Destiny Review

Follow your Destiny. Again and Again and Again.

Destiny is probably the most hyped game since GTA V and without a doubt of the current generation. When Bungie went under contract with Activision a lot of people became weary of what the future held in store for the developer that created the beloved "Halo" franchise. As the years went by and more information came out about this mysterious new game Bungie had been working on, people began to shrug off any concerns and become more and more excited by the idea of a new I.P that seemed to blend genres and promise something grand we had never played before.

 Destiny has been out for about two weeks now and has it lived up to greatness it seemed to set it up for? Honestly, no. I didn't get dragged into the hype surrounding the game before the launch, for many of the same reasons that I didn't get pulled into the "Watch_Dogs" hype, it all looked like stuff we had seen before. First post-launch gameplay impressions gave off heavy vibes of a straight up blend between "Borderlands 2" and "Halo" and in many ways that's exactly what we ended up with.

 When you first start your Destiny journey you are greeted by small floating machine called "Guiltyspa-... a Ghost", voiced by the famous Peter Dinklage. Unfortunately while Dinklage is a fine actor on screen, his voice acting leaves something to be desired.

 After being greeted you are sent on your first quest to recover a starship so you can escape Earth. One of the first things you will notice is how absolutely gorgeous this game looks, the enviroment shifts from bright outdoor areas to the dark indoors, a transition that can't help to bring on a small feeling of claustrophobia the first few times. As you make your way through the dark corridors, enemies start to dart around in the dark and soon enough you come up close to these glowing eyed monsters. You shoot them down and with the help of your ghost you are led to the final area which is being protected by the levels boss. After a short fight and maybe one or two deaths you leave victorious. And that's that. That first mission sets up the tone for every throughout the game, kill minions, wait for ghost, fight boss. All the other missions barely show any other variety to this formula and this is where Destiny starts to fall apart into a mindless repetitive grind. 

Even the bosses feel like a slow grind.

After the first quest you are able to visit "The Tower". Earths final city and the last bastion against an overwhelming coven-... dankness that threatens the last of mankind with extinction. The only hope is the mysterious Traveler who helped humanity explore the stars before being almost defeated by the enemy that pursues it. In it's final moments it created Cortan-... the ghosts which help the final defender of humanity the Spart-... Guardians. The story and surrounding lore is probably one of the main things that bug me about this game, I don't hate it, it just doesn't feel right. First off all the talk of darkness and light and the occasional reference to wolves make the script feel like it was at least co-written by an edgy teenager who just filled it with stuff they thought sounded cool. Secondly the naming in the game is all very fantasy based. You are a guardian in a tower going out to fight robots called 'Hobgoblins' and aliens called 'Wizards'. You could argue that they were named that because that's what they look like but that argument doesn't work for something where someone had to design them and then name them. The fantasy doesn't end at the names either. On one mission you are sent to the moon to stop the aliens conducting a 'ritual'. The fantasy influences just don't sit well in the game and in some instances hold it back. One of the biggest problems with Watch_Dogs was that it held on too much to the past which held back innovation. I got this feeling mainly from the character classses which are also fantasy based. You have the Tintan as the Warrior, the Warlock as the Mage and Hunter as the Ranger. It's very basic stuff that has been around for a lot longer than I've even been alive. I just felt there could of been more, or at least more to separate each class. They are all practically identical apart from a few special abilities. To the point where in the heat of battle it's difficult to distinguish each class from one another, which is not a good thing in PvP.

There's not much to make you feel unique.

