Reviews

Is Core Keeper the new King of Base Building?

I discovered Core Keeper through one of the users of this site, he had posted a few images and spoken about it in the discord a few times and I was rather captivated. Created by the talented team over at Swedish developer Pug Storm, Core Keeper is a base-building, resource gathering, survival game that shows an incredible amount of promise. At the time of writing this review, I'm 60 hours in and still have plenty to discover. With plenty more content on the horizon, including new biomes, additional bosses, new recipes, new crafting blueprints, and more automation options, Core Keeper has the potential to be a game that lasts into the hundreds of hours. The familiar loop of mine, level, build, repeat is here in all its glory, but is done in such a way that doesn't get tiring. You begin with the ability to craft simple wooden tools, meaning only the dirt walls around you need to be worried, mining further will see you soon hit clay and stone where your wooden pickaxe simply won't cut it. This is where you need to find your first ore type, often copper, allowing you to craft copper tools and be able to venture further out into the wild - discovering more ore types, foods and more. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 9/10 • Sound Design: 8/10 • Gameplay: 9/10 • Longevity: 9/10 • Fun: 8/10

Drumming Into Valhalla

I did not have high hopes for this VR game. I had seen the videos of it on the Oculus Store and felt that it was a rip-off of the old Rock Band games, just with a Viking twist. It is a little bit of a copy, but who cares when you have such a great soundtrack combined with a longboat full of Vikings to command. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 7/10 • Sound Design: 10/10 • Gameplay: 9/10 • Longevity: 9/10 • Fun: 10/10

Master the Art

SIFU is a game that deserves patience, the controller-fu needed to accurately and successfully pull off attack, parry and dodge is fast fingers and spot-on timing. A skill that only comes through plenty of playtimes. That's a good thing though, with only five levels the game would be pretty short if you could get your controller-fu black belt on your first attempt. I would be lying if I didn't immediately say that this game frustrates me. Not even Elden Ring could come close to causing my palms to sweat and my fingers to grip as tight as SIFU did. This game can be brutal from the outset. Let's first go over some of the mechanics of SIFU, created by the brilliant minds over at Sloclap (the development team responsible for the impressive, but often looked over Absolver). The game is a pretty standard story, one of revenge for your slain father. You've grown from a child that was left for dead to a young warrior (male or female) and is now seeking to cut down those who were there during your SIFU's demise. A plot lifted from the pages of countless other games/movies. What sets this game apart is the gameplay. You are not given 'lives' per se, but rather a mystical talisman that upon your death revives you to carry on fighting. The catch. Every time you die you age by a number of years - growing older with less health, but a more powerful attack. For example, if you complete level 1 having only been revived a few times, you could start level 2 at the age of 24. However, unless you restart the game, you will always begin level 2 at 24 - meaning there is a race to not die too early, else you will be beginning the later levels an old person. The first playthrough I had I did pretty well, getting to grips with the immediate controls faster than I expected. Each enemy was initially easy to dispatch and I did so with aplomb, completing the first level with my age only reaching 24. But then things got real, I began to die and regen over and over again and I finished the second level middle aged. I couldn't even complete the third. So I went back and start again, finishing the first at the age of 22 and the second in my 30s. But still couldn't do the third level. Here is where the roguelike element comes in, you can earn points to spend on additional moves or abilities, but these are not persistent until you lock them in by purchasing them a number of times. Meaning the game knows you are going to be doing the first few levels, over and over and over and over again! Kind of a groundhog day of video games. Don't get me wrong, it's fun and learning a new skill can be emboldening, but jeez it can get you angry. I've found that I have begun to play SIFU one run through at a time, just to get a fix really. Would I recommend it? Wholeheartedly... But just be patient. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 9/10 • Sound Design: 8/10 • Gameplay: 8/10 • Longevity: 8/10 • Fun: 8/10

