[PC Game Review] Wolfenstein - The New Order

WOLFENSTEIN: THE NEW ORDER
Platform: PC (Steam)
Released: 2014
Genre: First Person Shooter
Developer: Machine Games
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Buy on Steam

Wolfenstein is one of the biggest grandfathers in gaming history as it spawned an entire genre, the first person shooter. While it wasn't the first game to put you in the eyes of your character, it was the first to do so in such a raw and intense way. It paved the way for future successes from id Software such as Doom and Quake, and it would be difficult to imagine gaming as it is today without it.

The Wolfenstein franchise itself is a bit of a strange one as there has never been any direct sequel to the original Wolfenstein 3D game and even that was a sort of remake of the Castle Wolfenstein game from the 80's by MUSE Software, itself the grandfather of the stealth genre, so in a way the franchise stretches far back and was actually influential both as a first person shooter AND as a stealth game. And while the original Wolfenstein 3D was not a stealth game, stealth was a minor gameplay element in the game. A remake came out around 2001-2002, cleverly titled "Return To Castle Wolfenstein", featuring an entirely new storyline. It was followed by the multiplayer game "Enemy Territory" later on.

While these two games were pretty successful, Activision released another reboot of the franchise in 2009, the also cleverly titled "Wolfenstein", which was not a remake of the first game nor a remake of Return, it was simply a new Wolfenstein game not in any way tied to the earlier games. It focused more on using dark powers to aid your fight against the Nazis and introduced a big city hub to go around in. While it wasn't any big hit, it sold decently though most critics called the game mediocre. Needless to say, Wolfenstein: The New Order has a bit of a weird history to follow but decides to mostly do its own thing and in some ways be a bit of a sequel to the 2009 Wolfenstein game. Let's take a look and see how well it fares in comparison to earlier games and also, whether it truly is worth the title of a Wolfenstein game.

Say CHEEEEESE

STORY

This is a game where I really don't want to talk much about the story out of fear of spoiling it for everyone. Let it just be said that the game has one of the best stories I've ever played not only this year but in a long time. At times the game has an almost Tarantino-esque feel to it which I don't mind at all as the writing is really good and tight and the characters are all extremely memorable and easy to connect with. I especially love Deathshead who returns as the villain and, if anything, is creepier than ever and is one evil S.O.B. you WANT to kill by the end of the game. The game has two different storylines with slight differences. I strongly suggest playing both of them as each storyline has some minor differences, giving the game some amount of replay value. And one spoiler I will give is that... yes. You go to the moon...

GAMEPLAY

Gameplay-wise the game might be one of the best single player FPS's ever made. All the guns are exceptionally well designed and look really cool on the screen (something more games should take into account if you ask me, considering you run around most of the game staring at it). I especially love the enormous shotguns and the assault rifles. Some of the weapons also have an alternative fire method or ammo type, and all of them save for the heavy weapons can be dualwielded, which naturally gets a big point from me as it is one of my biggest gaming fetishes. I also love that all the weapons are instantly available at any time and you are never limited to just two guns. Granted your arsenal is a bit limited and you cannot carry turret guns in your inventory but this is fair. If you are a fan of oldschool shooters, the game will definitely cater to your taste. Some guns even fulfill multiple functions such as opening crates or doors.

Instead of using health regen which most shooters nowadays do, the game opts for a more oldschool system of having to gather health packs and armor. The health will slowly regen to the nearest 10% though so if you're at 55 health it will slowly regen but stop at 60. I find this system very balanced and one thing I love is that you can overcharge your health using extra medpacks so if you find some laying around and don't wanna waste them, you can still take them. A lot of tactical play is involved with maintaining and managing your health and armor, adding some strategy to combat other than simply aiming and shooting while hiding behind cover and leaving some health and armor behind and backtracking to it later is of course a completely valid strategy.

Come to daddy

However it wouldn't be a Wolfenstein game without going back to the stealth roots a bit. While you can technically go full mayhem through most of the game, at times opting for a more stealthy approach can be preferable and you are given plenty of opportunities where you can choose to use stealth and sneak around if you want to, and your knives will prove useful stealth weapons as you can not only sneak up on someone and perform a takedown but also throw your knife at your enemies. I personally love how the game mixes stealth and action so seamlessly and leaves so much freedom to the player to approach the game however they see fit. It is a lot of fun playing the game this way and I strongly recommend people try different gameplay styles and see what fits the mission.

You can gain additional abilities and weapon mods by performing certain challenges which unlocks additional perks. The perks are divided into several categories, each one catering to a certain playstyle and you are almost guaranteed to be rewarded with more perks by simply sticking to that style as most of the challenges are simply just playing the game a certain way. You will definitely want to replay the game a few times to get all the perks if you're a completionist.

