdaw. Sometime during the 15 year gap, Adèwalè has joined the ranks of the Assassin’s and become an exceptionally proficient assassin.

During a naval confrontation with some Templars, a horrific storm capsizes and leaves Adèwalè floating adrift. Eventually washing up on the shores of Port Au Prince, Adèwalè ignites a rebellion of sorts and begins to liberate his people from the clutches of slavery.

Ubisoft have made an amazing effort of developing a completely new area for their Freedom Cry DLC. Rather than resting on their hunches and giving old areas a simple make over, they have really taken a step above and beyond what is needed and fans are sure to love it. Whilst the enemies are simply just a re-skin to a more appropriate French attire to fit the theme of the game, the world still boasts its own unique charm. Taking up roughly 20% of the size that AC4 did there is still plenty to see and do, small islands to collect treasure and other areas to visit. One feature that caught my attention is the singing of the slaves. Call it folk, freedom or redemption songs but these amazing voices truly capture the emotion of the oppression. Their voices produce a source of hope and courage.

Freedom Cry introduces players to a couple of new weapons; two in particular are the firecrackers which distract guards and the blunderbuss which is essentially a short range, wide spread shotgun. Adèwalè is a much more physical and brutal assassin utilizing the blunderbuss and a machete to lead the rebellion.

There are a few familiar features from the main game appearing again but offering slight variations to make things much more interesting. The plantation/warehouse loot missions are replaced with liberating plantations of slaves. The same applies to free the pirate segments which are now free the slaves. Freeing slaves is the key to unlocking rewards for Adèwalè; free 25 and you get a bigger ammo pouch, free 500 and you get unlimited ammunition with unlockable increments in between. The same applies to “Maroons”; people of the freed slaves who take up arms and aid you in your quest. I found this reward system to be extremely generous and found myself taking much more interest in the side missions. The brilliant naval segments are present for the DLC and offers players the opportunity to liberate slaves in transport.

Whilst you can expect the beautiful charm and attention to detail in Freedom Cry as you know and love from the main segment of AC4, Freedom Cry still containts a lot of tedious repetition that goes hand in hand with the Assassins Creed series. Tail and eavesdrop on a conversation or simply synchronise a view point and run around collecting the items it reveals to you. Depending on your personal preference, Freedom Cry can be tackled head on while you are in full swing of playing Assassin or can be approached at a later time when it suits the player as it is its own very capable and competent story. Personally I would have loved  to see this a bit later down the track when I had acquired a taste for the open seas again. I found the story of Freedom Cry to be much more engaging and direct as opposed to AC4’s light hearted theme. Unfortunately, 10 or so missions (4 hours for 100% completion) are not enough to capture the true severity and horrific implications of slavery.

Ubisoft should be applauded for taking such a bold step into a topic not usually associated with gaming. The experience was so intense and heartfelt that I felt morally obligated to help those in their plight whenever the situation arose; it would actually leave me emotionally shattered if I failed to save them.

Freedom Cry is a part of the AC4 season pass or can be purchased separately from your respective online store.

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WWE 2K14 marks the first time that a professional WWE wrestling game has been published by 2K Sports. Taking over the franchise after THQ went bust, a lot of people were excited to see what 2K would do with directing the series in a new direction. This was fulfilled for most of the part.

In terms of the visuals, WWE 2k14 really lacks that certain polish. The series has always been known for it’s awkward animations and unfortunately they are still apparent here. Thankfully, this still provides for some hilarious glitches. It’ll be interesting to see what a new next-gen engine can spit out for this franchise. Something that really disappointed me was the fact that the commentator audio is really repetitive. This is something that NBA 2k14 really nailed this year so I was personally disappointed to see that the same old repetitive commentating is still here.

A lot of the gameplay mechanics from WWE ’13 have been slightly updated, or in some cases, completely repaved. One thing that I noticed is that walking and running seemed to be a lot smoother than ever before. This made for characters running a lot faster, which sped things up significantly. All reversals lead to offensive attacks which means that matches seem to move a lot quicker avoiding all that tedious reversal spam.

The Create-a-Superstar mode has been finally expanded in order to be able to fill 100 save spots. 2K have finally added the ability to use existing superstars as a template to create your own characters. The options to create your own entrance and  finishers is still there, plus now even the ability to create your own custom WWE championship has been added.

The new Universe Mode sees you acting as the GM of WWE. In this mode you will be deciding which wrestlers you want to push forward for titles. You’ll also be in charge of creating the match cards for events and putting factions together. It’s a really interesting mode and one that WWE fans have dreamed of having included in this video game. You can finally see the rivalries that you’ve been dying to see on the big screen for many years.

The biggest addition to WWE 2k14 is the new ’30 Years of Wrestlemania’ mode. In this mode, you will find yourself playing through 4 key eras of Wrestlemania’s history. These are split into chapters called Hulamania Runs Wild, New Generation, Attitude Era and Universe Era. This mode is enough to make old school WWE fans as well as newcomers to the series extremely satisfied. Unfortunately, one issue with this mode is that you need to play through the older stuff in order to gain access to the newer content.

Each section features a few matches for that particular era. Each match features its own special stipulations. These usually involve things like performing a particular finisher in a certain spot. Performing this correctly will trigger a cutscene that will play through the moment, exactly as I remembered it from that certain Wrestlemania.

WWE 2K14 features two specific gameplay modes that surround The Undertaker’s 21-0 streak. These are called ‘Defend The Streak’ and ‘Defeat The Streak’. Trying to defeat the streak will see you take the role of Undertaker’s opponents in order to try and defeat him. When undertaking this mode be prepared for a HUGE challenge. The difficulty is at its highest level and The Undertaker will reverse just about any move that you try and throw at him.

When trying to defend the streak, opponent upon opponent are thrown at you and it’s your goal to defeat them one by one; you will do so by pinfall or submission. This starts out quite easy when the first challengers enters but once you get to 25-30, you’ll notice a significant increase in difficulty. The challenge really comes from seeing how long you can last as your health bar continues as you face an onslaught of wrestlers. It’s a interesting mode however it just takes far too long and gets old after a few attempts.

Local multiplayer is as fun as it ever was but unfortunately, online play is still quite broken. I faced an incredible amount of lag which makes it almost impossible to play for a game like this. WWE relies on perfect timing in order to reverse move and kick out of pins and unfortunately this is something that simply can’t be enjoyed. I’m praying that this is fixed on the next-gen iterations as it’s something that was never able to be nailed on the PS3 and 360.

It’s fair to say that this is a solid effort considering this is 2K’s first time publishing the WWE series. A lot of improvements to general combat has been made for the better and all of the new modes will play to the nostalgic WWE fans. Unfortunately, we just can’t find ourselves really getting engrossed into WWE 2k14 as the series just feels stale at this point. I’m really excited to see what the team can do with next-gen hardware.

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Eufloria takes a strong influence from the “Dyson Tree Hypothesis” by Freeman Dyson. A genetically engineered plant (in Eufloria’s case a tree) may have the potential to grow inside a comet, producing its own liveable atmosphere on a comet for sustenance, as well as photosynthesizing energy from the sun. Whilst this is the premise and underlying inspiration for the game, there is much more to discover.

At the beginning, you are in control of one lonely seed orbiting an asteroid, guided by the Mother Tree’s wisdom. She instructs you and educates you on the intricate details of your journey to bring back the creators of the universe which are known as Growers. Quite quickly you discover the greys, an opposing colony which is eventually revealed to be driven mad by a form of disease. Later you find another colony infected the greys at the risk of destroying themselves and now  they must over power all opposing colonies.

Upon booting up Eufloria you are exposed to an audio and visual sensation. Instantly taking in the brilliantly used watercolour aesthetic of the game, which, according to the developers, was mixed with inspirations from nature and Japanese art. They couldn’t have nailed this statement any more accurately. Even though the created world consisting of round asteroids, sticks, and dots circling around them doesn’t appear like much when you are zoomed out, zooming in reveals a world of wonders. The different sized asteroids become balls of an amazing colour, filled with life right from their very core. Reaching out are the Dyson trees, with deep roots borrowed to the base of the earth, a strong trunk emerging from the ground and branches stretching outward.  Seedlings swarm the asteroids you occupy until commanded otherwise. To me they look like insects, yet they resemble spaceships, especially when in battle. Shooting a beam of some sort to decimate the Grey or other opposition that populate your next conquest only further supports my claim. The art style behind Eufloria is remarkably unique and needs to be seen to gauge a complete concept of it.

The music is a soothing, pleasurable experience. Calming the soul and suitably accompanying the idea of growth and exploration. Just like the visuals, the music is unique for its own reasons. These two great aspects mould together very well and, complete the overall formula for the appropriate mood of the game. It makes it difficult to remember that Eufloria is actually a real time strategy that requires your utmost attention, because in some instances, I found myself charmed and enchanted by this wonderful display of aesthetics.

Utilizing the Vitas touchscreen functionality is perhaps the most brilliant feature of this port. You, the player, are introduced to each level, controlling a small asteroid with one tree. You then build stores of seedlings through the naturally occurring germination cycle, then choose to better your current asteroid by planting more Dyson trees (which requires 10 seedlings) or to move on. Moving on to the next asteroid can prove to be quite easy or disastrous depending on what lurks on the next asteroid, sending out a single seedling scout to discover the potential dangers the uncharted asteroid may contain is always the safest bet.

Whenever an asteroid gets populated with enemies, you must ensure you have the sufficient numbers to eradicate the enemy from that area. Once the seedlings have defeated the opposition they burrow to the core and sap the energy from the asteroid claiming it for your own. It is then up to you to either grow more Dyson trees, Defence trees or a combination of both (both requiring 10 seedlings for each growth). Building your force of seedlings to conquer asteroids and achieving the required task will see the level complete.

As you progress you can eventually add flowers to either tree which provides its own unique benefits, attack flowers and defense flowers for the appropriate tree. As each asteroid you plant a Dyson tree on produces seedlings, it can become quite tedious, continually sending seedlings to your most recently captured asteroid to advance, thankfully, there is a beacon that can send all your seedlings to a desired location; making that long trek across the space of a level so much easier.

If you feel the pacing is too slow or too frantic for you at any one time, there is a speed selection in the upper left hand of the screen. Simply tap for a more comfortable speed and there you go. I found this particularly useful when I was building up my stock of seedlings, then proceeded to slow it down again as I watched the zoomed in battles for the asteroids (which is explained in presentation).

There can be sudden bumps in the A.I which keep the levels interesting and quite challenging. At times I had to restart a few levels after realizing the ideal tactic to success, which is the trademark of a great strategy game. For the players who aren’t quite up to the challenge, there is the excellent option of selecting a more relaxed play style. Given the charming beauty of this game I found the “relaxed” setting to be much more enjoyable and provided me with a greater opportunity to fully immerse myself and enjoy the beauty and wonder that is Eufloria.

Each level is randomly generated to a certain extent; this mainly includes aspects of the surrounding asteroids, like their size, layout and growing/producing abilities. There are other values such as speed, strength and energy which influence how fast the seedlings can produce and their abilities.