Live, Die, Level, Repeat

When I pushed the 'Buy' button for Elden Ring, I wondered whether I was getting caught up in all the hype for the game and just buying it for the sake of it. I have all the previous Souls, Sekiro and Demon Souls (both the original and remake) games, but I never seem to get very far. The difficulty combined with having to retrace your steps if you die was not something I seemed to enjoy, and I was quickly getting frustrated. Could Elden Ring hold my interest longer than the other FromSoftware games? As I write this, I am currently 32 hours into the game and nowhere near finished - both in playing it and the story. I'd be a lot further, but baby and life take up a large portion of my time. Nevertheless, Elden Ring has me hooked and has indeed stolen my heart. Is it perfect? Hell no, nowhere near. But it is brilliant. I didn't know where to start when it came to creating my character, and I probably spent a lot longer than I should have to adjust every part of his looks—aiming to create an authentic-looking Samurai character. I changed everything from the face shape to tweaking each limb to the exact proportion best suited a fast and ferocious Samurai. When I loaded in, I noticed that I needn't have bothered as you couldn't tell anything about your character model with all the armour he was wearing. There was no way to remove the headgear to show his face unless you unequipped the helmet, which would lower your armour, so there was no way I was doing that. Lesson learnt for future characters - don't worry about how they look. I (unlike some) followed the spectre pointing down to the 'tutorial area' and found my way through nice and simply, learning about the art of crouch crits, blocking, counters and more. So far, so good. Running happily onto the platform, I made my way up to the world and pushed open the large double doors to get my first glimpse of 'The Land Between' and Limgrave. Wow. While it may not be the most beautiful game ever created, it is still gorgeous to behold. The game's scale becomes apparent as you look around and take in the various landscapes you can immediately see. Knowing there is a lot more out there made it even more incredible. I looked for a quest to undertake but couldn't find a quest journal, so after touching a Site of Grace which are Elden Rings checkpoints, I approached (somewhat cautiously) the first dude I saw. He gave me some cryptic clue, and I was off on my own. The lack of clear guidance is both the beauty and the beast of Elden Ring. On the one hand, you can go about exploring the lands without any interruption or fear of not doing a side-mission. There are no waypoint markers or journals in Elden Ring, so you are free to do as you wish and go where you want - there isn't anything stopping you, except enemies. To begin with, I found this frustrating. I wanted to know what to do next, where should I go? But, over time, this frustration feeling changed to a one of freedom. There WERE no restrictions. I could happily go where I pleased and do whatever I wanted. My biggest 'a ha' moment was discovering the markers that I could place on the map, and I used these to place markers over any NPCs, Dungeons, Merchants and high-level enemies that I found. This revelation made navigating far more manageable, and I could always fast travel to a Site of Grace near a merchant if I wanted to buy something. The map is vast and exquisitely put together. I'd often stumble upon a hidden cave or door that would then lead me to a new area in my explorations. Often these areas had their own mini-boss, each with a unique fighting style and looks. Granted, some are more fun than others, but each adds something to the game, whether it's a particular weapon or just a bucket ton of runes. Speaking of which, Runes are your currency in Elden Ring. Each enemy you kill will drop a certain number of Runes, which can then level up your character at a Site of Grace. If you die while holding onto Runes, you will drop them. If you die again before you recover them, they are gone forever! A mechanic that will often see you return to the area even if there is a brutal enemy so that you can 'hit and run' the pickup of your dropped Runes. Runes can also be used to buy items from traders, and I'd highly recommend picking up both a Torch and Crafting Kit as soon as possible. The combat in this game sets it apart from other open-world sprawlers from the likes of Ubisoft. It feels tight, with timing somewhat akin to a beat-em-up. Each battle has a strategy, and every attack has a different feel. I either run my character as a two-handed Samurai if I'm taking on a big boss or character where they hit heavy or with sweeping attacks, but bust out a shield if going piling into a group of lower-level enemies. Each battle is like a dance, with each participant finding the opportune moment to close the distance and get a strike in. The chance of winning a fight against the main boss types the first time (I feel) is relatively low as you need to learn their attack set. The patterns they will use. The strikes they will reign down on you. Do you need to recoup and come back later? Maybe, but nothing is stopping you from trying early in the game. One of my finest moments came straight after opening the doors to Limgrave for the first time. I merrily head towards what I now know is the Church of Ellah and come across a giant golden knight atop his steed - unfortunately, he didn't look upon me with the same admiration that I had for him, and he struck me down within a second. I've come to learn that enemies don't scale with you, they remain at one level, and this is genius. So I left the Knight and just explored. I tried to find every nook and cranny within the first map area, taking on characters as often as possible, learning the ropes in ruins near Stormgate and slowly levelling my character. Soon I was taking on mini-bosses in the smaller dungeons and caves, dying to some of the more giant bosses but learning every moment. Like something out of a Rocky movie, my training montage was furious. Enemies were falling fast, and each time I'd try something new, I got the Ashes of War, I got my steed, I learnt about Smithing Stones and Golden Runes, Sacred Tears, and so much more. I felt invincible... Then I took on the Flying Dragon Agheel and died pretty much instantly. But that's okay; I know it will die at my hand, though when I don't know. It's going to be fun getting to the point I'm capable, and that's the greatness of Elden Ring. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 10/10 • Sound Design: 8/10 • Gameplay: 8/10 • Longevity: 9/10 • Fun: 8/10

All You Need is Kill

I read All You Need Is Kill a long time ago, a graphic novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. I remember it being one of the best things that I had read in a long time. The whole premise of living, dying and then returning at the beginning of the day with the skills, knowledge and abilities that you had learnt during the previous cycle was such a brilliant idea that it eventually ended up in Hollywood and the movie "Edge of Tomorrow." The roguelike genre has been around for a while, but recently we have seen some incredible games, such as Dead Cells, Hades, Slay the Spire, The Binding of Isaac, Risk of Rain, that have pushed the genre even further. With Deathloop, the whole idea has been taken one step further with the retention of knowledge in the form of clues and infused items between loops. You play as Colt, a man who just wants to get through the day without being shot, stabbed, blown up, gassed or obliterated in some other weird and wonderful fashion. Waking up on a beach, you discover that you have done this before, many, many times. But for some reason, this time, you can retain the memories of what has come before. You must piece together what is happening, why it is happening and what you must do to stop it all from continuing—no mean feat. The key turns out to be eight 'visionaries', the leaders of the beautiful island of Blackreef. Each Visionary has a role to play in why Colt can't get out of the loop, so each of them needs to be taken out for everything to go back to normal - all within the same day. The trouble lies in that this can't happen at the beginning of the day as Colt can't be in two places at once. So begins the journey of Colt and his attempt to round up the visionaries so that he can slaughter them in bulk. The map of Blackreef is divided into four distinct areas - Updaam, Karl's Bay, The Complex and Fristad Bay. Colt can play each of these areas at one of four times in the day - morning, noon, afternoon, evening (except Karl's Bay and Updaam, which are off-limits in the afternoon). Giving you a possible 14 different locations to discover clues, kill Visionaries and pick up new weapons. Colt's initially armed with a shitty SMG, and it tends to jam at the most inopportune moment. So one of the priorities is to pick up another weapon. The issue is that you lose any guns you may have picked up with the whole respawn at the end of the day. To combat this annoyance of losing items, skills and powers, Colt can harness something called Residuum that gives him the ability to infuse items to keep them in subsequent loops. This mechanic makes him more of a death machine each loop and means that Colt can take new routes to his targets, use different powers to avoid, bamboozle or straight out destroy the enemies. Arkane is probably best known for the Dishonored series of games. It's a series I truly loved. Not just are you a kick-ass Assassin, but you also get to harness some super abilities such as Blink. Well, Deathloop takes this one step further and brings these powers in via slabs. We get the typical Blink (called Shift in Deathloop) and Invisibility (called Aether in Deathloop), but it also introduces Nexus, which links enemies together so that if you take one out, it does them all. These powers are what brings Deathloop together, and you can choose to go stealth with Aether and Shift or loud and proud with Havoc and Nexus. Overall the game is great fun; I had a blast going through and nearly mastering it. I have completed the run through a few times now, each trying to do something a little different, taking out the Visionaries in different ways and then choosing a different ending. I will probably come back just to 100% and grab that achievement, but there are other games to play for the moment. As a side note: There are hints that Deathloop is part of the same universe as Dishonored, and I'm looking forward to seeing if they take this any further. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 9/10 • Sound Design: 9/10 • Gameplay: 8/10 • Longevity: 9/10 • Fun: 10/10

The Next Prospect?