 Speaking of PvP, it's probably the games greatest strength but also one of its most frustrating features as it comes so close to being great but falls short due to a small few oversights. On the smaller maps the combat is fast and frantic with victory often going to the team that sticks together. The larger maps however slow the action right down as it is only a 6 on 6 affair and sometimes it can be annoying just finding another player. The larger maps are easily the worst and often create sighs of disappointment over headsets when they show up. These maps might have been more enjoyable if a 'Capture the Flag' game type was present but quite oddly it is not. There seems to be a wide spread problem with Destiny servers as well causing a lot of people to be kicked from the game, this is very frustrating when you and your team are winning only to have half your team mates be booted by Destiny servers. It is also causing weird problems with death in the game. It if very, very common to punch an enemy, just to have them shoot you dead and then walk off before dying from your attack several seconds earlier. It's a problem that needs to be fixed quickly. The combat in game is basically halo with a thin veil of... err... well you can use special abilities? Which isn't necessarily a bad thing as the action is solid and great fun when it works. For a game that is majorly focused around PvP though there doesn't seem to be a big enbough map selection and you'll find yourself often repeating the same map at least two or three times in a short stint. The map design is honestly pretty good for most maps (excluding the two larger ones). Though there are a couple of areas in certain maps where I felt they would be better suited to a game like 'Titanfall' with it's greater variety of player movement. 

 One of the main reasons to play PvP (apart from the fun) is that you earn something called Crucible Marks which is used as a currency back at the tower to purchase some of the games more rare and powerful equipment. However you are limited to only earning 100 per week, a limitation that seems to exist only to pad out how long you have to play to earn enough to buy the goods you want. 

 Outside of the PvP you are able to explore one of the four maps available to you. Earth, the Moon, Venus and Mars. At first these maps feel vast, expansive and filled with countless things to do. Unfortunately by your third visit you've seen it all before and you're doing the same fetch quest again. There seems to be a lot of missed opportunity in the maps to make them more interesting and give them greater even if it was changing the amount of different quests there are. There are two. One being kill enemies and the other being, go over there and scan that. It's yet another part of the game that just ends up feeling too quickly like a mindless grind.

 You can also go on 'Strike' missions which is where you team up with two other players, preferably friends to take on a mission for the chance of getting an item you need. One of the biggest problems in this online only, multiplayer game is that is very limiting social wise when it comes to activities. The biggest offence being that you can only have three people on a fire team at a time, meaning if there are four of you, someone is going to be left out. It's a massive oversight on Bungie's part, especially given the fact they encourage you to play together with friends as groups. The later 'Raid' missions allow more, but at this time there is only one and given the time and effort that it takes to complete, it doesn't really scream "fun with friends". Sometimes even when you get your team of only three it can be difficult taking on a higher level mission as for some god damn stupid reason you can only reach level 20 by gaining experience, anything after that you have to level up by picking up random loot drops that grant enough 'Light' points. Meaning even if you and your friends have played the same amount of time, you will probably be all different levels due to it being random chance whether you can advance further. This can be quite frustrating as even at higher levels the vast amount of loot you will find is for the lowest level characters in the game. It feels like it's a game mechanic that was purely created to pad out the time it takes to level up. 

Chances are this is all useless.

 I'm not sure why Bungie made the level cap by experience 20 and then 30 with random drops, but it's far too low. Most people had reached high levels in the first few days of release and were already on the end game grind. Further reinforcing this game mains mechanic, grinding receptivity. Which is odd since the developer kept trying to avoid referring to it as an MMO genre game. 

 Destiny is a solid game and shouldn't be called a bad one, it's just not a great game. It's a game that feels like it's been glued together from various other franchises, it has a lot of their ideas and mechanics, it just doesn't do them as well. The open world feels like Borderlands 2, it's just not as fun. The combat feels like Halo, it's just not as tight. The social feels like an MMO, it's just very restrictive. The character customization feels like an RPG, it's just a lot more shallow. Destiny is a game that struggles and fails to feel unique which can be felt by the player as they try and fail to create a character that feels unique to them. In the end Destiny succeeds in doing something great, acting as background noise as you talk to your friends over a headset. Here's hoping Destiny 2 will greatly expand on we have been shown, since it will be free of the shackles of last gen.

Guacamelee Review

Fiesta Smack Down

I grabbed Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition for free during one of Xbox's "Games with Gold" events. I had seen it occasionally mentioned around the internet, usually in good regard and I had been tempted by it during a few Steam sales. I feel stupid for not grabbing this game sooner than I did and part of me wishes I had actually paid money for it, it's really that good. Guacamelee has come in on the wave on indie games of the last few years, a select few of which have given gamers the kind of platforming goodness usually only offered up by Nintendo titles. It plays like the old games of your youth but looks like one of the crazy and wacky games that have been popping up from indie devs since the start of the decade.