The story modes’ 25 levels serve as a good introduction to the game, preparing the player for the unlockable skirmish and dark matter modes. Skirmish mode is a standalone mission set, utilizing your previously acquired skills, While Dark Matter mode is basically the story with much harder enemies.

I went into Eufloria considerably blind, not knowing a great deal about it other than it had seen a few releases in its history. Getting a hold of it has been nothing but a sheer pleasure. Whilst the concept is the same and can be said of all real time strategy games. There is something much more intriguing to behold in this game, right from the moment you pick it up. The organic and deeply inspired visuals to the soothing sounds of the music accompanying your gameplay are unique and charming. This new release introduces Eufloria to the PS Vita and the touchscreen use of the Vita couldn’t come more natural, perfectly fusing the already natural aesthetics and soundtrack. A great opportunity for hardcore or casual players with the appropriate play settings (challenged and relaxed respectively) is to be had. Unfortunately, there was no multiplayer option available, a feature which I feel this game could have great success in. Apart from that, I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Eufloria for anyone to play. It is a delightful experience that should not be missed.

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Lego Marvel Super Heroes brings a brand new story to the table which will absolutely please fans of the brand. The game starts off with Silver Surfer being chased by S.H.I.E.L.D. Soon after Iron Man is knocked out of the sky by Doctor Doom. After Doctor Doom falls onto earth, Doom forges an alliance with Loki to make the Ray of Doom. It’s an extremely interesting story that throws a bunch of Marvel characters into a situation that couldn’t happen otherwise.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes doesn’t really stray too far from what we’ve come to know from previous games in the series. On the PS3 it wasn’t visually any more impressive than the last game. It’s always great to see a new lineup of characters be turned into LEGO form however and the game is as bright and colourful as always.

What we’re really intrigued about is the next gen version. Loading times have been dramatically improved and the amount of LEGO blocks on screen is said to be almost doubled from what current gen can handle. Lighting is also dramatically improved. This is just what the series needs after a bunch of releases that haven’t really progressed on current gen.

Firstly we’re going to say that LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is pretty much what you’d expect from a LEGO branded game. There aren’t really any advancements made in the series which is the biggest disappointment to us. If you’re a Marvel fan then you’re going to eat this game up and enjoy every single second. There are over 100 characters that make their grand appearances from start to finish which keeps things feeling fresh and interesting.

It’s the lack of progression in mission structure and AI that really disappoint. We can’t help but feel that they’re becoming simply reskinned games. After playing through LEGO City Undercover on the Wii U we’ve really struggled to enjoy any LEGO game fully since. The varied mission structure in that game was absolutely phenomenal and it’s hard to stay interested in LEGO Marvel Superheroes when the gameplay itself feels so repetitive.

As always there’s always fun to be had in local multiplayer. I could sit there for hours on end playing this with my nephew and to see him sitting next to me in pure joy was enough to keep me going. If i’m being honest it’s a little disappointing that online co-op hasn’t been included in the game. It feels like it’d fit the game perfectly. Hopefully this is something that the developer looks to add in the next-gen versions.

The real highlights of the game are in the boss battles. Whilst these are all similar in nature, it’s really awesome to see you going against teams of popular bad guys in order to overcome evil. They all have amazing visual set pieces that really make these memorable and an absolute joy to play through. Exploring a LEGO version of New York City is another special moment that will be enjoyed by anyone.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is a must have for any gamers who have even a remote interest in the Marvel series. It’s a fun time for those who aren’t feeling tired of the LEGO series. The game looks as colourful as ever and will take up about as much as your time collecting all of those characters as any other game.

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For those who are expecting an epic adventure set in the Toy Story universe you may be disappointed. The Toy Story expansion takes place in space and whilst the setting is extremely unfamiliar, all the characters that you’d expect are here. Rex, Hamm and those crazy little aliens are all featured and seem to really fit their originals character representations well. It was good to see the Toy Story characters interact within a new universe.

The Toy Story In Space play set looks as you’d expect. It’s a great representation of the Toy Story universe and is a lot more interesting than other playsets, purely for the fact that this is a setting that I’ never really seen before. It’s not as colorful as the other playsets but this is countered with a darker tone that will really intrigue Disney fans.

Unfortunately there are still quite a few problems with slowdown on the Wii U version. One thing that I absolutely loved was the fact that a lot of the characters are voiced by their original voice actors. This makes all the difference to Disney fans.

As with the other additional playsets, you get two characters. Disney have been smart in including Buzz and Jessie in the playset whilst requiring you to buy Woody separately. I wouldn’t have minded this if it wasn’t for the fact that Woody isn’t available at launch here in Australia.

The mission structure in this new playset is exactly as you’d expect from playing the previous ones. As Jessie or Buzz, your main mission is to help transport the Pizza Planet Aliens to a brand new world.

Expect the usual dose of platforming and climbing. I found that making jumpers were a lot more difficult until you unlock Buzz’s jetpack. Once you unlock this fan favourite, you can glide around from jump to jump with absolute ease.

There’s also a ton of other unlockables that fans will be familiar with. Our favourite is definitely the blaster. It wasn’t until I unlocked it that I really felt that I was in a Toy Story universe. You can expect your romp around the intergalactic to last around 6-8 hours as per the other playsets.

Toy Story in Space is another great addition to the Disney Infinity universe. I can’t help but feel that 34.99 is quite a good deal for 6-8 hours of additional playtime when you’re getting two beautiful painted figurines. I wish that the structure differed a bit more from the other play sets but it seems like simplicity was a design decision made by the game designers.

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ATTENTION: Assassin’s Creed 3 is shamelessly spoiled in this review, so if you haven’t played it yet and want to find out the fate of Desmond Miles and co, I’d skip reading this

Black Flag tells the story of Edward Kenway, charming/roughish pirate who seeks fortune, whilst stumbling upon the Assassin’s Order and their vicious fight against the Templars for humanity. It sounds engaging and deep, but it’s not really. I feel I only was vested in this game because of my love for pirates and nautical based themes, and the story just kind of flew over. Big names like Blackbeard, Charles Vane and Calico Jack make appearances, but they amount to similar cameos as the historical figures in Assassin’s Creed 3 were, ergo not much impact. It’s a story that’s more grounded thanks to the final bow of Desmond: no more end of world bullshit, it’s a simple pirate tale mixed with the Assassin’s Creed template without the need to juxtapose crazy cult figures and bullshit end of world theories into it. I guess Desmond was good for one thing.

In a surprising twist, the plot for the ‘present day’ plot is not only engaging and interesting, but an absolutely hilarious bit of meta-narrative worthy of Kaufman himself (Charlie Kaufman, that is). Playing the role of an Abstergo employee digging through the memories of previous protagonist Desmond Miles to create the ‘perfect entertainment piece’ for the audience, you have to sift through the memories of Kenway in order to discover and create material to make it a mass produced game. It’s incredibly self-referential, clever and intriguing, especially when the layers start to fall and a more sinister plot is discovered. Not only was this an incredibly interesting plot, but it was the very first plot in the Assassin’s series where I WANTED to play it. I found myself laughing at some of the self-deprecating and meta jokes Ubisoft were clever enough to put in, and there are a couple of very welcome easter eggs that scream of potential for crossover franchises (coughWatch_Dogscough).

Black Flag runs quite poorly on the PS3, no sugarcoating that. Frame rate chugs like crazy, pop in is evident everywhere and outside of the free-run animations not much stands out. The open world is immense and deep, but the graphics take a hit. The atmosphere on the ship is clearly the only standout here: rain hitting the deck, watching your crew run around whilst you engage in ferocious battles, it would be absolutely spectacular if there wasn’t so much cluttering the UI. Honestly, I’d love for the game to ditch the present day concept entirely and just focus on the Assassin’s Creed past; just imagine a game like Black Flag without any of the immersion-shattering parts. While I lauded the present day plot, I also would not mind seeing it disappear if it meant this happening.

It’s no competition to which version you should get: if the DRM is gone, then PC gets 100% of my vote, otherwise the next-gen consoles are looking much better, though I’d wait for the whole 900p/1080p mess to resolve itself, because God knows no one wants to be a part of that right now. The PS3 version runs well enough, but I KNOW that there are better versions out there and if you had the choice, there’s my vote.

The menu system has been COMPLETELY overhauled, and thank God for that, since the franchise’s UI have ranged from terrible to completely fucking atrocious. Though I’ve fairly sure they’ve recycled the menu sounds from Splinter Cell (you can quote me on that, I’m very confident of this) the menu’s are fluid, easy to use and the map is actually easy to access for once. No longer waiting for the map to load agonizingly slowly, then agonizingly trawl my way looking for my objective, it’s been simplified to great effect.

Sounds are solid, especially Kenway’s voice actor. Fits the character exactly, I found myself liking (or at the VERY least, tolerating) Kenway because of this, which is more than I could say for Connor from AC3. Voice acting all around is solid. Can’t really think of many negatives here, or many positives. It’s good. The orchestral score is fantastic, and it absolutely shines during the combat, completely immersing myself into the pirate life. That’s not to mention the dozens of sea shanties. Black Flag nails the pirate look, the pirate feel and the pirate sound.

Let’s get the worst out of the way: the core combat on foot is an absolute disaster, and it is completely monotonous and boring to slug your way through dozens of enemies when Ubisoft have created a combat system this uninspired. The age old ‘wait for counter, then chain kill’ system is here, yet it’s not even half as fun or engaging as Brotherhood’s combat, despite the advancements everywhere else, simply because it’s just not challenging at all. Mashing dronelessly to kill enemies is incredibly dull, and not only are the chain kills and combos completely unsatisfying to pull off seeing as they require the skill of a 3 year old, but the kill animations are incredibly drawn out and just boring to watch. The sword/blade combat is boring, it’s unchallenging and it’s just taken steps backwards. Ubisoft need to really just completely overhaul their on-foot combat system and start from scratch, because what’s left is unsalvageable. There’s some nice sword and pistol sets to buy to make the monotony less…monotonous, which is always a nice touch.

That said, the core components of stealth and assassinations are quite fun. The stealth has been overhauled for the better, and it works well in Black Flag. Hiding in bushes, luring guards to their death and silently assassinating a whole convoy is a thousand times more satisfying then mindlessly mashing the attack button in face to face combat. Assassinating from air is always a slice of fried gold, and I’m glad to see the inherent fun and style of assassinations remain as strong as ever.

Fortunately, the two things that Assassin’s Creed 3 got right are done magnificently well here, this being the ship combat and the free-running. AC3 was criticised heavily for its lack of focus, and here I can see the attention into the ship gameplay was not a throwaway. I don’t recall having this much fun in a pirate themed game since…ever. Controlling the Jackdaw is wonderful, it feels like a real ship, customizing and upgrading it is not only essential, but actual motivation to go out and do side quests, and the love for the pirate life is evident here. Sea shanties can be collected around the world, chasing them down on foot, money is actually challenging to collect, and the weather system is impressive. Things like storm and fog actually have an effect on gameplay, as wild hurricanes threaten to tear your ship apart, and rouge waves attempt to capsize you. It’s a battle against man and nature, and the ship combat is absolutely breathtaking.