Icarus takes the open world survival genre and attempts to flip it on its head, making it less about just getting a base up and running, but more contract focused. You see, you aren't on the planet for an unlimited time, but instead are there for a purpose. Get in, complete the prospect, get out - simple... Let me start with the easiest part to critique, the graphics, simply put they are truly gorgeous. Forests are lush with greenery and different types of fauna, the ponds and lakes are invitingly blue and when all hell breaks loose and the world is on fire, you can't help but take a step back and think "beautiful". The only trouble being that there isn't that much else to look at. You can build yourself a base, but the whole point of Icarus is that you are down onto the world, do your contract and then you leave again. So building a stunning looking base is kind of beside the point. A quick functional place will do. The fun of Icarus comes when playing with others, standing and watching our base burn down following a lightning strike with my fellow prospectors was very funny. One was desperately trying to beat the flames out with a whacker while myself and another tried to empty the property of our possessions before there was nothing left. The game is currently in early access, so I am excited to see where this one goes, I will be returning to it every month or so to see what's new and if it can hold my interest. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 10/10 • Sound Design: 7/10 • Gameplay: 7/10 • Longevity: 8/10 • Fun: 8/10

It's a Far Cry from a New Game, but Fun Nonetheless

Let's start by getting this straight off my chest, Far Cry 6 is definitely not a 'new' Far Cry game. It may have the number 6 after it, but it feels like a game stuck in the same era as its great, great grandparent. That's not necessarily a bad thing as there is still some retro-cool fun here, but nothing that makes it stand out in the series. Before we look at Far Cry 6, it's worth taking a look back down the line of main games. I have always been a fan of the Far Cry series, from the first initial outing all the way through. Far Cry 2 was a flawed, but brilliant open world, with the immersion level cranked up to 10. Far Cry 3 was possibly my favourite in the series, becoming what would be a winning formula for open-world games far into the future. The brilliantly portrayed Vaas Montenegro is the best antagonist in the entire series for me - his memorable line Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is? Insanity is doing the exact... same fucking thing... over and over again, expecting... shit to change. That... is crazy now seems particularly appropriate as the numerous Far Cry games roll out. Far Cry 4 was a beautiful setting, but the story just didn't grab me personally. with the endings proving that no matter what you do, things might just turn to shit anyway. Far Cry 5 was set in the gorgeous Hope County, with some gorgeous vistas for you to venture between - from mountains to luscious fish-filled lakes. Though this world is one of the most realised in the Far Cry series, its antagonists and story were quite cookie-cutter and bland. This leads me onto Far Cry 6, the game I'm reviewing today. Let's start with the technical side of things... Graphically we're still on the same engine (Dunia 2) as previous games, with a few tweaks here and there to enable ray tracing, not that the ray-tracing adds enough to make it look 'next gen' for want of a better phrase. Sound-wise we're pretty good, the voice-acting, weapon sounds and ambient noise is still on point. The gameplay, well this may as well be a DLC for any of the previous three titles. So, it looks okay, it sounds okay and it plays okay... got it. The story plays out okay, there is a dictator who is looking to run these islands by force. Using propaganda to try and show him in a good light, whereas actually, he's just an arsehole. We see him taking lives without so much as batting an eyelid; treating people, including his own family, with disdain and generally just trying to be the big dog. Dani is your protagonist and she/he goes about trying to help the freedom fighters regain control and overthrow the regime. She does this with the help of a number of different NPC's, some interesting and others not, and a giant back mounted arsenal of weapons. That about sums it up. Now we come to the crux of my issue, the game is just incredibly tedious once you've sunk a good 40 hours into it. It's the same shit, different island. Same side quests, same looking locations and it's just rinse and repeat. I have yet to complete this Far Cry and to be honest, I don't think I'm going to bother. If you like open world games and exploring for the sake of exploring, then by all means try it out. It's NOT a bad game, that said it's also not a very good one either. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 7/10 • Sound Design: 8/10 • Gameplay: 7/10 • Longevity: 7/10 • Fun: 7/10

The Master of Gun-Fu

After picking up a (ridiculously cheap for what it is) Oculus VR headset, I was on the search for a game that would a) wear me out b) showcase the hardware and c) be a great game to demonstrate the capabilities to others while not being too hard. Enter Pistol Whip. This game is a combination of a rhythm game and an action game, with the points being worked out depending on how on beat you are and how accurate your shots are. This is a game that is easy to pick up, but hard to master. I think of it as the ranged version of Beat Saber. The soundtrack is thumping and great to listen to while you are John Wick'ing your way through the levels, with the amount of customisation available to you being truly astonishing. I don't want to blow my own trumpet, but for one particular song, gun combo, I'm now in the top 100 globally! If you have a VR headset where this game is available, pick it up. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 10/10 • Sound Design: 10/10 • Gameplay: 9/10 • Longevity: 10/10 • Fun: 10/10

A Beautiful, But Dead, Walking Simulator

Among Trees is a beautiful 'chill' survival game by FJRD Interactive, a micro development team based deep within the forests of Sweden. Only released onto Steam on the 10th November 2021 and already abandoned by the development team. The latest word being that they are moving onto other exciting projects. That's a crying shame to me as the game had a lot of potential, setting itself apart from other survival based games with its beautiful low key visuals that are somewhat akin to Firewatch. With no real threats in the world (apart from Bears), your soul mission is to survive day-to-day by keeping yourself warm, fed, watered and making sure you sleep. It's a wonderful walking simulator that never really becomes a lot more. The daily gameplay loop is scavenge, eat, drink, sleep. Wake, craft, scavenge, eat, drink, sleep. Repeat. Given more time and resource I'm sure that they could have added additional complexities, threats etc to the game, but it's now dead in the water. I'd love to be able to recommend this game, but now there is no further development, I advise against it. (unless you want to just use it for Wallpaper). ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 9/10 • Sound Design: 5/10 • Gameplay: 5/10 • Longevity: 4/10 • Fun: 9/10

Watch out for that tree!!