This game never takes itself seriously.

 You play as Juan a very average man who for some reason the Presidents daughter has a thing for. As anyone would have guessed the Presidents daughter is kidnapped and only you can save her, after gaining the powers of a luchador of course. The one you love has been stolen by an evil skeleton man from the underworld who plans to sacrifice her so he can merge the worlds of the living and the dead together. Along the way you must battle plenty of his henchmen and even a few of his more powerful allies, it's the standard platforming "save the princess" affair that has been around for decades. It may be a cliche but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing. While playing I felt even though I enjoyed the interactions between characters, a heavier story focused would of just been a bad thing for a game like this, as if the rest of the game would of started to suffocate underneath it. And going back to the character interactions, that are all brilliant and well written. Each character is full of wit and charm with a subtle hint of sadness, just enough to give them all a little bit of depth so you can better understand their actions. 

 The gameplay is Gucamelee is by far it's greatest asset, the controls are tight, the platforming is superb and the abilities are easy to use but sometimes difficult to master. Throughout your adventure you will come across a goat-man who will grant you new abilities such as an uppercut or a headbutt. These new abilities are not just for fighting enemies however, but also offer new ways of getting around the map and reaching new areas like the Metroidvania games of old. There aren't really any actual puzzles in this game that require the kind of problem solving you'd expect from a videogame; instead the platforming itself is the challenge presented to you and your abilities are tools you use to overcome them. As you unlock more abilities you must use them together to navigate the world, which becomes more and more difficult as the game progresses, but not once did I find it unfair. The learning curve is probably one of the best I have seen in any game. Some of Guacamelee's gameplay is heavily inspired by other famous platformers from its previously mentioned Metroidvania map design to even some Super Meat Boy influenced wall jumping puzzles.

Timing is key.

The platforming is mixed in with battling enemies, usually in small arena-like areas. The game has a simple combo system for combat, punches, aerial attacks and your special abilities all flow smoothly. Later enemies who can only be hurt by certain attacks mix things up nicely, especially when multiple of them are thrown in at the same time, these moments can be pretty hectic. Building up your combos will also grant you the ability to gain super strength for a short time which comes in handy late in the game when you find yourself trapped into a corner. You also earn coins from defeating enemies, these can be spent at the store to upgrade your various combat moves and add various bonuses to attacks. I didn't really find these upgrades to be very important at all and they really didn't change much gameplay wise. You could easily play through the entire game without upgrading once, which was a little disappointing. I only really had two other gripes with the combat, the first of which was that the enemy arenas appeared more frequently near the end of the game and started to feel they were nothing more than a little game padding. The second being the boss fights were never really challenging. The final boss kicked my butt a couple of times but then I ended up defeating him without taking damage. Which was more to do with my patience rather than my skill.

The basic re-colored enemies are harder.

 One of the main aspects of the game is the ability to switch between the world of the living and the world of the dead. This opens up new paths and can make platforms and walls solid as many only exist in one world. This part of the platforming was probably my favorite, especially later in the game when switching worlds between jumps and moves required quick and precise timing and was a good way to bring the hectic feel of the combat over to the platforming side of the game. The world switching is also used when battling enemies as some will exist only in one world, but will still have a shadow in yours that can attack you. Deciding when to switch worlds and deal with them while fighting off other enemies can mean the difference between life and death. Switching between the worlds of the living and dead are also used in the hub towns where you can carry out small side quests for the residents, which will reward you with heart and stamina pieces to make you stronger. The contrast between the bright and lively towns of the, well living and the derelict and dark towns of the dead are brilliant. I often went around the towns switching between the worlds just to see how things change and check for any secrets that might be hidden away.

 Guacamelee is not just one of the best games I have played in recent years but is also one of the best platforming games I have played, period. Every part of the game blends together so well and complement eachother in ways many other games fail to. While the game didn't take long to beat, it's so enjoyable that you can easily replay it and still have a blast. It's a game that I walked in from work and could just pick up and play for a couple of hours at a time. If you enjoy the hectic side scrolling platformers of old then I highly recommend picking up this game as soon as you can.