Hearing the score swing into action, firing cannons and swivels and barrels into ships that double the size of yours, then boarding them, swinging from rope into air assassination into quick combos and igniting explosives, it is absolutely magnificent and more than makes up for the bland on-ground combat. Attackable forts around the world add another dimension to the combat; taking a leaf from Far Cry 3’s outposts, consisting of withering down the exterior’s defences with the ships’ weapons, then running on foot to assassinate the head officer. The fort mechanics are wonderfully fluid, engaging and challenging, with a nice decent curve of difficulty to accompany the ship’s eventual upgrades. However, it is a shame that it gets so repetitive. Things like unlocking taverns (which consist of the exact same bar fight every time) and boarding ships don’t change objectives, and it’s a shame to not see a mix-up of objectives. That being said, the core components are so damn fun that it’s hard to see it as a negative, but even eating ice-cream every day for a month will become boring and repetitive. The diving sites provide a necessary annoyance: having to dive down shipwrecks is fine despite the finicky controls (seriously, will we EVER get a game with good underwater controls?) but the top tier upgrades are tied to these sites, which make them a chore to go through, albeit a near compulsory one.

Free-running has been fine-tuned so well that I don’t even look back on AC2/Brotherhood anymore. The overhauled animation system that debuted in Assassin’s Creed 3 was great, and here it’s near-perfection. My main complaint in the series was that free-running never gained any momentum. Climbing over a bar in the old games would stunt your progress even if you were running full pelt. Not anymore; running into objects will have Kenway vault over or duck under them with equal parts grace, speed and style, without losing a step in momentum. Running through crowds is now done organically without the need to hold down an awkward button, and the world has been fine-tuned to accompany Kenway’s free-running actions, with ledges, ramps and nature itself all being climbable objects. AC3 harped on about its blend of free-running between the natural world and buildings; Black Flag makes good on that promise. While we won’t see the style and skill equal to, say, Mirror’s Edge’s system (and I doubt we ever will), this is the next best thing.

And finally: the hunting system. While still not as engaging as Far Cry 3’s system (despite being ripped out from it entirely) mainly due to most on-ground upgrades being unnecessary, it’s a hell of a lot better than AC3. I felt myself actually stopping at harpooning sites, actually going out of my way to upgrade Kenway’s weapons and health not because I NEEDED to, just because the system was much better crafted than in AC3. I was surprised to see myself spend so much time hunting, it’s not a stand out feature and it suffers from repetition much like the rest of the game (thankfully the canned animations before/after the hunt is skippable) but it’s a welcome one.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag is a strange game. There’s many things wrong with this game, so much I can nitpick and groan and put down, and Ubisoft have had more than enough of my time and money (and yours!) to not warrant forgiveness or for me to look over these things, yet I find myself completely and utterly immersed in this game. One of the deepest, most addictive sandboxes I’ve found myself playing this year (edging out even GTA V in terms of depth and fun). The ‘Assassin’s Creed’ logo on it isn’t really justified, as it has become its own game, and very unlike an AC game. Black Flag does many things wrong, but when it reaches its highs, they’re the highest the franchise have ever been. Buy it on console, next-gen or now, buy it on PC (hopefully if the DRM will be removed), just play this game and acknowledge the first right step that Ubisoft have done with this franchise in years.

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This game is an origin story. It’s a retelling of the twisted relationship between the Belmont family of vampire hunters and Dracula. The game starts with us controlling Trevor Belmont and how he battles his way through the dark forces of Dracula, to finally meet his doom and that of his wife. Trevor’s section is brief, and is mostly there to show us the motives behind Simon’s reason for desiring Dracula’s destruction: Revenge. As an orphan Simon was raised in the mountains, and when he is finally ready, he walks into the darkness of Dracula, to search him out and destroy him. He meets Alucard along the way, which also has his own motives for wishing his own father’s destruction. It’s a simple enough story, and being able to control three characters in order to understand it gives it a different and more fulfilling perspective.

The graphics within the gameplay looked quite dated to me. I feel like the design was somewhat lazy with the environment, comparing it to other settings that I have seen with older Castlevania titles, which always looked solemn and majestic to me, this one falls short. Some other issues that I found were also with the platforming; some places looked reachable but were not, or sometimes I found myself stepping off into a hole because it looked like there was something I could step on. I choose to give it the benefit of the doubt in that regard, because maybe it was just my TV that had a poor gamma adjustment.

Cutscenes looked very beautiful in contrast to the gameplay graphics. They were cell shaded highly stylized in design, and really reminded me of the whole aesthetic found in a Borderlands game, which to me is a good thing.

Sound design and music was nothing short of exquisite. Before, I said the game lacked the majesty and solemnity of old Castlevania games, but that was visually. In terms of sound and music, it was there, new and improved. Many times I would sit still, and just listen to the beautifully orchestrated music, which made me feel slight melancholy at times. I would definitively recommend purchasing the soundtrack if you are interested in this kind of music.

The first thing I noticed, is that the game seems remarkably similar to what God of War would be if it had a side scrolling counterpart. The combat is simple and combo based, where you chain combos together to get build up different finishers for each of them. The main weapon is a whip, and it’s extremely similar to Krato’s blades, with the chains attached and all. The platforming is pretty straight forward; most of the game just requires you to simply follow your next destination which is presented to you in the map through simple colour coded markers.

There’s some puzzle elements to the game, but they are extremely simple and basic. They were only a mild inconvenience in the face of everything else the game has to offer.

I say that Mirror of Fate HD is very similar to God of War’s combat in 2D form, but in all honesty, I think this game pulls it off better. Blocking and counter attacking is very satisfying, and when you’re faced with large groups of opponents, it’s much more complicated than just simply blocking and counter attacking.

The highlight of the combat is boss battles. Some of them are very difficult and require quick thinking to come up with strategies to approach them. Their actions have a pattern that can be figured out and exploited, but they aren’t simple and straightforward enough to make them unexciting. Some boss battles are extremely difficult, even after having figured out the patterns to their actions.
Even though the game offers you 3 characters to control through different parts of the story, they are unfortunately almost a rehash of each other in terms of gameplay. Their combos and blocking stances are practically identical, with each character only having variation with their special abilities, which doesn’t provide a big enough sense of difference.

I would say that a game like this is a nice addition to anyone’s game collection, but not really something essential, unless you’re a Castlevania fan, in which case you’re probably going to buy it anyway. The combat is satisfying and the music is absolutely incredible. Some poor decisions were made in environmental design, but not enough to actually break the game. In the end, it’s a solid enough experience.

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Deus Ex Human Revolution was originally released on the PS3, 360 and PC in 2011. It is the long-awaited sequel to Deus Ex which was a game changing shooter in terms of combining both RPG and FPS shooter elements in a seamless way. The series is heralded for it’s story and Human Revolution doesn’t disappoint, combining a fantastic setting with the ethical dilemmas of human augmentation, body modification and what constitutes right and wrong in those moral situations.

Human Revolution is visually quite average. Its saving grace is it’s fantastic art style. It provides a different look into a very futuristic world. It sports an extremely vibrant orange and black colour vibrant. These elements work together to create a world that you’re very intrigued to explore.

The voice actor for Jensen does a fine job but the majority of the voice acting treads a line between cringey and terrible, which is a shame since the game uses an abundance of cutscenes that push the plot. The cutscene presentation also contrasts slightly with the actual game, with better textures and darker colours in comparison, which clash with the overall presentation. The Wii U looks pretty similar to the PS3/PC version and it runs well.

Since the original game came out years ago, this review will focus mostly on the improvements on the Wii U.

Deus Ex Human Revolution: Director’s Cut was first exclusively announced for Wii U which is why Eidos Monreal and Straight Right have made such good use of the Wii U gamepad. It feels like it was made for the Gamepad and not as an afterthought like so many other Wii U ports. Navigating inventory and hacking systems is a lot easier to use with the touchscreen than with buttons. The game also supports off-screen play where the developers have been smart enough to use the sides of the gamepad in order to access things like mission objects or your map.

There are still a few things that feel tacked on. When you take aim using a rifle, your view switches to the Wii U gamepad in order to make your shot on the smaller screen. Whilst this is a cool idea, it something feels unnecessary and makes combat feel clunkier. Thankfully it feels incredibly smooth and actually helps the experience rather than hinder it in most other instances. There are also still a few issues with dumb AI that still seem to appear from the original.

The Wii U version also allows you to take screenshots to draw on and record short audio clips. You can share these with friends. You can also share screenshots through Miiverse if that’s more of your thing.

The Director’s Cut was always intended to be the definitive version of this game. It aims to fix a few niggling complaints that players had with the original. One of the main ways it does this is by giving more choice when it comes to the boss fights. You can now take the bosses down through ways other than straight up combat. It still feels similar and a little tacked on (endgame results that they still die no matter what route you take) but it’s nice to see that you can employ tactics that you’d use in other parts of the game to defeat these bosses.

The Director’s Cut version also finally includes the Missing Link DLC. They’ve also been kind enough to include the full strategy guide for your viewing pleasure. Another neat touch that has been included is a commentary track that allows you to get an insight into the developer’s initial creation process. You can also take a further look with the Making Of documentary. There’s a lot here for Deus Ex fans, and it’s worth the purchase if you’ve never played it before.

The Director’s Cut is without doubt the definitive version of this game. It’s absolutely exceptional on the Wii U and we found that it was the best way to play this game. Eidos have been smart enough to include enough for players of the original to come back. These include tweaked gameplay, riveting developer commentary and a new game + mode to explore. This is a must purchase for all Wii U owners.

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Set 10 years after an Odin strike called on America by the Federation that has the left the country in ruins and with the impending invasion, we follow two soldiers on a mission to save the country. These soldiers must overcome great loss and work together with the Ghosts. The Ghosts are the last force that America has at its disposal, using technologically advanced weaponry and tactics to fight back. Ghosts is the 10th Call of Duty sequel that’s been brought out. Infinity Ward and Raven studios developed it, and this is the biggest COD ever. With the biggest multiplayer rebuild in the series, this has been one highly anticipated release for a lot of people.

Now before anyone says anything, I know that the game is still running off a dated graphics engine. But who can argue with a constant 60fps? I’ll always pick a smoother experience over slightly higher graphics. The fact that Infinity Ward uses the same engine as before means that they can push it to the limits. It’s not as good as some of the other AAA titles out there but the game still looks great. The scenery, the animations and everything else are so smooth, seamless and look great.

Even whilst online, the game still runs smoothly minus a few instances of lag that I’ve experienced and while I was a little let down they didn’t try and go with a new engine, this is the best sounding COD game I’ve ever played. With the new reactive sound emitters, the team has been able to make the most realistic sounding game possible. Especially if you’re running your sound through a surround sound system or even a pair of decent gaming headphones, it’s so easy to dive right in and feel like you’re part of the action. It’s the little things they’ve added that make the game better for me, like how online the other characters will yell out where enemy players are and where to go.