This is one of those games that crossed my path due to being front and centre on the Xbox Game Pass. I thought it looked like a nice casual time sink, something I could spend my lunch just chilling out with. Turns out I was bang on the money in terms of casual, but not so much the chilling. Just Cruising Lonely Mountains: Downhill was a game funded on Kickstarter to the amount of €45,000. With this money, the small indie team at Megagon Industries have created something really quite charming. You play as an unnamed downhill mountain biker who simply has to make it from point A at the top of the mountain to point B at the bottom as quickly as possible. Sounds simple right? <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nfJxYa3kt5U" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> Well at its most basic, you twist and turn your way down the mountain path avoiding rocks, trees and other obstacles thrown in your way. Take that and throw in a combination of narrow paths, cliffs, steep fast slopes, mud that slows, jumps, shortcuts and many, many different routes and you end up with something far deeper than just cycling down a hill. ####Simple Mechanics, High Skill Level It's fair to say that if you were to just let the bike freewheel down the mountain, you may well be able to get to the end without too many crashes. But if you take a look at some of the challenges for each level you will see that you need to make certain times, reach the end without going over a certain amount of spills and more. To make these challenges you need to seriously up your game. Even the simple mountain becomes a frantic stick shindig with your left thumb doing everything in its power to stop you flinging your body, once again, over the edge of the cliff. The dexterity needed to flick your biker around a shingle path as it gets ever steeper is up there with a flick shot on Call of Duty. You need precision. You need timing and you need patience. ####This Controllers Going Out The Window! Over the course of the last week, this game has given me a sense of accomplishment as I finally get the shortcut down, or complete the mountain in the top 100,000 people who have played the game (my record is about 41,000th in the world on certain stage checkpoints), but holy moly have I wanted to hurl my controlled through the wall at certain points. There is NOTHING more infuriating than smashing down the course, hitting personal bests only to then fall at the last hurdle! That's when I need a break, time to have another lunch to get over this one... Damn you Lonely Mountains: Downhill. I'll be back tomorrow. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 8/10 • Sound Design: 7/10 • Gameplay: 8/10 • Longevity: 7/10 • Fun: 8/10

Recreating A Classic

I'm not sure about you, but I often look back at the games I used to play through somewhat rose-tinted glasses. I remember Resident Evil 2 being this graphical masterpiece that took the fixed camera approach and created a cinematic marvel. How good was the original!? Well, after firing up the PlayStation and giving it another try, my memories were shattered. Compared to most modern games, the controls were janky, the camera angles made aiming difficult and it just brought me down to earth. I still wanted my Resident Evil fix though, so I bought the well-received remake. So Brilliantly Close To The Original The first thing that hit me when I began this game was the visuals. Each character is still recognisable from the original, but have been brought into the 21st Century with a dramatic High Definition makeover. Leon looks like he should be part of a boy band with his flowing locks and Claire, with her signature red jacket, is his female counterpart. Marvin, the mortally wounded officer, is still here clutching his wounded abdomen while attempting to help new recruit Leon escape. As an aside, the voice acting for Marvin by Christopher Mychael Watson is possibly the best in the game. The original, pixelated as it was, did a good job of setting the scene for the Racoon City Police Department. The fixed camera doing an alright role of showcasing some of the architecture of the building. The remake, however, takes these corridors, rooms and textures to a whole new level and right from the start lends itself to the eeriness of the situation. Fans of the original might be able to tell exactly where this is in the original game No Change Here The story is still as great as it was originally with the game taking place immediately after the occurrences of the first game. Leon is making his way to the station to begin his job as a rookie cop, while Claire is heading there to find her brother (Chris Redfield from the first game). Each character is playable from the beginning with a few minor changes between the two. Like the original, upon completion, you are able to play the other character as though they were on the same timeline as your first playthrough. Action Game, Horror Game or Escape Room I've never really known where to place Resident Evil 2 in terms of genre, some would say that the Resident Evil series is what began survival horror. I mean it's not so much an action game despite there being moments of kill or be killed. The game itself features a lot of figuring out puzzles. Find the key, locate a handle, find a fuse and this is only within the first 45 minutes or so. The downtime between shooting zombies in the head allows tension to build and I love that. More modern horror games should take note. Prying Loose of the Fixed Camera The move from fixed camera to over the shoulder is a big one but shows that this type of game works really well from this aspect. It does remove the cinematic aspect a tad, but also ups the tension as you look over the shoulder of your chosen protagonist, living their experiences up close and personal. Get up close as Leon bursts a few zombie heads Verdict If like me, you were a fan of the original game and/or the Resident Evil franchise as a whole, I would recommend checking this game out. It really is a labour of love towards the original game. Each character, each cutscene, each location has been lovingly recreated to take advantage of modern hardware. It's great. Now just remake the original for me. Pros • Incredible Visuals • Voice Acting is great, especially Marvin • Inventory Management is far easier than the original • Additional Features and modes add longevity Cons • No Photo Mode to speak of ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 10/10 • Sound Design: 8/10 • Gameplay: 9/10 • Longevity: 9/10 • Fun: 10/10

I Won't Be Back

Before I start this review, I want to put it out there that "The Terminator" is in my top 5 movies of all time. I have seen Terminator 2: Judgement Day what feels like a million times, and even went to the Premiere for Terminator 3 in London (Got to chat to Arnie!) - so you could say I'm a huge fan of the franchise... This game just disappointed me on so many levels. Literally. Each mission felt like a scavenger hunt: "Go and look for survivors" "Go and find some tools" "Go and look for ..." You get the picture. Each mission required me to enter a pretty empty map, kill a few 'spider scouts' and 'armoured spider scouts' before finding said item and returning it back to the Hideout. Yes, little Jimmy does just sit there staring into space for eternity The graphics aren't too bad, a little bit close with the FOV, but otherwise half-decent, I did notice the same items dotted everywhere and some of the textures are quite low resolution, but it was okay. Sound-wise, the voice acting is mediocre and I found myself skipping conversations if they started speaking and sounding dull. I did enjoy the sounds of the weapons, but just wish there was more shooting to hear them. I hope one day that we get a decent Terminator game, but for me at least, this certainly isn't it. Pros • Music is Terminator-esq • The T-800 on the Menu Page looks cool • Weapons sound pretty cool Cons • Repetitive and boring missions • Lack of Enemy numbers makes the game feel empty • Lacklustre and desolate environments • Uninteresting story. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 7/10 • Sound Design: 7/10 • Gameplay: 5/10 • Longevity: 5/10 • Fun: 5/10