Watch_Dogs Review

Press X to Jas-... Hack

Now when I first saw Watch_Dogs during Ubisoft's E3 2012 presentation, like everyone else I was instantly excited and intrigued by this stunning and obviously next gen game. The graphics were the best we had ever seen and the NPC A.I was astounding, especially during the car crash scene shown in the demo. Without a doubt it was the game everyone was talking about the most after the E3 expo that year and it convinced many they should move to next gen as soon as they could, even though the next generation of consoles hadn't even been announced yet. Sometimes later another gameplay video was released to the public and it was here that I slammed on the breaks of the hype train. During the demo, we were told that to reveal more of the map we would have to find towers and unlock them. It was pretty much "Press Y to synchronize", a gameplay mechanic we had been dealing with since the first Assassins Creed and was now implemented in all Ubisoft open world games. This made me cautious, as even though the game looked great, it was still at its core, returning to gameplay mechanics that were almost a decade old. At this point most people were still very enthusiastic about the game, but the more I saw, the more I was personally becoming cynical. Then finally, a few months before release, Ubisoft released a new gameplay trailer, one that showed reduced graphics and character animations. Although the video circled the net a bit before launch, it became obvious at the time of release that not everyone had seen it and were surprised and even angered by the changes. This was also after the game had been delayed from being a next gen launch game, so that it could be fine tuned and polished. The opposite seemed to have happened though. What we got in the end was an average open world game. Not great, not terrible, but a game that failed to meet most peoples initial expectations they got from the 2012 E3 demo, two years earlier.

I guess it still looks pretty at night.

 Watch_Dogs probably has the weakest opening acts of a triple A title I have played in quite some time. Everything feels old or recycled. The stealth, crafted items and gun-play are lifted from Splinter Cell: Black List (which might not necessarily be a bad thing), it's driving felt off and even downright frustrating at times. It's map layout has been used in every open world Ubisoft game for the last 10 years and it's characters were about as interesting and well voice acted as those in Farcry 3. It's here you start to notice that Watch_Dogs doesn't know what kind of game it wants to be. It has realistic weapons like in a modern shooter, but the protagonist Aiden can carry around an entire armory like in the retro games of old. The story, setting and characters are all dead serious, but there are instances of lewd, low brow humor that just don't fit in with the rest of the game. Aiden is a vigilante for justice, in part trying to push back an omnipresent computer system that watches you at all times, yet he uses it to spy on others and hack their bank accounts with no repercussions. The car chases are similar to those in games such as GTA, but you can't shoot out of your car, which leaves you just having to try and use hacks to stop an enemy car. This also just ends up feeling like a moving quick time event. Which brings us to probably the biggest gameplay let down of all: The hacking. You could stealthily sneak your way through an enemy base to get to a computer terminal, or you could just simply press X over and over to get from one camera to the next. Using the cameras to get around an area is not fun at all, as you just jump over to the next very conveniently placed security device. Yes you can use them to screw with and even kill enemies, but that quickly loses its luster when you realise it takes away from the strongest aspect of the game, the gun-play. The more people you get to shoot the better, as it's easily the most fun thing to do, open street battles can feel like a scene from Heat as enemies try flank you from all sides. 

The guns feel good.

The two main gameplay mechaincs, shooting and hacking don't always come together well either. Outdoors in open spaces hacking can be close to useless, unless it's night and you cause blackout. While indoors hacking can be hit and miss and it can be much easier to run up to enemies and knock them out with a context sensitive takedown, than actually shooting them. It was very rare to be in a situation where the area was set up well so you could use guns and hacking together, without it feeling like you had to force yourself to use one just so you could use it.

 The thing that annoyed me most about this game however was the side missions and collectibles. The side missions which mainly consist of Criminal Convoys, Gang Hideouts and Fixer Contracts. Fixer Contracts mainly rely on your driving skills and since the driving in the game is weak, the contracts quickly become boring and annoying. Convoys and Hideouts however are great fun. Convoys can lead to some really fun street firefights as you watch your planned ambush come to fruition. Hideouts use the games ability to hack and pre-plan enemy base attacks probably better than any other part of the game. It's essential to scout ahead before going in, not just so you can mark enemy positions, but so you can find your target and not accidentally kill him. These missions, although not much on variety were probably some of my favorite parts of the game. It was a huge letdown for me then, when I got to the final level of these missions to find that there was no climax, it was just the same as every other level that preceded it. The only difference being you got a weapon unlock and an achievement at the end of it.