For me, I feel games like Call of Duty set the bar when it comes to the first person shooter. While some people have their picks for which COD is the best, I think that this one is up there. As per the standard, Ghosts is spot on with the gameplay. The story itself is on par with most big budget action flicks these days. With a great storyline and some fairly believable characters, my only problem would be that it feels somewhat short. I managed to finish it spaced out over two nights, but it was worth it. The controls are the same as always, which makes jumping straight into the action all that much easier.

Ghosts also brings the knee slide into gameplay. Treyarch does the dolphin dive and now you can slide while running into cover into a crouching position. It does take some getting used to, but once you’ve got the hang of it you’ll be pulling off trick shots and executing some aggressive tactics with it.?But when you think Call of Duty, most people think of the multiplayer. When Ghosts was announced Infinity Ward said that multiplayer was getting a huge overhaul and they’ve done just that. From new game modes such as Blitz and Cranked, to the way you equip perks, it’s all different.

Ghosts has some of the greatest maps I’ve played and they all look incredible. Each map seems huge in its own right, but they all have their areas that you can turn into a vital choke point. They do take some getting used to but I feel they’re great. Infinity Ward have even added dynamic events into gameplay, each being triggered in different ways. When you play on some of the new game modes that have been added, the action is very consistent. Cranked, Search & Rescue, Blitz and the all new squads mode. While it looks great, that same high quality sound from the main game is found online. Knowing that every lifelike explosion, gun shot, bullet whiz is from another player, it ramps up the tension tenfold.

But one of the biggest changes for online would have to be the character customisation. For years gamers have wanted to make their own soldier and now they can, even having the choice of playing as a female avatar for the very first time in the series.?Extinction mode is probably my favourite bit about Ghosts. Similar to BO2 zombies in the sense it’s a wave based game, the action builds up much quicker and gets harder in a much more progressive way. Moving your way through an alien infested town to set off a nuke then run back to the evac, I’ve only been able to make it back just once with a group of mates. The different breeds of aliens, the somewhat strange attachment system, even levelling up, it’s just a lot of fun you can have with mates.

For me, I think Call Of Duty Ghosts is a great addition to the Call of Duty family. It has a decent and while short, fun campaign, a great online section with pretty much any kind of game mode for whatever kind of gamer you are, and it looks and feels great to play. Over playing it my one concern had a lot to do with lag and dropping out online, but recently they’ve talked about Ghosts getting dedicated servers across all platforms of gaming from next gen to current gen, which is just the start for this game. You already know that there will be four DLC releases over the course of the next year keeping the game fresh for everyone, I feel this game will be a very big hit with fans new and old.

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Ratchet and Clank are en route to deliver criminal Vendra Prog to the Vartax Detention Centre; when their ship comes under attack by Neftin Prog which then results in the successful attempt to free his twin sister. The jailbreak leaves two of Ratchet’s allies dead and themselves stranded in an abandoned sector of the galaxy with fears that it is haunted. Upon locating Vendra and Neftin, Ratchet and Clank stumble upon an inter-dimensional threat that calls them into action to save the universe once more.

Insomniac have taken a bit of a darker approach for Into the Nexus, featuring locations and weapons that are more toward the frightening end of the scale. The darker portions of the game have been crafted superbly with an eerie feeling, but not without losing the classic Ratchet and Clank charm that the world has come to know and love. A subtle example would be the bone figures hanging from a tree or even the ghostly figures zipping around the screen in parts of the game. Taking every imaginable detail and adding loveable charm to the 5 various worlds you will be exploring, each vastly different from the next. No detail has been spared, even the description of the difficulty levels to the player beginning their adventure has been detailed to be made as quirky and humorous as possible. Trust me, when I say this you will have more than just a few chuckles yourself when playing this game. If not from the mishaps of Captain Quark then most definitely the classic one liners of Mr Zurkon and his family.

Michael Bross who is the composer behind Into the Nexus has done a fantastic job of incorporating a spooky orchestral scored soundtrack to evoke frightening emotion. Cut scenes are crafted artfully with a strong voice cast returning to reprise their respective rolls. Insomniac does a wonderful job of immersing you into their game through the intricate attention to the finest of details. A point which I cannot stress enough.

Going back to the tried and true gameplay mechanics, fans of the series will certainly let out a big cheer and a sigh of relief. Into the Nexus introduces us to a few new concepts and the return of some classics. These include new gadgets, weapons and characters. Making its debut is the ‘Grav-Tether’, a gadget that allows you to create a gravitational pull from one point to another defying gravity and enabling you to navigate various puzzles. Ratchet isn’t the only one who gets to try his hand at puzzles though. Clank gets his own 2D platform sections where he too can defy gravity and navigate parts of the Netherverse. These sections do an excellent job of varying gameplay and changing the pace. Along with these there are a few weapons that have been introduced that continue the Netherverse and spookier theme of the game. These include the ‘Nether Blades’, a gun that propels ricocheting blades that dice your opponent. ‘Vortex Grenade’, why face your adversary when you can simply teleport them to another world? and ‘The Nether Beast’, which plain and simply summons a beast from the Netherverse to deal damage.

These examples are just to name a few of the outrageously fun guns available. My favourite of all and perhaps the weapon that clearly resembles the horror theme of this game is “The Nightmare Box’ which is a weapon that upon launch frightens your enemies and draws their attention away from you. The mechanical/skeletal clown like jack in the box definitely reinforces the spookier tone perfectly for Into the Nexus.

As always, bolts are the currency. Collecting enough of these will gain access to a variety of armours of increasing strength, but more importantly guns! As we know Ratchet and Clank is home to some of the craziest weaponry available. The more you use these weapons, the more you will upgrade them. To really get the most out of them they can be upgraded further through the rarer currency known as Raritanium. Using this allows you to upgrade ammo-count, blast radius or even attack duration, These are just a few of the many branches you can invest the rare currency into.

Replayability is a major factor for Into the Nexus. Insomniac has not only offered the combat tournament named Destructapalooza, but there is also the inclusion of skill points, which unlock after achieving certain criteria during your game. Once you have completed the main story of the game you can always attempt Challenge mode, where enemies are tougher, bolts are multiplied and you can finish leveling up your weapons or find the remaining Gold bolts and plans for the ultimate weapon the RYNO VII.

With the game length set roughly between “Quest for Booty” and “Crack in Time” you will see yourself comfortably completing this game in 6 hours but without a shadow of a doubt Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus is a perfect way to neatly tie up the phenomenal series that Insomniac delivered for the PS3. The game length was perfect. Any shorter and I would’ve felt cheated, whilst any longer and it risked becoming repetitive. It has references to all their previous adventures, outrageously crazy gadgets and weapons. As with any Ratchet and Clank game is also has a well-told story with the classic charm and humour that veterans of the series have come to love and expect from this dynamic duo and new players will come to adore. It successfully takes a darker approach without stepping too far away from the mechanics and gameplay that make these games the exceptional work that they are. It is excellent to see the return of these mechanics after Insomniac tried to add a fresh approach to their more recent games; certainly the fans will appreciate this. I would’ve loved to have a few more moments with Captain Quark, the ‘half-a-hero’ with biceps bigger than his brain.

An added bonus is made available to those who purchase the original physical copy of this game with a disc benefit of downloading “Quest for Booty” at no fee. Into the Nexus also comfortably ties up Ratchets personal story about finding the rest of his species. The game is a guaranteed laugh, with great gameplay and at this price, wouldn’t hesitate in recommending this game to anyone.

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Battlefield 4 is set in the present, in a war between the Americans, Chinese, and Russians. You follow the squad known as Tombstone as these marines carry out orders to save a VIP and make it home safely. The squad consists of PAC, Irish and you as Recker. You’re stuck behind enemy lines and the only way out is through.

Battlefield 4 brings forth a stunning environment with amazing particle physics and unbelievable scenery. From the flora to the huge explosions, everything is improved with the Frostbite 3 engine. The Rapid Changing multiplayer experience with “Levolution” makes everything destructable. This makes every game different really makes you feel as though this is a new map every time. Because of the spectacular graphics and the large amounts of rendering needing to be done it allows a lot of graphical glitches. The main graphical error was un-rendered areas and the occasional pop in and pop out textures. This became rather frustrating when you’re in the middle of a fight and things just disappear.

The sound in this game is spot on, surround sound that immerses you into the battlefield with precision. Allowing you to pinpoint where shots are being fired from all the way to footsteps next to you. This coupled with the stunning graphics helped cut the ties between reality and game and lets you immerse yourself into this world.

Battlefield 4 is a FPS much the same as its ancestors. With present day weapons and constant changing maps it adds a level of excitement never achieved in previous Battlefields or any FPS before. With weapon range, recoil and bullet spread to take into consideration taking down the enemy has never felt so good. The campaign now has a ranking system which requires you to get enough points to get gold for every mission. Points come from killing enemies, getting head shots, destroying vehicles, or even ordering your squad to take someone down. As you venture further and further into the story you find more weapons which are added to your gun crate. Finding all of them is a challenge upon itself, with some of the guns hidden in dark corners of the level you will have to do some exploring. You also have the challenge of finding all the dog tags which are scattered around the world.

This game’s main focus is the multiplayer. With games having as many as 64 players, unbelievably large maps, and constant chaos you can say you’re about to get thrown into the thick of it. With no ranking system to separate the beginners from the advanced you will find that you will have to learn the ropes quickly. Just when you have worked out how to defend yourself against a soldier you will get hit with your second challenge, A TANK. If you thought killing someone before they killed you was tough, you are now facing a metal behemoth with a 40mm cannon aimed straight at you. The worst part is, you don’t have a weapon to face it. You are literally unable to attack it. Your only hope is to run for cover and fast! So you made it into the building you’re safe now. . . NOT!

With “Levelution” in play that tank has the ability to shoot that wall down and come after you. Let’s head to the roof as tanks can’t climb stairs. Okay you’re on the roof no snipers in sight, no one around, you’re safe. Or are you? What’s that in the distance, that’s right that’s a helicopter armed to the teeth with mini guns and rockets. On the other side is a jet. It’s time to re-spawn. The re-spawn screen allows you to select where you re-spawn and what load out you use. With nearly a hundred weapons and a large amount of gadgets to use you will never find two loadouts the same. Having classes designed for specific tasks you will find yourself filling a particular role in each team. With engineers designed to take care of and control vehicles, Assault ready to take on close combat fighting, Recon to watch over the team and snipe anyone who is not wanted and Support ready to assist your soldiers on the field at all times.

This is just the tip of the ice berg. With every class having a levelling system that unlocks certain features for them and every weapon having its own levels, you will find yourself mastering a class and weapon for most of your battlefield career. Battlefield 4 holds a large array of game types from the classic Conquest and Deathmatch to Rush and vehicle based warfare. All game modes appeal to a particular player equally. From the classic player’s choosing conquest, all the way to the engineers choosing a vehicular based game type. This game is a huge improvement from Battlefield 3 and they fixed a lot of the problems we we’re having with it. The amount of work they put into the multiplayer is astounding. This game is a FPS multiplayer’s dream.