GRAPHICS

The graphics are simply amazing, not surprising given the game uses the idTech 5 engine which also powered the equally breath-taking RAGE which I reviewed in 2011. The same tech is used here to give an insane amount of detail and atmosphere to the game's levels. The game even has a slightly stylized look about it which gives it a very memorable and attractive style. There are also tons of little easter eggs and nods to the original Wolfenstein 3D, such as taunts when you want to exit the game, the difficulty names and there's even a completely playable level of Wolfenstein 3D recreated in the game if you can find it. While it felt a bit distracting at times, it is fun to see the game acknowledging its roots.

The PC port does feel a little unoptimized at times as the game would often run very slow if I alt-tabbed out of it and some of the audio didn't sync up with the mouth movements in-game. None of this really broke the experience for me though and I still enjoyed the game immensely. Just bear in mind the game is an idTech 5 engine game so some texture popin is to be expected. I found it was very easy to minimalize the popin by lowering the Max PPF setting to the minimum. Another tip I have is to keep in mind the memory requirements for the Ultra setting are rather high so if you have a mid to high range graphics card, I wouldn't set the cache size above High. I never had any major problems with the game and after tailoring the options a bit it ran smooth as butter for me.

SOUND

Sound-wise everything is top notch. The voice acting is superb with really emotional performances from the voice actors that perfectly matches the game's cinematic feeling. The guns all sound really good and gives them that extra "oomph". The music is also exceptional with a lot of it being a mix between a slightly electronic score and some rock. None of it felt too intrusive and still felt memorable to me. The ending theme simply had me in tears and felt perfectly fitting to the game.

Dual laser rifles. Why? Cause why not!

SUMMARY
STORY: 10/10Terrifically written dialogue coupled with memorable characters and setpieces that keep the game from ever feeling boring until the end makes this one of the best stories in any game I've ever experienced. The story had me at tears in parts which I didn't expect from a Wolfenstein game.
GAMEPLAY: 10/10
A seamless blend of gratuitous first person violence and stealth coupled with a few breather segments kept the game from getting too stale and overall the game feels very varied and fun to play. Even if I pretty much went through the game sticking to the "shoot everything in sight into chunky salsa" style, it never got old for me. If you're a fan of oldschool shooters, this is a perfect pick for you. The perks of course encourage trying different gameplay styles.
GRAPHICS: 10/10Varied level design, really cool weapons and enemy designs, a great style and overall a highly detailed game. The 40 gigs the game takes up on your hard drive will definitely show on the screen.
SOUND: 10/10
Awesome music, awesome sound design and a simply amazing voice cast gives this game all the cinematic flair it needs.

FINAL SCORE: 10/10
 
Wolfenstein: The New Order is my personal game of the year and so far the only if not one of the few games I would honestly give a 10/10 score. It's not often I do so but I honestly cannot find anything wrong about this game. It does everything a good game should do in my opinion. It offers an amazing story, satisfying gameplay and simply an experience you will not soon forget. This is a game I recommend to everyone, not just fans of first person shooters but anyone who wants a great gaming experience. It has a few technical shortcomings on PC but so far nothing that ruins or even dents an already flawless experience. The balancing of the difficulty is just perfect as you will die but it will always feel like your own fault.

In my opinion this is the definitive Wolfenstein game and possibly the best in the franchise.

[GameCube Game Review] StarFox Adventures

Reviewed for GameCube/Wii by Alyxx Thorne

Star Fox Adventures was one of the first titles for the Nintendo GameCube and the sequel to Star Fox 64 aka Lylat Wars on the Nintendo 64, itself the sequel to the groundbreaking Super FX shooter Star Fox aka Starwing on the SNES. Although originally planned as an original IP by Rare, called Dinosaur Planet, Shigeru Miyamoto came in during development and realized that there was potential here to make it a Star Fox game since the hero had a resemblence to Nintendo's furry space pilot. Rare immediately redesigned the assets to make the game an official Star Fox game and thus Star Fox Adventures was born. It is sort of the odd ball in the franchise, not really fitting in with the rest of the games that well and thus while it has a cult fanbase, there are a lot of fans who don't consider it a true Star Fox game due to its nature, it is an action/adventure game more in the vein of Legend of Zelda rather than a rail shooter after all, and due to the fact it wasn't developed as a Star Fox game from the get-go. So where do I stand on this odd game? Let's find out.