I Need a Medic

Another bullet flies over my head, I hear the crack, but can't quite place the enemy's location. Over comms, my teammate gives me a number, and I know instantly that they are firing from the pillbox to the North East. I turn and jostle into a better position, while the automatic machine gunner in our Squad starts to lay down suppression fire. The return fire stops. But unless we go and check for ourselves, whether they are genuinely down is a mystery to us. Under cover of suppressive fire, our Squad makes a crouched run for it through a nearby stream. We see a shot from the pillbox in our direction, and a fellow squad member goes down—those of us remaining return fire. Luckily, accompanying our party is a medic. He crouches over the prone soldier and pumps them full of adrenaline before bandaging their wounds. The injured Rifleman is back on his feet and rejoins our Squad on the offensive. With the pillbox just in front of us, we begin our assault - two grenades go in, we pepper the sides with bullets, and an enemy soldier makes a sprint for it. I raise my rifle, draw breath and fire. My aim is true, and the enemy drops, dead. A single shot to the head making it impossible for resuscitation. The Squad makes a sweep around the pillbox before we slowly make our way in. We open our comms channel and report back to our Commanding Officer. The enemy squad are all dead. This all happened in the space of three minutes. Hell Let Loose is a game unlike many others, it is unforgiving, relentless and frantic. There is no place for glory hunters or those solely seeking to top the table with their K/D ratio. Your team will win or lose by their teamwork, by the communication hierarchy of Commander to Officer, Officer to Squad, and how well your Squad will listen and obey the orders that they are given. Successfully Kickstart in 2017 by Black Matter, Hell Let Loose is a platoon-based, realistic shooter based on World War II's actual locations. With huge, varied, and detailed 4km maps that have been pieced together using real satellite imagery and archival aerial photography, strategic battles are waged with up to 100 people taking part. The conflict's ebb and flow depend hugely on how commanders and officers manage the resources they control. Place a garrison too near enemy lines and your team will spawn directly into battle, often dying before getting a bead on an enemy soldier. Place it too far back, and it will give the enemy time to advance. Every single decision made affects the course of the battle. The butterfly effect made from a Commander's decisions can be both devastating to the outcome or war-winning. Those trying the game out after decimating the opposition in Call of Duty or Battlefield will think they are running through treacle, with movement purposefully slow. Soldiers can drown in seconds if they wade into water deeper than head height, or by laying in a flooded trench. There is no mantling, or sliding into action. You can walk, run, crouch, peek, or go prone. These design choices may frustrate some, but once again, they add to the strategy. Soldiers can't spring up from a river to surprise you or spring over a wall behind you. Each movement needs to be calculated and thought about - if you don't, you die. Being an Officer can be genuinely stressful, receiving orders from the Commander and then relaying these to your Squad, all while under fire, can make even the coolest, calm and collected individual sweat. When it clicks, though, and your team works like a well-oiled machine, the feeling is invigorating. Building Garrisons for your team or Out Posts for your Squad will drive your side's war effort and ultimately win you the game. Another significant aspect of an Officers duties is utilising your map and the many different pings available to you. This will benefit your Squad and your side as a whole. Pings to your team are not just limited to the Officers. All members can alert others to danger with merely a click of the middle mouse button. Teamwork is by far the most essential part of the game, and many servers online will insist you are either in their Discord or at the very least have a headset with microphone. Squads are made by up to six people, with roles limited to one of each type, except Rifleman - the games' 'basic' class. This limitation ensures that you don't get an entire squad of Heavy Machine Gunners and balances the whole match between both sides. Each team of 50 is also only allowed one Recon unit, consisting of Sniper and Spotter - their role is literally to camp and protect - something that in any other game sees them cursed and flamed from beginning to end of the game. There are two modes within Hell Let Loose, with both of them revolving around nodes on the map. Warfare sees both teams start with the same amount of territory and nodes, with the game ending when one team holds all of the nodes or a timer is reached - in which case the team with the most nodes is declared the winner. In Offensive, one team will control all the nodes, and the other team will be defending. The game will end when either the offensive team has taken all the sectors, or the defensive team holds out till the timer ends. There are currently 9 maps within Hell Let Loose and, as mentioned earlier, are based on archival aerial photography of the areas depicted. According to Black Matter, the Sainte-Marie-du-Mont map is an actual 1:1 replica of the town - an incredible feat that only heightens the sense of awe within the game. When working with a squad over comms, this game is a masterpiece of tactical teamwork. The feeling of a victorious enemy flank, or taking an enemies node through determination and well-laid plans is second to none. This game makes you work for these little victories, nothing comes easy, and because of that, these moments are ones you hold onto. While the visual design may not be ray-traced perfection, they serve their purpose well. With forests, towns and flooded fields first giving a sense of serenity before all hell breaks loose (can see where they got their name now). My only real gripe being the character models could be done with more variety, as rolling out in a troop transport filled with doppelgängers is quite amusing, but takes out some of the immersion. One of my favourite aspects of the game is how your vision warps and blurs the more suppression you are under. Never before have I seen the suppression mechanic used so well in this way. You really have no sense of direction while under direct fire from a mounted machine gun! In terms of sound design, the difference between leaving your initial garrison and taking up arms in the middle of a battle is night and day. The crack of a bullet past your head, the sound of artillery bombarding your location and the sheer relentless noise as you hold your ground is enough to get your heart racing. A feeling I haven't got from a game in a long time. To say that Hell Let Loose surprised me would be an understatement. The game got our group together, pre-sorted into individual squads and then sent out onto the battlefield on different sides. Win or lose, every single one of us enjoyed the experiences that it provided. Each person would silently take up their preferred role, and we would head out - each time getting better and better at what we were supposed to be doing. Each time fulfilling more of the Commanders orders, and each time finding new and inventive ways to take out an enemy node. Would I recommend this game? Wholeheartedly, to anyone that wanted to play a war' sim', thinking mans FPS. You don't need the fastest reactions, you don't need to smash your K/D, you simply need to be able to receive orders and carry them out without question. See you on the battlefield. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jjz64W08HrA" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 8/10 • Sound Design: 9/10 • Gameplay: 8/10 • Longevity: 8/10 • Fun: 8/10