The campaign of this game needs a lot of work. The story never explains why you’re doing what you’re doing. The voice acting is great, the graphics are unbelievable but the bugs and frame rate issues are a major problem. The origin game client is completely unnecessary when it links you to a webpage to start the game and the always online feature means you cannot play the game if you don’t have an internet connection. If your connection lags it creates huge frame rate issues and massive graphical errors.

The multiplayer is spectacular with large unbelievable battles that last a whole game and it will leave you wanting more. With bullet and physics mechanics that shape the battle it has the most amount of realism whilst still remaining a fun and immersive game. A masterpiece that will not cease to amaze.

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Three years prior to the story of Puppeteer, the moon was ruled by a powerful Moon Goddess. It wasn’t long before a tyrant who calls himself The Moon Bear King stole the Goddess’ Black Moonstone and her magic pair of scissors. Whils taking over the Moon’s throne, the King shattered the White Moonstone into 12 pieces of shard and gave them to his 12 generals.

The game features a little boy named Kutaro. Kutaro has his head eaten off which sets up the whole premise of the story. His only hope is in finding a number of heads which will allow him to activate special powers that he wasn’t able to use before in order to dethrone The Moon Bear King.

The thing that surprised me most about Puppeteer is just how amazing the art style for the game is. The creative direction that Sony Japan took on this title just blew my mind from the second that I put the disc in the drive. The game tries to replicate a puppet show and does so through the constant change up of backdrops which are framed by a curtain runner.

The animation in this game is another huge step towards pulling off such an enriching experience. Kutaro’s movement is constantly followed by a spotlight and sound effects from the crowd are present which add to an even more believable world.

The character design is also some of the most imaginative that i’ve ever seen in a video game and more out there than anything we’ve ever seen from a Sony Studio game. Kutaro himself resembles Sackboy a little which is a good thing. The enemies themselves vary greatly and it was a genuine joy to see what I was going to come up against next. The voiceovers are done well and sound effects in general are never annoying.

At it’s heart, Puppeteer is a classic 2D side-scrolling platformer. We’ve seen a huge resurgence of these as of late but thankfully Puppeteer does a lot to go above the pack. The left analog stick moves Kutaro around the screen whilst the right analog stick moves his companion. You’ll be using the R2 button a lot in order to reveal hidden objects within a level.

As we mentioned earlier, Kutaro had is head eaten off which leads to the most unique gameplay aspect of Puppeteer. As you traverse through Puppeteer’s magical stages, you will find new heads for Kutaro to wear. Each of these heads are used in certain parts of the level in order to reveal secret passages. You can carry up to three heads at a time and they also act as your life meter. When you take damage you will lose the head your currently wearing. You then have a few seconds to regain it or it will be gone.

The platforming can feel a little floaty. If you didn’t like Little Big Planet then chances are you won’t love the platforming in this title. It wasn’t an issue for me and i’d recommend trying it for the story and art style alone. There are also a lot of cutscenes but the story is good enough that you’ll want to watch them.

You will also unlocked special abilities throughout the course of the game. These range from things like a shield to a body slam. Fairly early on in the game you’ll unlock the ability that you’ll use most, the Calibrus. This is a pair of magical scissors that allow you to cut through pieces of the set in order to access new parts of the level.

The worlds of Puppeteer doesn’t stray too far from what you’ d expect. There is Snow, Forest with a few more unexpected additions. The main thing that this game has going for it is the fact that it never really gets repetitive. The great art design and introduction of new concepts and enemies really keeps the game interesting from start to finish. There are a lot of set pieces in the game but once again these just keep the game feel fresh. The boss battles are also exceptionable both in the way they look and also in their intensity.

Puppeteer also lets a second player join in. As the second player you are able to control his sidekick. You can also play the game with the Move controller and in 3D. Whilst these are things most people will probably not use, it was great to see them added for those who want it.

Puppeteer is one of the best games this year that will sadly be overlooked by games with bigger marketing budgets. The art style, story and exceptional platforming makes it a game that anyone and everybody who owns a PS3 should pickup. It is also a budget title so there really isn’t any excuse. Take a break from all the heavy hitters that are releasing at the moment and do yourself a favour by playing this game.

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First of all to get this out of the way, there is no story to Proteus and no plot line what so ever and that is perfectly fine. This choice has been the subject of controversy as to whether it makes it a game or not but I will let you be the judge.

As the player, you explore a world in the first person perspective. What is extremely interesting about this world is that it is procedurally-generated. Meaning no two visits will ever be the same. You can explore an island and fully immerse yourself in this uniquely charming world that boasts a quaint melodic soundtrack that is performed based on your own movements. The seasons play a vital role in progression and offer an immense diversity in details; particular note goes to the finer aspects. Though this game is primarily an exploration game there are a handful of immensely charming and at first glance quite mystifying mysteries that scream out to be solved.

Quite simply your goal is exploration and Proteus has absolutely nailed this concept. Presenting itself in an 8-bit form, believe me when I say that every little bit of detail has been extensively and thoroughly accounted for. The amount of finer details for this title is unprecedented for any indie title that I have had the pleasure of participating in. I said earlier you will be exploring throughout the seasons. Proteus shines as it depicts it’s seasons in it’s pixelated world. In spring, you experience trees coming into blossom and animals in the wild. Even the finer details such as puffy sun shower clouds that play an incredibly addictive melodic tune when you get near. Summer the sun is out and brighter than ever with waves of heat blaring from it and a glare on the screen that isn’t present in any other season. Autumn gives you a barrage of oranges and browns as leaves cover the ground and a thin fog begins to cover the land. The final season, Winter brings you a quite desolate feeling, all the animals have gone into hibernation, snow has covered every square inch of the world and the thin fog from autumn has become a thick blanket covering the majority of the world.

Like I said each season has its own unique traits with an amazingly charming attention to detail that I wish I could do justice with this review. However, we briefly mentioned the audio aspects to Proteus. The music to this game responds to your movements. For example, when you walk into a patch of flowers a bright tune will play and the flowers will disappear. Each recording has been pre-made and allocated to an object in the world so that you could walk from a patch of flowers, then startle a wild animal then turn your focus onto a rock. All of these will play their individual tunes. There is a huge amount of variety to objects that produce the tunes. The real magic behind this is that no matter what order you interact with or disturb the environment everything is so cohesive and feels right. Take my earlier example and add that to being in a downpour of rain and it will still feel natural. This just shows an amazing development from the two creators.

Beginning your journey off shore you are given no instructions but to “explore” and this is what you will do for roughly the 40-45 minutes it will take to conclude your first play through. Even though this is your first play through I could nearly guarantee it won’t be your last. That first step is completely magical; to describe it accurately I would say it was like Alice going down the rabbit hole. Entering a strange new world where through discovery not everything is as it seems.

Although released on PC a little while ago the cross buy opportunity on the PSN store has a few more options available to purchasers. The Vita can allow you to use the motion controls to steer your point of view after activation and after a certain point the use of the back touchscreen becomes enabled interaction in the worlds. Along with these, the playable maps have the ability to generate on your current location. The PlayStation 3 along with the Vita can also generate specific maps based on the date and time set to your console. Trophy support is featured of course with some very cryptic explanations behind them which only help to deepen the mysteries that lurk within Proteus. The game also lets you take any in screen screenshot and turn it into a postcard. This is a lot more addictive than it sounds as this world is a place that you will want to capture and remember.

Proteus is a breath of fresh air. With no tasks, no bosses, no levels or challenges. The only task is to explore and immerse yourself in an immensely beautiful world. This is so refreshing, not only from a change in gameplay but also to the individual. After initially playing I felt so soothed and relaxed from enjoying this game that after my initial play through I had one of the best naps I have ever had. With its amazing attention to detail that to me is unprecedented in an 8-bit game and an interactive musical score that is enchanting from beginning to end. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this humble indie game to anyone to experience. The game is $16.60 which may scare potential buyers off but i’d still recommend it with Cross-Buy. Hopefully it will lower in price soon to get even more attention.

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Game: Just Dance 2014 Developer: Ubisoft Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: Out Now Available On: PS3/360/Wii U/Wii Version Played: Wii U

Just Dance 2014 is a big year for the series. It adds a variety of online features as well as adding a new Karaoke mode. It will also release on the next gen consoles at launch. Our review will specifically cover the Wii U version and the functionality that the Wii U gamepad brings to the table.

Just Dance 2014 doesn’t stray too far from what you’d expect. The menu is extremely stylish but simple enough for players of all ages. Players are given the choice to either navigate with either the Wii Mote or the Wii U Gamepad. The entire game has an extremely fun, retro colour pallet and it makes it an absolute joy to play. Quite simply Just Dance 2014 looks better than any that come before it. Each song is paired with its own unique theme and that’s what makes the game so fun.

The song list this year really sets it itself apart. There is truly something there for everyone with favourites such as the Ghostbusters theme song and more recent hits such as Lady Gaga’s ‘Applause’. Just Dance relies on its music and this year does not disappoint.

The main gameplay of Just Dance 2014 has not changed much from previous iterations. Your main objective is still to use a Wii Mote and follow the on-screen dancers to the best of your ability. Your performance is based on how many stars you can get out of 5. The better you perform will determine how quickly you unlock new tracks and modes. We’re glad to see that Ubisoft have not broken the usual formula too much. Just Dance is extremely popular amongst a casual audience and we can’t see this title being any different.

Just Dance 2014 has added a few new modes into the mix. Stage Mode is the first that we’re going to talk about. This mode places one player as the leader dancer with two backup dancers behind you. The whole idea is that you’re trying to replicate a lead popstar whilst your backup dancers complete a different routine. Our personal favourite was Battle Mode. In Battle Mode, you take your choice out of 4 mash-up songs. Each player will have custom choreography in which they go head-to-head in a dance off. The better you dance determines how quickly you eat away at your opponents life bar. Just Sweat is the final mode that is included for offline use. In this mode you dance to tracks like normal with a calorie counter showing how much that you’ve burnt off for each routine. There are a lot more tracks for this mode than in previous versions of Just Dance.

We also found that Party Master was a great mode for groups of people. One player uses the GamePad and chooses which dance moves that the people holding the Wii Motes should perform. Not only can they change dance moves as frequently as they want, they can also change to a song of their choosing mid match. It adds a sense of uncertainty to what are usually familiar routines and is a great use of the Wii U GamePad.

The biggest addition to Just Dance 2014 on the Wii U is the added Karaoke support. You can switch on karaoke mode by tapping on the GamePad. You can then sing along into the GamePad’s microphone in order to earn yourself extra mojo. We found this a little cumbersome as it’s pretty hard to dance and hold the GamePad but it was still impressive to see Ubisoft adding new features into an already successful franchise.

Just Dance 2014 finally brings the series into the online space. It features two online modes. Online Competition is exactly what it sounds like. You can jump online and dance to the same song as other people around the world in order to try to get a better score than them. It’s not possible to communicate with your competitors or even choose your song. You literally just jump in and start dancing. At the end of each song you’re presented with a dynamic leaderboard which shows your ranking amongst other places in the world. I think that we’ll see this space updated even further in years to come but it’s good to see the series pushed into the online space.