 The weakest part of the entire game is easily the collectibles, there a tons of them, most of which come in the form of the 100 hot spots you need to check in at. And what do you get for checking in at all 100? A new gun? An awesome car? Nope, you get an achievement, that's it. Vast amounts of collectibles can be forgiven if you get a reward in return equal to that of the time and effort you put into it. But It is here, with the many different collectibles that Ubisoft has put in much of the padding for the game and it's not even fun. Not in the slightest. It feels like you have to set a few hours aside just to do chores within the game. It's unforgivable. Most of the investigations just have you finding a door, which you have to find the opening switch to, by following a white line around the neighborhood, which gets tedious insanely fast. If you're someone who obsesses over one hundred percenting a game, you might want to give this one a miss.

Nope.

One of the most memorable things from the original trailer shown two years ago was the astounding A.I. It reacted to a situation more realistically than we had ever seen before. Unfortunately in the final product that couldn't be more far from the truth. Civilians will fall to the ground and stay there, even if you're nudging them with your car. If there is a car accident they will just step out of their car and stand next to it, even if it's on fire and about to explode. They will just go up in flames with it and then the fire engine will arrive and then keep driving past, completely ignoring the situation. We had working fire engines over ten years ago in GTA and civilian A.I has been better in almost every open world game of the last gen. It's a city full of idiots who only job is to get hacked when you need money. It takes away from the feeling of it being an actual living, breathing city.

 The story... the story in this game is nothing short of atrocious. The voice acting is as bad as it was in Far Cry, Aiden's motivations don't feel adequate to excuse him from all the murder and crimes he commits as the vigilante. Especially since it all started because he as being a bad guy in the first place. The characters are mind numbingly boring that you just don't care what happens to them. The only bearable one is Aiden's colleague Jordi, who is pretty decently voiced by Aaron Douglas.

 The second act of the game is probably the worst, but it is also the longest and by the time you get to the end of it, you wonder if it was worth it. The acts that follow that are thankfully better and even become quite fun later in the game, especially when you meet T Bone and get to fight in his booby-trap laden hideout. The games missions grow in strength as you get nearer to the stories final conclusion. But when the conclusions does happen, it is over overwhelmingly unsatisfying. After which you are surprised with another final mission, which clearly shows the devs had completely ran out of ideas as you spend 15min being rammed by police cars as you try to drive to several locations. It is frustrating and leaves a sour taste in your mouth as the final credits roll. Even then the game isn't completely over. Nope first they have to set up the sequel during the credits. Return of the King had fewer endings than this game.

Watch_Dogs is a solid game, with a lot of fun moments. But a lot of it feels old and we've seen so much of the gameplay in other ubisoft games. It took me about 20 hours to get through the game and I must say the last five or six were actually a great time, it's just too bad that the rest of the game couldn't have felt the same. 

   

Wolfenstein: The New Order Review

Boom goes the Nazi

When I was only four years old, my very first computer game I ever played was Wolfenstein 3D. It was on a computer that my uncle had given us and for some reason my family thought it was totally ok for a four year old to be shootin' Nazis. Ever since then video games have been more than a hobby for me, they have been a passion, one that was starting to fade earlier this year as I just couldn't bring myself to enjoy any new games or older ones I already owned. It seemed fitting then that the game that reignited my love for the medium was the new installment of Wolfenstein, about nineteen years after I played the franchise the first time. To me Wolfenstein: The New Order is everything I had been waiting for, not just in a shooter but in a video game for quite awhile. 

Good wholesome fun.