Back To New York City

This latest expansion takes everything good about Division 2 and refines it for the better, whilst also fixing those underlying niggles. The City That Never Sleeps Although Washington was vast and offered a bit of variety, my heart remained with the first game in New York. It may be down to the fact that I have been to New York on several occasions and could recognise many of the landmarks. They're here. Not all of them, just enough to make me believe in the locale. This time, the harshness of the winter has dispersed and you can see the devastation that the pandemic has had on the city. Litter and dead cars are strewn about the streets and the detail has been amped right up. It's great to return back, with my only niggle being that the map is so much smaller than Washington. I'd love to be able to fight up the Empire State Building or try and reach the Statue of Liberty without it being in a mission. But otherwise, I love NYC. The City That Never Sleeps Back to the Grind Stone First thing I noticed was how my level 30 build no longer cut the mustard in New York, my equipment had for want of a better phrase, been nerfed. Not that I minded. Picking up a level 33 blue and deconstructing my named gold weapon seemed a bit counter-intuitive, but the new stat system made it very easy to tell at a glance that I wasn't losing out. Over the course of the next few hours, my team and I completed the hunt and destroy missions for 5 of NYC's most deadly Agents. We would quickly swap out weapons for newer and better stat versions. There was no point getting too attached to anything until we hit level 40, so we just grind up. Keeping any weapons that possessed stats that we liked so that we could then go and store them in the new Gear Stat Library. That then became the goal. We would grind to find a weapon containing that one stat you wanted - be it a 15% Critical Hit Chance or Reload Speed, or Headshot Damage. You find the piece with it on - you bank it in the library. Next comes the grind to find the perfect armour piece, the weapon you want WITH two of the stats that you like, then back to bank it in the library. The Indestructibles One of my personal frustrations about the game is the sheer amount of punishment enemies can take. Some of the brutes of the game just stand in front of you and your squad, firing blithely into your group as each one of you empties clip after clip into their seemingly indestructible but somewhat human frame. I mean, I'm not expecting the one-shot kill of other Tom Clancy games, such as Ghost Recon Wildlands, but these bosses just become frustratingly hard to kill and ruin the immersion of the game. The division of the Division As far as the story goes, this one is a pretty standard affair. There are a number of rogue Division agents, led by Aaron Keener, who has taken over lower Manhatten to develop their own biological weapons. The game allows you to take on the four lieutenants in any order, revealing parts of the story as you defeat each one. Some are easier, some are more memorable, but they all lead you to the ultimate showdown with Aaron Keener. Playing through the game on Heroic or Legendary makes this final battle a slog, with a tight group needed in order to bring him down. In terms of enemies, Aaron Keener is definitely one of the more interesting ones out of any of the Division games and their expansions. Conclusion While the Warlords of New York doesn't deviate too far from the formula that helped The Division and the Division 2 to succeed in the looter shooter market, it does bring a number of improvements to the game. Being able to create a library of stats gives players the opportunity to create their perfect build, even if obtaining those stats can be a bit of a slog. The map is wonderful and being back in New York is a good feeling, I hope they return to here again in the future, but maybe add some verticality to it. If you have a group of friends who enjoy a looter shooter, want something they can drop in and out of, then The Division 2: Warlords of New York is a firm recommendation. ##Pros • Still gorgeous to look at, with incredible vistas and nice attention to detail. • Sound is great with nice effects to the guns and the voice acting is pretty good. • The updates to the stat system and the introduction of the Stat Libary 👌 • Back in New York ##Cons • Enemies take far too many bullets to take down, feels like you're fighting superhero. • Cookie-cutter plot ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 10/10 • Sound Design: 9/10 • Gameplay: 9/10 • Longevity: 9/10 • Fun: 9/10

The Best Superhero Game - So Far!

Let me go straight ahead and say it, Marvel's Spider-Man is very possibly the most fantastic superhero game that has ever been created. A bold claim indeed when you have the Rocksteady Batman series, but one that I'm willing to stand behind. Let me briefly explain. Introduction One of the most beloved superheroes of all time, Spider-Man needed to be something special to appease all the comic book fans, and on that front Insomniac Games have done a truly fantastic job. They have included many of the iconic villains from the comic books, in surprising detail, and many of the alternative Spider-Man costumes. All the nuances of each character is here too, with the fast-talking, wise-cracking Peter Parker and J. Jonah Jameson with his constant barrage of disparaging comments being the highlights for me (brilliantly portrayed by Yuri Lowenthal and Darin de Paul respectively). New York is rendered in spectacular detail, the city feeling alive and bustling, with pedestrians going about their days, cars making their way to unknown destinations and skyscrapers looming large over the cityscape. This game is wonderous. Gameplay From the very outset of the game, you are thrust full speed ahead into the fray, helping the NYPD apprehend the Kingpin. This immediate action quickly introduces you to the controls, utilising not only every individual button the PS4 pad has to offer but even combinations of buttons. Some would say that the lack of ease-in tutorial is detrimental, and I can see why, but I personally loved the more frantic pacing. I'd only just learnt to swing using the R2 trigger (badly, may I add) before I had to perform combos to take out enemies with assault rifles and even rocket launchers. After a few hours of playing though, these button controls become second nature, and you can begin to enjoy the flow of combat and exploration. The game uses a level-based system to gain access to new abilities and skills. Your enemies aren't skill-based though, and you can explore the entirety of New York without having to worry about running into enemies that you simply cannot beat. Graphics and Sound Let's not beat around the bush, at the end of the PlayStation 4's lifecycle; this game will go down as one of the best looking, best sounding offerings of the last generation. Looking out across the channel, from a highrise, you'd be forgiven for mistaking the skyline is real. The amount of work that has gone into the look of the game is unreal; it's gorgeous. If you play the game, utilise the photo mode, you will not be disappointed with the results that you get. Every character model is lovingly created, zoom in on Spider-Man (once again in photo mode), and you will see the fabric of his suits. Each villain looks brilliant, with my personal favourite's being Rhino and Kingpin. Then we come onto the sound. The hustle and bustle of New York and the constant radio chatter of J. Jonah Jameson make the city feel alive. The Police radio is continuously abuzz with crimes being committed, and Yuri, your friendly Police contact will almost certainly be bending your ear every quarter of an hour with something of interest. But by far the best use of sound is with Peter Parker/Spider-Man himself, with the constant running commentary throughout the game, mocking and chatting to his assailers each time he gets into a fight, and running his mouth the entirety of the game. Just fantastic stuff. Final Thoughts As I write this, I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my PlayStation 5 and my day one purchase - the Deluxe version of Miles Morales. I will be playing through Miles Morales, but am equally looking forward to playing through Marvel's Spider-Man: Remastered. A game I have already completed, twice. I cannot recommend this game highly enough. Pros • Incredible Graphics and Sound • Fluid Gameplay with great combat and movement • Story is engaging and not drawn out • Side missions are varied and fun Cons • Not enough DLC :D ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 10/10 • Sound Design: 10/10 • Gameplay: 9/10 • Longevity: 10/10 • Fun: 10/10