Autodance introduces video recording to the series. Using the GamePad, you can record 30 seconds of yourself dancing. The game will automatically choose parts of the clip into one goofy clip that looks absolutely ridiculous. You can then share this video to Just Dance TV or Twitter. There is also a pretty good system where you can look at other people’s videos, rank them and even give them a tag. It’s not perfect but it’s good that it’s there. You can also visit the Nintendo eShop in order to purchase new songs. We were shocked to see that new releases such as Katy Perry’s Roar was already on there as a free download.

Just Dance 2014 is the biggest leap that we’ve seen in the series since it’s debut. There isn’t a single person that couldn’t have fun with this game at one time or another. If you’re a fan of dancing games then this is a must purchase. It betters itself in almost every way which is what we’re looking for in a game. We’re excited to see how it fares on the next generation consoles in a few weeks time!

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Game: Batman Arkham Origins Developer: WarnerBros Montreal Publisher: Warner Bros
Release Date: Out Now Available On: PS3/360/Wii U/PC Version Played: PS3

New developers to the Arkham series WB Games Montreal take the series to an early part of the Dark Knight’s career in this prequel to perhaps the most critically acclaimed superhero game series.

In Arkham Origins Batman is reasonably new to the vigilante gig in Gotham City, having only spent a couple of years under the cowl, while the police don’t know if he is on their side or aiding those who terrorize the city. For some of the criminals they aren’t even sure if “The Bat” is real or is just a figure made up by the local law enforcement to scare the criminals into hiding.

One criminal who is well aware of the Batman and has had enough of him interfering with his business is the crime lord Black Mask. Reaching the end of his tether Black Mask issues a bounty of $50 million dollars for Batman’s head, bringing 8 assassins to Gotham on a brutally cold, dark and stormy Christmas Eve.

A less experienced and unrefined Batman is the focus here. It is called Origins after all and WB Montreal has really nailed what they set out to do. Batman is angry; he is hostile and is at times a little too confident in himself and his abilities which lead to a lot of underestimations in this adventure; he lacks the wisdom and experience that eventually makes him the Dark Knight. The Batsuit screams the same, unrefined and open to revisions. It seems as if it has been assembled together rather than the whole piece that it will become. Roger Craig Smith makes his debut portraying a gruff and extremely passionate Batman and does not miss a beat. In fact after the first scene I completely forgot about this being his debut performance and instantly placed him right up there with Batman legendary voice actor Kevin Conroy.

But what is Batman without his Joker? Arkham Origins takes you into the first meeting between the two characters and WOW! The chemistry is phenomenal both collectively and individually. Troy Baker who takes on the role of The Joker, after Mark Hamill’s retirement from the role. Baker portrays the character excellently by incorporating snippets of Mark Hamill’s work and adding his own flare which proves to be an outstanding combination.

To compliment the terrific voice acting is the exceptional cut scenes that accompany the voices. Highly detailed scenes with exquisite attention to detail that screams out amazing potential for a CGI film. There was more than once instance where I was covered in goose bumps just from the power and emotion of the terrific cut scenes.

Gotham City’s size is roughly twice the size of that which was offered in Arkham City. In fact, in the northern part of the city for those who played Arkham City will be able to recognise the buildings and structures that do eventually become Arkham City, which can be seen as a smart development move and a nod to the previous work of Rocksteady, all which helps to reinforce the idea that we are in the same universe of Bat lore. What connects the northern side of the city to the southern side is a bridge of epic proportions which truly does exemplify the verticality of this world. Tall structures of different shapes and sizes are out there waiting to be scaled for Batman to perch atop and brood upon.

Whilst the city is of a much larger scale it is still an option for Batman to grapple hook onto building ledges and then accelerate off that grapple to enter a sped up glide which is not only extremely fun and is just another one of the little things that make you feel even more like Batman. If soaring and gliding through the air isn’t your thing though, you can remotely call the Batwing for fast travel across the city; a new feature for the series.

Unfortunately for the PS3 version I was reviewing, I suffered from severe frame rate issues which required a restart, all which occurred from selecting the fast travel option. Whilst it appears to have been fixed during an update patch, I must stress that to get the most from your game, it is best to update to save yourself any dilemmas.

For such a large city for all extremities, it is an extremely quiet and lifeless city. Understandably it is Christmas Eve and everyone may be and probably is at home asleep waiting for Christmas day, also with the martial law in effect, but to see some life in the streets; even to intervene in a random mugging would have made the game all that more realistic and improved the experience tremendously.

Arkham Origins doesn’t re-invent anything in the Arkham series and to be honest, why should they? As the old saying goes “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” a phrase I am positive that everyone has heard in reference to the Arkham series. Previous entries are regarded as the ‘cream of the crop’ in the superhero game genre. Previous developers Rocksteady Studios have set a high bar but WB Montreal answers the call and hits back with ferocity. They have tweaked a few components here and there such as gadgets or slight variations to the enemy roster such as martial art fighters who are able to counter your counters and the large armoured enforcer that needs to be completely immobilised and disarmed before you can subdue him.

The boss battles are incredible, full of variety and constantly keeping you on your toes, which is only scratching the surface for combat in Arkham Origins; free flow combat makes an appearance again and is once again in excellent form. Building combos, whilst jumping, countering attacks and using gadgets has never been so much fun and the way the animations tie in and react so quickly particularly when countering three enemy attacks at once is simply outstanding.

As previously mentioned the game borrows a lot of aspects from previous entries; predator rooms play out basically the same as they always have, tasked with subduing an entire room of thugs with only the finest of Batman take downs. At the completion of either combat or predator challenges you are scored on a number of variables such as gadget variations, combo accumulated, stealth and health remaining which is graded and then calculated to give experience points. After collecting enough experience you can enter a menu which allows you to upgrade aspects such as your health, number of Batarangs thrown at once or open alternative take down methods, just to name a few.

A new and exciting feature to debut is the Dark Knight system in which your progress is traced across areas such as combat, predator or navigation. Each category contains 15 ranks each of increased difficulty; a welcome inclusion that will have the keenest of players modifying their approach as they apprehend their foes in all situations.

Batman is after all labelled as ‘the world’s greatest detective’, a feature that is highlighted extremely well in Origins. Using his sophisticated Bat Computer and cowl, Batman can analyse a crime scene and piece it together to solve the crime. These small occurrences only last a couple of minutes but are welcome breaks in the pacing of the game and lets the player focus on another aspects of The Bat; his extraordinarily sharp detective work.

As you progress through the story avenues open to further immerse yourself in the world of Batman, through the “Gotham’s Most Wanted” menu, you can for instance, find yourself dissecting Enigma’s (soon to be The Riddler) cleverly crafted puzzles throughout the city just as an example. This and much more will have you covering Gotham over and over to see 100% completion but it doesn’t end with the completion of your first play through; new game plus allows you to play though a second time with an increased difficulty with your progression transferred over from your first run through, including Gotham’s Most Wanted progress and Dark Knight Challenges. For the extremely brave once you complete new game plus a mode called “ I Am The Night” becomes available in which you are given one life only to play through the entire game (fortunately there are checkpoints so you don’t have to complete this 12 hour campaign in one sitting).

As always, challenges are available outside of story mode to compete in online leader boards or for your own personal satisfaction. Subject to a variety of combat and predator scenarios you are given either a score to beat or three varying methods to take down your opposing thugs; challenges are a sure-fire way to keep the replay value alive for many more hours to come.

For the first time ever in the series multiplayer is introduced which places you in a 3v3v2 scenario. One team of 3 will consist of members of The Joker’s gang, another 3 from Bane’s gang and the remaining two of course become the Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin. The background to this is a turf war between the two gangs with Batman and Robin coming to put an end to it. Utilising a third person shooter mechanic for the gang members and a simpler layout of controls from single player for the dynamic duo, Splash damage have done a fantastic job with this. It is up to the gangs to eliminate their rival gang, with bonuses for killing Batman or Robin; certain tools specific to the gangs’ help you gain the upper hand and during the course of a match The Joker and Bane become playable with their own added bonuses. All the while Batman and Robin take down as many thugs as they can to increase their intimidation meter. Multiplayer works well it its own right and doesn’t necessarily feel ‘tacked’ on. In fact I think I will be spending a bit more of my free time in it.

Like I have stated Arkham Origins doesn’t re-invent the series but it doesn’t need to. What it does is perfect a balance of using old tools and mechanics from Rocksteady whilst taking small liberties to add variations and flare to it. At times it can feel very repetitive, but then you quickly notice how much WB Montreal have added for this game making it feel like a certified chapter to the Arkham series and not just a game with the Arkham name tacked on. WB Montreal have truly done an outstanding job with Origins. Through their excellent voice acting and CGI works it makes a gripping story impossible to ignore. The multiplayer will have you playing for hours and the challenges as well as new game plus modes will have you hooked for even longer.

For those of you who cannot get enough of Batman Arkham Origins, Nether Realm Studios have developed a mobile tie in app that lets you take your crime fighting anywhere you go. Whilst essentially an individual game it does contain a few tie-ins for your console experience that are worth noting. Upon fulfilling certain criteria, achievements are unlocked and by connecting to your console of choice can unlock experience points for your multiplayer game or unlock a Bat suit for use in the game.

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Game: Skylanders Swap Force Developer: Vicarious Visions Publisher: Activision
Release Date: Out Now Available On: PS3/360/Wii U/3DS Version Played: PS3

The story in Skylanders: Swap Force is quite similar to those of the past. You as the portal master will embark on a new adventure into Cloudbreak islands. This is the home to a mystical volcano that erupts every 100 years to replenish all the magic of Skylanders. Whilst engaging in a huge battle, some Skylanders were caught in the volcano’s eruption which blasted them apart from each other and sent them all to Earth. This magic has now granted Skylanders a special ability to swap halves in order to form even more powerful combinations. Skylanders must unite in order to defeat Kaos once again in order to get them back to Cloudbreak Islands in order to save the Skylands.

Upon booting up Skylanders Swapforce, the first thing you will notice is how much the visuals have been improved. The game has a new developer in Vicarious Visions and they’ve rebuilt all environments and character models from the ground up. The result of this is a much more realistic representation of what Skylanders should look like. The Skylanders used to live in a cartoony, uninspired world and now live in an almost Pixar quality like universe.

The animations in this game are simply stunning. Vicarious Visions had over 100 Skylanders to recreate and reanimate in this game and all of them move absolutely superbly. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Wash Buckler on his tentacles or Blast Zone on his rocket, the Skylanders are completely smooth in how they navigate through this beautiful world. Another huge improvement in this iteration is the music. For each level you are presented with an orchestrated sound track which is unique for each level. One of my biggest gripes with previous games was that the soundtrack got hugely repetitive and sound effects really got on your nerves. This is not the case with Skylanders Swapforce. ITtwas genuinely a pleasure to listen to the music as I made my way through this beautiful universe.