 Past installments in the franchise have been somewhat lackluster and although the last game, just known as "Wolfenstein" was some mindless fun, there was still a feeling that it wasn't living up to the series potential. Coming from this I (and most like everyone else) went into TNO, not really expecting much except for the same mindless fun and some average gameplay backed up by a poor story. Instead what we got was a labor of love from the developer "Machine Games", a game which masterfully combined the best of retro and contemporary gameplay, beautifully blended with a moving story that, even though you didn't need one, gave you a new reason to hate Nazis. The developer could of gotten away with selling us an average product, which we all would of bought purely because it was an FPS that wasn't Call of Duty or Battlefield. Instead they gave us something that reminded where the genre has come from and where it can take us into the future. 

Sometimes literally.

The New Order is based in an alternate history in which, using advanced technology the Nazi's were able to win world war II and take over the globe. Once again you play as Blazkowicz on a mission to stop the Nazi war machine by any means necessary. The game starts you off still fighting in the final days of the war and by the end of the first mission you have taken a chunk of shrapnel to the head and been thrown into a polish psych ward. It is here where we are introduced to not only the games love interest but to a degree Blazkowicz himself, as he narrates the game with a soft internal monologue, similar to that you find in a Max Payne game. During this time you also realise that you won't be playing another mindless shooter with 2D characters, you can be forgiven for not caring about. By the time you leave the ward and make it to the resistances head quarters, the games tone as a fun, but serious, quirky, yet dark has been set and for the rest of the game you will find yourself being drawn into the world and even caring about the characters. 

 An FPS's most important mechanic to get right is the gun-play, but oddly enough we all know that this can be something a developer can get wrong very easily, or even just leave it boring. "TNO" however has some of the best gun-play I have experienced in quite some time. Every gun feels amazing as you mow down countless Nazi's. The assault rifles in particular feel masterfully crafted, every bullet you fire makes a satisfying bang and has just enough push back to feel like you are firing anti-Nazi death missiles out of a jack hammer.  You can also dual-wield nearly every gun, including shotguns (which make you feel like a mech) and sniper rifles (which comes in handy late game). I've seen a lot of people criticize the dual-wielding but I found it very enjoyable and useful if used correctly. I played the game on hard and I would often find myself backed into a corner only to be saved by being able to dual-wield and shoot my way out. Over long distances it isn't so great, but if you're back is up against the wall it can be some of the most tense fun you can have in the game.

They just leave a satisfying mess.

 You also carry around a laser cutter which doubles as a laser gun, for most of the game. It reminded me of the gravity gun from Half-Life 2, in that it never runs out of ammo and is handy for manipulating the environment to your advantage, not just killing enemies. This laser gun can also be upgraded throughout the campaign IF you find the upgrades for it, they won't just be handed to you, which I liked. The only complaint I think I have with the guns is with the sniper rifles. The auto targeting of enemies when looking through your scope can be quite frustrating and sometimes I found myself just switching back to the assault rifle and taking careful shots. This is nowhere near enough to tarnish the rest of the gun-play though, which will be the most fun you've had in a singleplayer shooter in a long time.

 I think what surprised most people with the game was the characters in it. Blazkowicz himself is melancholic and full of sorrow and hate due to everything he has been through. His personal monologue sounds something like that from a noire film, which are contrasted well in his scenes with his love interest which bring out warmer side to him, which allows the player empathise with Blazkowicz's struggle. All the secondary characters are also strong and well written and you'll find yourself actually caring about their story and their hopes. All of this is done in short cut-scenes and a few levels that have you exploring around resistance HQ. By the end of the game I was actually quite moved by what was unraveling infront of me, and when the final credits rolled I knew that this was a game and story that would stick with me.

 The games villains are also wonderfully written and you will find yourself despising them after a simple card game, there were a few coincidences with these villains which I found a little unrealistic, mainly always happening to be where you were headed as if they were trained by team rocket. I was willing to forgive this however, because when they did show up it was always a treat.

Everything you'd expect a Nazi to be.

Despite being an amazing game, it's not perfect. Small things such as terrible AI for melee only enemies and inconstant success with the context sensitive takedown ability can break immersion and sometimes even just be downright funny or frustrating. Other problems such as inconsistant enemy placement after player checkpoint respawns can be annoying. Dying five times at a checkpoint can suddenly get annoying when a strong enemy who didn't respawn the first four times is suddenly thrown back into the mix. There are also times when respawning at a checkpoint will also take away any picked up guns, which made one level in particular very difficult after I died and lost my assault rifle, leaving me with just a pistol. These problems though weren't consistent enough to bring down the quality of the rest of the game though and could even be patched in the future.