But Can It Run Crysis

A meme that simply every PC gamer is aware of is "But can it run Crysis!". Released back in 2007, Crysis seemed to have generations of gaming rigs. Every machine that tried to run the game was pushed to its maximum, chugging along at low frame rates unless the settings were dropped substantially. In some ways, this gung-ho attitude towards graphics is to be applauded, Crytek became synonymous with graphical prowess and they were on the lips of every PC Gamer - could your rig run Crysis? Plot You begin the game on a rescue mission, taking control of Nomad, the noob member of an elite squad of soldiers equipped with "Nanosuits". This Nanosuit grants the wearer incredible enhancements to their usual abilities, such as active camouflage, super strength, bulletproof armour and finally super speed. The only downfalls are that each of these abilities drains the power of the suit for a small period of time and that you cannot use two of them at once. Your mission is to liberate an island that has been taken over by a North Korean force. Following a HALO jump that goes slightly wrong, you are separated from your team and forced to go alone. Along the way, you discover that it isn't just the Korean military that you need to fight, but also something a bit more otherworldly. Gameplay Throughout Crysis, you find so many different ways to complete levels that you could be forgiven for thinking you are in a completely open-world. You can attack enemies head-on, using cover and the armour in your suit to deal with the incoming fire from enemies, or you could take a more stealthy approach, utilising your active camo to sneak up and either choke enemies to death (sleep!?) or take them out with a silenced shot to the noggin. The choice is yours. Personally, in my latest playthrough, I took the Predator approach and tried to get through the first few levels without raising suspicion - which turned out to be surprisingly good fun. As the game progresses you find out more and more about the island you are on and face ever more powerful enemies. Good think the weapon power also increases. Sound Design / Music Part of the experience with Crysis is the immersive and impressive soundtrack that comes with each game in the series. Inon Zur is the man behind the original game's soundtrack and it lends itself well to the environment with long orchestral harmonies interspersed with stabs of a synthesizer. I can listen to the soundtrack on repeat it's that good. The sound design that every person who has ever played the game will take away is the suit. The number of times you here "Maximum Armor", "Maximum Speed", "Maximum Strength" and "Cloak Engaged" throughout the game must be in the thousands. Each time you hear it you know that you're going into a possible firefight scenario. Talking about firefights, every gun in the game has a nice sound - from the pistol to the Alien Moac. BUT, if you want to see and hear the best weapon in the game you need to get to the point of picking up the TAC Launcher. The TAC Launcher is Crysis answer to Dooms BFG, firing mini-nukes all over the place which explode on impact and spew a mini mushroom cloud. Pros • Incredible Graphics, even holding up well today • Level design makes you feel like you are within an open world • Great Soundtrack • Gunplay is on-point with meaty sounding weapons with good customisation options. Cons • Story is a bit weak • Alien enemies not as much fun as humans • ~~PC Intensive~~ Not anymore ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 10/10 • Sound Design: 10/10 • Gameplay: 8/10 • Longevity: 8/10 • Fun: 9/10

One of the Best Arena Shooters Ever

This evening, my friends and I jumped onto Discord to find a game we could all play together. After a few games of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, also released in 2007, we decided to try out Unreal Tournament 3. After playing COD, Unreal looked like it had been made 5 years later. The graphical finesse of this game in comparison to Call of Duty is sublime. The textures, environments in the levels and the character models must have blown people away back in 2007. It is still lovely. The plus in this day and age is that it runs like an absolute dream. The sound design is also exemplary. It lets you know where people are, it lets you know what weapons they are using, and it gives you great auditory queues to give you the upper hand on your opponent. Combine this with the brilliant announcer and the classic lines of: "Multi-Kill", "Mega Kill" and "GODLIKE". Each character also has their own lines that they blurt out during the course of the match. Bringing a smile to your face in the ferocity of battle. The guys all said that I have a very serious face on when I'm playing this. I take that as a badge of honour. I love this game. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 10/10 • Sound Design: 9/10 • Gameplay: 8/10 • Longevity: 8/10 • Fun: 10/10