The biggest addition in Skylanders Swapforce is without a doubt the ability to jump. All Skylanders whether they be from previous games or not can now jump. This allows the game to now take place on different levels and completely makes it much more of an expansive game. Whilst this doesn’t completely reinvent the game, it’s really refreshing not to have the whole game take place on a single plain. I felt that this had become really repetitive in previous games.

The control scheme has retained its simplicity which is to be expected as it’s mainly targeted as kids. My 6 year old nephew absolutely loves this game and as an exclusive Nintendo gamer, it’s really refreshing to see him pick up a PS3 controller and instantly know how to play this game.

The main concept of Skylanders Swapforce is the swappable characters. There are 16 swappable characters and the interesting thing is that the bottom and top halves are upgradable separately so you retain those attacks when swapping characters. This allows you to find your perfect combination and stick with it. There are also 16 new non-swappable characters and 16 reposed characters. Thankfully the game will let you use ALL of your old Skylanders but unfortunately you will need the new portal. Skylanders Swapforce packs a bunch of content with 17 levels. You won’t be finishing this game anytime soon and we really love this about the game. The amount of characters is backed up by just how long the campaign is.

The levelling system is quite similar to that of the previous games. You level up your character by collecting coins and beating enemies. You can then use those coins to purchase upgrades for the top and bottom half of your characters. Upgrades are made at strategically placed pods throughout each level. There are also specific upgrades that can only be upgraded for finding soul gems throughout the world. Each Skylander has one respective Soul Gem that is placed in a specific level and can be found with any character, regardless of whether you own that Skylander or not.

One of the main new mission additions is Swap Zone challenges. These are challenges where you need to use specific elements together in order to complete a mission. These include things like speeding down or flying down a race track in a certain amount of time. You get smaller presents like hats that upgrade a specific stat for completing them. These are a fun break from the main story and also a very clever ploy in order for people to buy that Skylander they need in order to complete all of the missions. The one thing I will say about SKylanders Swapforce is that the amount of depth is incredible for a game that’s aimed at children. To think that there are well over 100 characters who all have more than 10-15 specific moves is absolutely amazing. It really is a kids dream.

There are also a bunch of arena modes outside of the story mode. Solo Survival mode is where you face off in a bunch of different arenas with a variety of different enemies. This mode is extremely difficult and really put my skills to the test. Team Survival Mode is where two people can enter this same arena and face off against the same wave of enemies. Rival Mode incorporates you versing your opponent in order to defeat more enemies than the other. Battle Arena Mode is where you put your skills to the test and go head to head with your opponent with the sole purpose of defeating them. Finally, Ring Out mode is where you go head to head with the mission of knocking your opponent out of the arena in order to win.

Skylanders Swapforce is a very welcome addition to the Skylanders series. Vicarious Visions have really revamped the series in a way that probably wasn’t imaginable last year. The environments and characters look a whole lot better and gameplay has had a turn for the better with the inclusion of the ability to jump and swap tops and bottoms of characters. I’m excited to see where the series goes from here and how it fares on the next gen consoles.

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Game: Fifa 14 Developer: EA Canada Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: Out Now Available On: PS3/360/PC Version Played: PS3

Fifa 14 is the latest entry into EAs best-selling sports franchise. The game released to a lot of criticism due to the fact that the gameplay was a lot more unpredictable than previous iterations. This has since been rectified with a patch that was recently released for all platforms. I’ll discuss the problems that game had prior to the patch being released and also touch base on how the patch has fixed the game for the better.

Presentation has always been a strong point of the Fifa franchise but EA managed to take it up another level in Fifa 14. The whole menu system has been completely revamped for the better. Everything looks incredible and suff is much easier to find. One of my biggest gripes with Fifa in the past was that it was really hard to find specific modes. They were buried in sub menus and half the time I didn’t even know they existed. Fifa 14 really excels in putting its amazing modes front and centre for you to explore.

The game itself looks marginally better than Fifa 13. Collisions feel more realistic and movement in general seems to look a lot less stiff. It’s apparent that the real improvement will come in the next-gen versions. Fifa 14 on the Xbox One and Playstation 4 use a brand new engine that has been dubbed The Ignite Engine. This engine will incorporate things like True Player Motion and dynamic weather and crowds that constantly change-up the game mid match.

Whilst it’s exciting to look forward and see what advances Fifa 14 will make on the next gen system, it’s also sad that the masses won’t get to enjoy these upgrades without upgrading to the Next Gen consoles. Fifa as a series has really seemed to hit a wall over the past few years and we feel like there’s no better time than now to make the Next Gen leap with a brand new engine.

When I first got my hands on Fifa 14 I was pretty disappointed with a lot of the changes that had been made. I was extremely happy with how the game played in the past few years and I’d sunk 100’s of hours into them without ever feeling that I was getting bored. In Fifa 14 however, I felt that the A.I was even worse than in previous years. The one thing that I immediately enjoyed was that players seemed to run better lines into open space however this lead to a frustratingly amount of offside calls.

Not only this but I found it absolutely ridiculous just how overpowered headers from crosses and corners were. I feel like more than half of the goals being scored were from headers that I simply couldn’t do anything to defend against. I’d get men around the ball and still have goals scored against me. Not only this but I also just felt like I had less control over my players in general. Players seemed to be less responsive and needed that extra step in order to get the ball on their foot. For a game that relies so heavily on getting the timing down and having it as a second nature, this really felt like a step in the wrong direction for players that had put hours upon hours into the series so far.

Another huge problem was that Finesse shots seemed to be a lot more overpowered in Fifa 14 than in previous years. I felt that Finesse shots were being used from outside of the box in order to get around the goalkeeper more easily than usual. Usually finesse shots are reserved for when you outsmart the defence and go in for a close range shot. It wasn’t helping that goalies were constantly rushing in and putting themselves in bad positions either.

Thankfully this all changed with a game changing patch that was released a few weeks ago. EA released a patch that vowed to fix attacking headers, finesse shots and improving defender switches during crosses. I feel like this patch has made all the difference. Immediately after installing this patch I felt that it was a much tighter experience and I was back to enjoying Fifa to its fullest potential. I felt like I had to earn goals once again and felt that goals were only scored against me when I made a bad defensive move. I felt that less goals were being scored from luck on most occasions.

This will also upset some people. I felt that Fifa 14 pre patch was a lot less skill based and had a much more arcade feel to it. After the patch it is back to its strategic, skilful best and will really require you to put in effort in order to score a goal. This will ultimately lead to less goals being scored in matches so it all comes down to personal preference. I still feel like there are some oddities in AI making stupid decision and a few overpowered players that really change the game up.

Fifa 14 is another great entry into the series. After playing the next-gen versions on both consoles, it’s clear to me that Fifa 14 was created with a next-gen vision in mind. Everything is more dynamic and the gameplay feels more realistic in general. Fifa 14 on current gen is still a very worthy experience for the fanatics. I’d recommend that you’d install that patch before playing if you’re a series veteran as the gameplay is almost enough to turn any Fifa fan off without it.

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Game: NHL 14 Developer: EA Canada Publisher: EA Sports
Release Date: Out Now  Available On: PS3/360 Version Played: PS3

NHL 14 marks the 20th year anniversary of the franchise. To celebrate, EA have introduced a ton of new modes to this years entry. They’ve also introduced the new FIFA Player Impact Engine and a new engine to handle more realistic fights. EA have also rewarded loyal fans with a modernised version of NHL 94 Anniversary Mode which features current rosters and updated graphics. –

For a current gen game NHL holds up exceedingly well (I cannot wait to see what next gen holds). The arenas are excellently detailed with the glass walls rattling with every heavy hitting impact on your opposing team. Players’ movements are clear and precise without a fault. Goalies are remarkably focused and hard to get past and the commentary is on par, with lots of in game references and hockey jargon.

The soundtrack to NHL 14 blew me away with some outstanding selections from the punk, rock and heavy metal genres, just to name a few. These upbeat tunes capture the atmosphere perfectly for a hockey game and felt right at home with the adrenaline fuelled games.

This yearly entry brings a lot of new modes to the table for NHL 14 Perhaps the biggest and best feature for me was the fight mechanic improvements, about 30 seconds into my first game I was into my first scuffle. NHL have borrowed the Enforcer Engine from the Fight Night and made it a completely different game in its own. Punches are thrown and countered but players can be pushed and pulled into prime position opening yourself or your opponent up for a ‘bruising’.

Another feature borrowed from another series is the ‘Player Impact Engine’ from the FIFA games, big hits are to be found all over the shop and it could not be more glorious and satisfying with this fantastic engine. NHL 94 Anniversary marks the 20^th anniversary of one of the greatest arcade sports based games with updated graphics and a simple control scheme to match. Not to mention the matching blue ice from the classic game just to hit at that nostalgic feeling.

Talking of control schemes NHL needed an overhaul from their last game and have delivered big this year with the one touch Deke system. This new system opens the door for newcomers and casual hockey games by simplifying things as opposed to the time needed to master the layout and nail the moves in previous entries of the series.

As custom to the NHL series, the career menu opens you up to a selection of game modes that will entice any hockey fan. First up is ‘General Manager’ mode where you can manage your favourite team over a selected number of seasons, salary caps can be enforced, players traded and contracts signed all as you organize your team to the best of your ability from the side lines. ‘Be a Legend’ allows you to play as one of four hockey greats as you play out a contract with your selected team. All the while your contracted team is hoping to bring some of your experience and expertise to the team. In game experience can be earned and spent on improving your attributes. ‘Season’ mode lets you plain and simply play out a season with your team of choice.

The biggest inclusion this year is “Live the Life” where you get to be a pro on and off the ice. You can create your own pro (with huge amounts of customization available even being able to make a female player), start off in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) or start straight in the NHL. Everything imaginable influences your progression as a pro, all from game performances to TV interviews, fans can love or hate you, contracts can be torn up or you can receive huge endorsements all based on your interactions with the world around you as a star of the NHL. This mode is without doubt a huge step forward for the series and an amazing opportunity to fully immerse yourself in the life of a NHL Player; it is called Live the Life after all.

Instead of listing every feature that is present in this year’s entry for the NHL I have instead opted to describe the new features available for gamers this time around. The biggest and most appealing features would no doubt have to be the one touch deke system and the introduction of “Live the Life” mode, which is a great introduction for new players to the series. On that note however there is certainly enough ‘new’ to keep series fans coming back for more, whether it be for the two new engines for fights and collisions or the inclusion of the NHL 94 Anniversary mode.

Online modes are plentiful and can be completed in matches on ice or against other General Managers in GM mode. For the outgoing current generation NHL is a great advocate for what has been a great series throughout the years but at the same time opens up the door for alot more opportunity in the next generation of consoles.

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Game: Beyond: Two Souls Developer: Quantic Dream Publisher: SCEA
Release Date: Out Now Available On: PS3 Version Played: PS3

Editor’s note: While I have done my best to avoid spoilers as much as possible, things like character motivations, weird plot points and the general linear outline of the story MAY be taken apart and analysed in this review. The experience won’t be spoiled for you, but if you want to go in fresh, I recommend playing the game in its entirety before ‘risking’ it. Otherwise, read on!