 I would recommend Wolfenstein: The New Order to anyone who loves FPS, killing Nazi's, or misses gameplay that stirs memories of games from your childhood. I was completely blown away by how much I fell in love with this game and now see it as a testament to what the genre can do and will even hopefully be the standard in which FPS games in the near future are held to. There's no doubt about it, this game deserves your money.

Shadow Warrior Review

Slice and Dice

 I bought Shadow Warrior during the a Steam sale after watching a video of it by TotalBiscut. After hearing such good things I went into the game expecting awesome gameplay and action, I was not expecting to see Godzilla stomp around the in background while the protagonist sang to Stan Bush's The Touch. This was all in the opening cutscene by the way, which opened up into an awesome and hysterical retro feeling world. I feel like I should say this now; this is the game that Duke Nukem: Forever should of been. Shadow Warriors starts out as a game that is aware of itself  and brings together all the best things from the great talent that worked on it. From 3D Realms games to Hotline Miami, Serious Sam and Painkiller. The opening act of Shadow Warrior is the perfect blend of all the best things from these games. 

 From the start you are thrown into a bright and colorful world, that is full of secrets that will make you want to look into every nook and cranny to discover them. These secrets can vary from anything from a small collectible statue to a hidden retro pixel are; or from a Monty Python skit to a naked anime girl washing herself behind a waterfall.... yeah.

This is just so beautiful. *wipes tear*

To go along with this beautiful and interesting world is some of the best damn FPS gameplay I have seen in ages. I say FPS but to be honest I found myself using the sword (which I had a hotline miami skin for) the majority of the time. Cutting the limbs off an enemy as you hack them to pieces is extremely satisfying, especially when using a skill that allows you to kill many at once. It's just a brilliant gore fest that makes me wish more FPS games had swords.

 The opening acts beautiful environments combined with its awesome gameplay and quick-witted, self aware humor made me fall instantly in love with this game.

 Now those of you keeping track may have realised that I keep referring all the good things to the games opening act, there being three acts in all. This is unfortunately due to the fact that after that first act the game starts to lose its footing and slowly, then quickly falls apart. The games second act is based in a ship yard and is nothing but crate filled exteriors and dreary grey interiors, a complete 180 from the first few hours of the game. As you continue on new enemies stop being introduced and you are left fighting the same small selection for the entire game, which by the end feels extremely grindy as you fight horde after horde with every new area you enter. 

Not pictured: colors.

 By the end of the second act you are left wanting to never see a shipyard again in your life and hoping that the third act will be better. Those hopes are lifted slightly as you enter a beautiful snow covered mountain landscape, only to be crushed later as you enter a facility that is even duller and unimaginative than the ship yard. The level design finally hits its low point in chapter 12 which has got to be one of the most frustrating levels in recent FPS history not to do with difficulty; you just get lost all the time in a poorly lit and boring area.

 At the beginning of the game the protagonist Lo Wang (yes really) is quick witted and often has enjoyably funny conversations with his demon side kick. As the game nears its conclusion however Lo Wang has evolved into a more serious character, losing much of his wit and charm in the process. Watching official videos and looking and screenshots of this game, you quickly notice that all the imagery is taken from the games first act as if the developers knew they had dropped the ball mid and late game.

 Shadow Warrior is game that begins with an awesome retro feel reminding you of games from your youth such as Duke Nukem 3D and Serious Sam. It then very unfortunately become the butt of its own joke and starts to mirror the repetitive gritty and serious FPS games of the current day, that many gamers are growing very tired of. It seriously is worth a play and even a buy if you find it on sale just for the sword play alone, just don't expect it to blow your mind for the thirteen hours it takes to finish.

 

Ryse: Son of Rome Review

THIS. IS. SPARTA!