My Chance to Just Get Away

On the morning of March the 20th this year, I was relishing the opportunity to get stuck into slaying demons, performing glory kills and just enjoying the gunplay that I was expecting with Doom: Eternal. Then, Animal Crossing: New Horizon dropped through the postbox and changed everything. It was meant to be a present for my girlfriend, but I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Surely it wasn't that good of a game? So I popped it into my Switch. source: Imgur/ Titmouseman Right from the get-go, I was hooked. I was not expecting to enjoy this sedentary pace of life quite as much as I did. Arriving onto my chosen island I got to meet the master and commander of the island, Tom Nook, and his two twin cubs Tommy and Timmy. They talked me through the basics of how to get set up and where to go to begin collecting my bugs and fish. So off I went... These last few weeks since purchasing Animal Crossing have really shown me how important games like this really are. When I need a pick-me-up or a game that will place a smile on my face, it's this game. I merrily wander around my own (semi) deserted island, gathering materials and crafting whatever items I've needed to decorate and expand my little home away from home. I have no need to wander around outside, I can do that on this idyllic retreat I have created myself. There are certain aspects of the game that I'm not overly keen on, but they are few and far between when compared with the things I love about it. For example, not being able to do things in bulk, such as crafting multiple items. Having the same species shown over and over to me when I collect them, and I don't like how much it is to move things around on the island. When I began this game I was a total and utter noob in the Animal Crossing series and had no idea that I would be building houses all over the place, putting down fountains, statues, pavements and even museums; so I had just thrown them down. This is very likely an oversight on my behalf, but I genuinely had no idea what the game entailed. Here she comes, showing off her summer dress and about to decimate my island for resources. Another frustration was not being able to allow my girlfriend (yes, we bought two copies in the end!) to visit my island whenever she wanted. Instead, I have to go to the airport and fling the gates open for her. Then when she arrives, much like she does in real life, she stops me being able to do things (jokes, she's very good to me!). If I try to perform Actions such as crafting or selling then I am greeted with a message that I have to wait for my visitor to leave. But to be honest, that's where my criticism of the game ends. Yes, this game contains a lot of repetitive actions. Gather resources, break tools, build items, sell items, build tools, gather resources... But this is the beauty of the game in my eyes, you create a cycle of chores that instead of becoming a detractor from the game actually instils a sense of calm. I know that when I pick the game up each day, I'm going to have to do the same things as I did yesterday. It's no bother. Though basic, I love being able to customise my property. So far, I've upgraded my property a number of times to give me more space to decorate. Then I've invited a load of new buddy animal creatures to come and stay on my island and helped Mr Nook out on a number of projects. I'm enjoying it. Every damn day I log in to keep up with my nook miles through the ATM machine. Every day I go and catch myself some fishies and bugs. Every day I check turnip prices and hot items. This cycle is similar to a cookie clicker game, and it has me hooked. I'm determined to make my island a thriving metropolis, even if it takes me a lot longer than everyone else. I want to see it develop and grow. I want to create and nurture these in-game friendships and I want to use Animal Crossing as my escape from the craziness that is the reality at the moment. ##Pros • Quick to up into and get up to speed with the mechanics • Unbelievable amount of items to collect, craft or find • Very satisfying when you find a new species or complete a fossil • Very appropriate graphics, that although basic, truly convey happiness ##Cons • Can get repetitive and samey after periods of play • Wish there was a way to skip all the dialogue • Would love to be able to bulk do actions, such as eating or buying. • The amount of Bass in the sea! ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 9/10 • Sound Design: 7/10 • Gameplay: 8/10 • Longevity: 9/10 • Fun: 10/10

End of Chapter...

At the time of writing this, I'm level 21 and have just completed the first of the three chapters within the game. So these are my first impressions after playing the game for approximately 13 hours. My first thought is that this is a love-child between Diablo 3 and Path of Exile. The familiar ARPG traits from Diablo 3 such as the looting mechanics, combined with the choice of skills and additional perks that can be garnered through a choice wheel similar to that found in Path of Exile. The difference is that this game is classless, leaving it up to the player to decide what weapons, skills and traits each of their characters have. So although most will choose either a build that is recognisable in other ARPG's as a Ranger, or a Mage, or a Barbarian - here you can have all three... An average Joe of ARPG characters! Due to the crazy problems that happened at the launch, my game has consisted of playing offline for 95% of it. My single-player experience has been for the most part bug-free, though a few things have cropped up that taint the enjoyment slightly. But we'll get to those in due course. Character Creation The character creator within this game leaves quite a lot to be desired, with the choice of Male/Female, each of which has a choice of Skin Colour, Eye Colour, Hair and Facial Hair - these are fairly generic and none of which really stand out. Not that I really cared about this, as for the most part, you can't see your characters face in the game anyway (apart from cut-scenes). edit: I hear that there will be more choice in an upcoming major patch Character Traits One of the promoted aspects of Wolcen is that the game lets you choose what kind of character you want to play, there are no pre-defined classes. If you fancy something tanky you load up points into your Toughness, if you like to be DPS then you stick them in Ferocity and so on. But this is just the beginning, the next part is choosing where you are going to put your level point in the Wolcen Wheel, the Gate of Fates! Here you can choose to truly define your character, though not as in-depth as Path of Exile, it's still quite fun and does make a difference during gameplay. Story Not that anyone really cares, but from what I can gather, the plot revolves around your character popping out an angelic/demon form during a battle, and all of your mates turning on you like you're some sort of rabid dog. The Good The first thing that struck me about Wolcen was how damn nice it looks... Everything seems really polished, with truly detailed environments that change from area to area. Not once did I stop and think that something could be improved upon. Your character it smoothly animated and each item appears upon them no matter how weird your choice of attire. The same thing goes for the sounds, with everything except a few characters voice acting being great. There are a few stiff lines delivered, but for the most part, it really is a great game to listen to. The Gameplay is generally in the "good - very good" range with only a few issues cropping up which I cover below in - the bad. The Bad A few things have cropped up that tarnish the experience slightly, nothing major (except the Multiplayer), but after defeating a level or dungeon boss you are immediately presented with the choice of prizes, even if there is still mobs or creatures in your vicinity. So you have half the screen covered and are still taking damage. Please let this appear at a more suitable time, it would be greatly appreciated. After attempting to play Multiplayer on launch, I swiftly had decided against it after all manner of connection drops. But a week or so later, a friend and I try again, this time we can at least play, although his character seems to be consistently running towards the Northeast, and warps around the screen instead of running. Quite jarring and something we hope will be resolved in a patch asap. The Ugly Okay, now we're down to my single biggest gripe, the damn difficulty spike when it came to meeting the first boss... I mean, WTF... I was merrily breezing through the game, taking out swathes of enemies without so much as breaking a sweat and then this behemoth appears (no spoilers). Those of you who have reached this point will probably have dealt with the big bad a lot easier than I did, but the amount of damage that they/it soaks up and dishes out is immeasurably higher than anything that you had previously faced. C'Mon, level the difficulty out a bit... Please... All in all, I think it has great potential and I'm looking forward to seeing the game improve over time. Pros • Simple to learn • Straight into the action • Graphics are great • Enjoyable for the most part Cons • Multiplayer is buggy as all hell • Difficulty Spike on End of Chapter Baddies is horrific ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 9/10 • Sound Design: 9/10 • Gameplay: 7/10 • Longevity: 7/10 • Fun: 8/10