Beyond tells the story of Jodie Holmes, portrayed by Ellen Page, through 15 years of her life (starting at 8 til, well, 23 if we do the maths) as she battles with a strange psychic connection to the ‘other’ side, here called the Infraworld, as we explore her life, the people and events that revolve around her mysterious connection to Aiden (pronounced ‘Iden’), the entity that remains attached to her being. Aiden has the ability to control and do things outside of Jodie’s abilities, such as moving objects telepathically, destroying things with ease and controlling or killing people. This connection is the crux of the game and for the most part, is well written, as we grow genuinely interested in what this could possibly be, and the bond between the two.

Unfortunately, in terms of the pure NARRATIVE plot, the game stumbles quite a bit. Scenarios jump from one event to the other, and the overarching plot doesn’t’ come to a head until the end, and its lack of time spent on screen just leaves a feeling of scepticism and disappointment. The game would’ve been better off without the ludicrous use of ‘world annihilation imminent’ tropes and plot points, as Beyond’s greatest narrative strength is the relationship between Jodie and Aiden.

In terms of writing, David Cage HAS learnt from Heavy Rain’s mistakes, as there are severe reductions of plot holes (for the most part) while things remain relevant and intriguing. The focus on supernatural elements allows Cage to get away with a lot more than he’s allowed, as things can be handwaved as ‘oh it’s spirits or demons’ instead of being properly explained. This still leads to some perplexing gameplay-story segregation as to WHY Aiden can’t simply solve everything. Like the Time-Turners in Harry Potter, it’s a plot element that’s a little too convenient, and the game is well aware of this, so everything is buried under a rug, and Aiden’s powers only come out when the story dictates it to.

Unfortunately, Cage’s obsession with being a movie director is clearly showing here. The non-linear structure of the game screams of Tarantino, Nolan and Jean-Luc Godard influences (maybe a hint of Kaufman as well?), but unlike the former examples, Cage executes this with a pathetically weak result. The skipping of years, wildly swinging back and forth between events is not only confusing, but infuriating. In its greatest flaw, we are introduced to a terribly unsympathetic male CIA agent who forces Jodie to leave her former handlers, we have no sympathy for this man, we do not like him, yet the very next level jumps ahead to a dinner date between the two. Not only does this hurt the narrative, it hurts potential character development, as we simply do not know him, nor do we want to know him. Cage’s story would have benefited greatly if just told in a mostly linear fashion, with flashbacks to her childhood being a much more effective result. Seriously Cage, as I am about to describe in GREAT detail in the gameplay section, maybe you should give it up and just become a film director.

Beyond: Two Souls nails the presentation. Everything in this game is gorgeous. The motion capture is hands down the best I’ve seen in a game, as a sheer amount of work has been put into this game. The uncanny valley isn’t so evident here, unlike in Heavy Rain, and while more ‘intimate’ events are still slightly awkward, for the most part Beyond nails it.

The game also looks great. Graphics are solid, and the game runs smoothly for the most part. The loading times are fairly long, but it’s not a gamebreaker, not at all.

And at the heart of the game is of course the acting. Ellen Page made a name for herself in films like Hard Candy, Juno and Inception, but she absolutely KILLS it here. Even without my undying love of Ellen (having followed her religiously since the days I rewatched Juno about 50 times) no one can deny the sheer acting talent behind her performance. We knew she was good in Juno, or Super, or even the much under-appreciated Tracey Fragments, but this is another level of acting. Page excites, emotes and absolutely blows people away with her performance, and if there’s one, just ONE reason to play this game, it’s to watch and engage her performance as Jodie Holmes.

The cast is rounded off by other solid performances, most notably Willem Dafoe as her main confidant and handler, Nathan Dawkins. The cast is solid and they all do a good job, but it’s Ellen who gets to shine here. The music is very solid, and I must give props to Normand Corbeil, who sadly passed away towards the end of development. His contributions on Heavy Rain were magnificent, and fellow composers Lorne Balfe and Hans Zimmer pick up where he left out with great amounts of respect and skill.

Ok, let’s talk about the gameplay. Beyond’s greatest flaw. What would be a fantastic, potential GOTY is reduced to nothing more than a weekend rental. The gameplay is non-existent. It’s not even bad; it’s just, not there. You move joysticks in vague directions at times, or you press a button to initiate conversation, or sometimes you choose from a list of responses. There’s barely anything here, and it really, really hurts the game.

Heavy Rain copped criticism for this problem, and while I’m one who LOVED Heavy Rain, apparently Cage’s response was to cut the gameplay down even more. While Heavy Rain relied on context-sensitive actions, QTE’s and widely branching paths and some open-endedness, Beyond: Two Souls has streamlined EVERYTHING and it comes off as non-engaging and boring. At least in Heavy Rain, if you wanted to pick up something, you would hold the right thumbstick in the proper context and action. Here in Beyond, you are presented with a white dot, which MEANS press the right thumbstick in a direction, but to what direction is left up to you, leaving you to wildly make a guess and just wing it. It’s minimalist gameplay. QTE’s are reduced to simplicity, and unlike Heavy Rain which correspondingly punished you for missing them, Beyond is far too forgiving. You could literally sit through most of these action scenes without pressing a button and Jodie would make it through the scene, unlike in Heavy Rain which held the prominent threat of permanent death for most of the characters and thus a worse ending. Beyond picks up towards the end with multiple endings and branching paths, but it’s far too little, far too late.

The game provides many scenarios to showcase both the graphics and Page’s performance, such as a fantastic level set in the snow with homeless people, or a more interesting one set in the desert with Navajo people, but the sheer reduction of interactivity severely reduces both the appeal and the replayability. I was mindlessly drifting from scene to scene, dully pressing a button to move, to pick up an object, to fight a demon spirit. It didn’t MATTER what I was doing, the lack of punishment and lack of interactivity meant I wasn’t engaged at all. Though the game had multiple endings, I simply could not sit through another play through, having to trudge through unskippable cutscenes, lack of interactions and crap QTE’s. It’s not challenging, it’s not hand holding, it’s sheer and utter disregard for the gaming audience as a whole. David Cage should really question his line of work. His attitude can be seen as remarkable to some, but it just reeks of desperation and a ‘look at me! I can direct films!’ attitude that I couldn’t shake off. The sheer linearity negated any excitement I had playing as a spirit of the world. Despite the potential, I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere a spirit would usually allow to be. Go through that door? Oh I can, but ONLY if the story lets me. Tip that jar over to get a guard’s attention? ONLY when the story dictates I do so. It’s just pure crap, to put it lightly.

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Game: Dragon’s Crown Developer: Vanillaware Publisher: Atlis, NIS America
Release Date: Out Now Available On: PS3/Vita Version Played: PS3

Looking for treasure and adventure you begin one of the grandest adventures of all, explore labyrinths and dungeons all in search for the Dragon’s Crown. You are tasked with selecting one of 6 characters each with their individual strenghts and flaws that will make the player adapt a certain path to success for this game. The characters include a Fighter who has a strong defence, but is only able to wield a one handed weapon, the Amazon with the ability to wield a larger two handed weapon however, leaving their defences exposed, the Wizard possesses extremely strong magical abilities but is unable to fend off monsters physically, an Elf who has pin point accuracy with a bow but doesn’t like to be engaged up close, the Dwarf who yields amazing strength carrying double handled weapons and the ability to pick up nearly any of his adversaries and lastly the Sorceress who has immense magical powers but doesn’t hold up well in physical battles.

Once you are finished selecting your character you are tasked with locating the legendary Dragons Crown which has the power to tame and control mystic dragons. Hydeland’s king has become obsessed with finding the crown and has not yet returned from his latest attempt to locate it, which opens the plot for a power struggle with the throne.

Instantly you are drawn into the amazing artwork of the 2D hand drawn characters of this world (both during cut-scene’s and gameplay) that include allies, NPC’s and enemies all of which is complimented perfectly with a vibrantly colourful world that is extraordinary in design and details from is clear flowing waters to rusted out jail cells of a dungeon. Without a shadow of a doubt an exceptionally large amount of time has gone into fusing these two art concepts and it has been an amazing success for Dragons Crown. Every breath during cut-scene has been captured perfectly and during gameplay every movement for the hand drawn characters is fluid and seamless as they interact with the beautiful world that surrounds them.

Sound wise the game holds strong, capturing the theme of the medieval setting with an excellent sound track that contains a strong harp presence as well as some royal trumpets sounding at various times. Upon selecting your dungeon to conquer, you ears are treated to an enchanting vocal piece that is easily the bench mark of the score for this game. In battle clanks and clunks of swords and armour are captured perfectly as are the noises and cries of the living world which includes characters to the wild and mystical creatures that are present in Dragons Crown.

A presentational concern I did find with Dragon’s Crown however is the depiction of its female characters. While female characters do play a strong role in this game they have been drawn as having obscenely large breasts. Where my issue lies is that they have barely been covered up, some times only a strap of leather across the chest is what hides their nipples. Some people may find this as an exploitation of females or even in some cases sexist.

From the beginning you are instantly drawn into a world full of customisation; whatever character you select you are opted to select a colour scheme and a few phrases that will apply to your multiplayer gaming experience but I will touch on the multiplayer a bit later.

The opening tutorial takes you through perhaps the greatest part of this game. As a classic homage of 90’s beat em’ ups such as Golden Axe, I was instantly taken back to my childhood, tracking up and down the area back and forth swinging weapons, catching anything that was in the attack radius. This battle mechanic allows the player for an insane amount of fun and in today’s gaming, somewhat of a unique experience. Accompanying you in this excellent homage is the ability for your adventures to be shared with up to four players computer controlled or even online multiplayer across the PS3 and PS Vita

There is a fantastic amount of quests and side quests that will have you adventuring for hours as you conquer dungeons and labyrinths. As you do this, you gain experience that is used to level up boosting your various abilities. Treasures can be found throughout the dungeons and later appraised or sold, appraising can reveal much more powerful weapons or shields and even items used for various ability boosts or magic. All which are trait examples of the RPG that Dragons Crown has captured very well. These are just a small and brief overview of all the points you need to keep your eye on to successfully complete this game.

Controlling the character is a simple and enjoyable experience. Controls transfer perfectly to the Vita as well as your game saves to take this game anywhere and everywhere including online matching.

Whilst the story may not be anything exceptional or amazing it still does fail to stimulate your imagination although it does provide a foundation to get your adventure rolling. As you conquer the beautifully artistic and detailed worlds you cannot help but to be drawn into Dragon’s Crown whether it be by the excellent retro gaming feel of the action or the dungeon conquering and loot collecting, or the abundance of RPG elements that help to immerse your game even further.

The four characters on screen leads to non-stop action on screen with what seems like a million things going on but equates to a bucketful of fun online or locally. Dragon’s Crown for me has come out of nowhere and aside from a couple of issues certainly is a strong game that gamers can find themselves spending hours on.

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