 I mean Normandy, no I mean Helms Deep... Gladiator? Ryse: Son of Rome has many problems, the biggest of which seems to be that it takes itself way to seriously for a game that borrows so heavily from other media. However since there is so much that I found wrong with Ryse, I want to start off with the positives first and yes, there are some.

 Ryse is a Crytek game through and through, it is a game built from the graphics up and boy does it show. Ryse isn't just a good looking game, it is perhaps one of, if not the best looking games I have ever played. It is easy to see that every small aspect of the environment and character design has been painstakingly crafted to make it feel authentic. Rome feels like the beacon of civilization it is made out to be and travelling to Britain shows a stark contrast between the powerful roman empire and the barbarian riddled lands. The forests and swamp lands in Britain feel as if you're being taken back in time to a new, yet forgotten land. The visuals are truly spectacular, I just wish the game was longer to enjoy them more. 

Just doesn't do it justice.

 Another aspect that has been done spectacularly well is the voice acting and character animations. The performance from each voice actor is brilliant and I hope more next gen games up the ante in this area. I wanted to hate the antagonist Basilius, but Jamie Ballard's voice acting performance masterfully combined with the character animations made me want to see more of him.

The man you love to hate.

 Now back to the negatives, which there are  a lot of. As I mentioned at the start of the article Ryse is a game that borrows heavily from other media. The first and probably the most glaringly obvious is the landing of Normandy, I mean Britain. The whole opening scene is a complete rip off of the beach landing from Saving Private Ryan. There's even a freaking soldier walking around with half his arm missing. That doesn't even make sense when you only have boulders and arrows being hurled at you. The developers were so concerned with the show and spectacle of their pretty graphics that they put no creative effort what so ever into some of their biggest set pieces. I wish this was just a one off thing, however the entire game just feels as if some people sat around a table saying things like "Ok, what if this happened.. but with romans". Even the combat itself plays out like the slow motion scenes from the movie 300. Except where in 300 they were used sparingly to visually add to what was already happening on screen, in Ryse they are stretched out over the entire six hour campaign; and it grows tired. Quickly. The story itself is lifted from the movie gladiator, except Crytek seemed to of butchered it in the process.

 The story is so badly set out, paced and written that it can lead to some pretty cringe heavy moments. The fact that they started the game near the end of the plot line making it obvious what happens made me sigh. I mean why would you do that? Why would you want to give away your entire plot and twists in the first fifteen minutes to anyway who can rub together two brain cells? The script itself feels like it has been written by a twelve year old trying to sound cool and philosophical; but it is far from either. I lost count of the times the word "rise" and the phrase "Son of rome" were used, and when they were used they felt ham-fisted and not quite right. There is a scene where Marius is talking with Basilius in which the dialogue was so incredibly bad that I cringed non-stop and face palmed as a result.

 The script isn't to be outdone though by the gameplay, which is probably the most uninspired I've seen in a long time. At first it seems interesting with a Arkham City cross 300 type feel. Though that fades quickly when it comes apparent how repetitive the combat actually is. There are only three types of enemies, normal, shielded and brute and even though their character models may change they are still the exact same enemies through the entire game. The executions seem cool at first in all their gory splendor, however they grow old as you soon realise you'll be dispatching 95% of your enemies with them. They are quick time events that don't even matter. Seriously, if it tells you to press X and you press Y the action will still happen! The devs seemed to want to preserve their nice animations so badly that they try and limit your ability to stuff them up as much as they can. It's hand holding taken to the next level.

X, X, X, X, X

 Thankfully the repetitiveness is sometimes broken up by various battle scenes. Creating a shield wall with your legion as you slowly advance towards your enemy under a hail of arrows never gets old and I wish they implemented more of it. It is something good and fun too far and inbetween the usual hack n' slash. There are also moments where you have to defend a certain point, These are fun at first but feel as if they are drawn out for too long just to pad the length of the game. I will say this though, the kinect voice commands work great in these sections.

 In the end though, Ryse is a beautiful looking game that has been masterfully crafted by the kings of graphics. However Crytek took the easy and lazy way out when it came to just about everything else. It's worth a play, just maybe not a buy. Part of me hopes this didn't sell well enough to become a full franchise.