Eight years after the events of Star Fox 64/Lylat Wars, with the evil Andross defeated and peace brought back to the galaxy, the Star Fox team find themselves rather bored and without much to do. Falco left the team without a trace, Slippy has become an inventor and Peppy has retired from active duty to concentrate on being a navigator and advisor. But it isn't long before they receive a message from General Pepper. It seems that the once tranquil Dinosaur Planet has fallen under distress as General Scales has amassed an army and caused pieces of the planet to float into space, separating the tribes from each other and keeping the Krazoa spirits locked in their shrines, unable to bring the pieces of the planet back together. His minions have also taken the four spell stones, also needed to bring the planet back together. It doesn't help that Krystal, the lone survivor of her doomed planet Cerinia, gets caught when attempting to save the planet and it is up to Fox McCloud and his team to save the planet with the help of Krystal's magic staff.

The transitions between planet regions gives a nice throwback to the previous StarFox games.

The story is pretty simple and remains largely a big fetch quest for different items. I don't mind this though as it gives a context for the gameplay and what you need to do in the game. I just wish there was a bit more to it than that, though for a Nintendo game I guess it's to be expected. The setting is pretty unique for the game too and you get to spend the entire game exploring Dinosaur Planet and all its different environments. The game plays mostly as an action/adventure game in the vein of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, though there are some minigames and events during the game that offer different styles of gameplay. For instance, when you travel between parts of the planet with your Arwing you get to do a railshooter sequence reminiscent of Star Fox 64 and there are also other similar sequences during the game though I won't spoil them for you. Fox can use the magic staff to attack enemies, shoot magic missiles, open doors and a variety of other functions, and you also get aid by Tricky, a young dinosaur who serves as your partner during most of the game. While he can get a bit annoying during the game, especially with his constant lines, for the most part I enjoyed solving puzzles with him and he gives the game a lot of personality.

The combat is pretty intuitive and feels pretty satisfying.

The levels themselves did tend to get a bit confusing though. I often got stuck not knowing how to progress or what to do and had to do some substantial exploration and often the solutions were not very obvious at all, at least not to me. For me it did get in the way of my enjoyment of the game but it did feel very rewarding to finally progress after being stuck on a level for a long time. Usually your goal throughout the game remains largely the same, gathering spell stones and Krazoa spirits, and solving puzzles and mastering challenges that come in your way. The challenges and puzzles are pretty varied though and I never once felt like the game became too repetitive or boring as a new challenge or puzzle would come along and spice it up. Some of the events near the end especially had me on my seat, such as the infamous Test of Fear or the railshooter segments which were some of my favourite parts of the game.

Fox' face is beautifully animated during cutscenes.

The graphics are really good for an early GameCube title. I especially liked the lighting effects and depth of field effect during combat and cutscenes. The variety in levels also means the game has a lot of different settings and moods to offer and each level felt very unique and memorable. I also liked that the game would subtly change from day to night as you were playing and small details like NPC's falling asleep during the night were very nice to notice. In fact the game is chocked full of small details you might not pick up on at first but notice as you play and I loved them. The only bad thing I have to say is that some of the NPC animations were a bit lacking and stiff. I even encountered times when the NPC's wouldn't even animate at all which felt a bit lazy. The animation on Fox is amazing though, especially his facial expressions and like Link in Windwaker he is extremely emotive and this is easily one of the main reasons I love playing the game since he is a very appealing character to play as. Krystal remains largely unplayable though for most of the game which is a shame as I would love to see a game where you could play Krystal and Fox co-op. Idea for StarFox Adventures 2 here, Nintendo...

The music is extremely good. Ranging from beautiful chants and sweeping orchestral scores to a badass 80's rock theme during the ending credits, the score is varied and very high quality for the game and never gets boring. It did remind me a lot of Disney scores now and then which is never a bad thing. The voice acting was largely enjoyable, especially Krystal and Fox had very pleasant voices, though Peppy sounds like he's been a chainsmoker all his life, Slippy's voice makes me wanna put him out of his misery as usual and some of the NPC's voices were a bit grating (the Shopkeeper... good god...) but overall the cast was very enjoyable. The sound effects do their job pretty well, some of them very obviously stock sound effects, though that didn't bother me much.

Fans of this game will cringe at this screenshot...

All in all, StarFox Adventures is an absolutely fun and solid action/adventure game and highly underrated. Don't pass it up just because it plays differently from other StarFox games as it had me really excited and on the edge of my seat a few times, which I did not expect at all. While some of it might seem a bit unpolished and lacking, overall this game is definitely one of Rare's finest and a worthy addition to the StarFox franchise.

SUMMARY:
STORY: 7/10
GAMEPLAY: 8/10
GRAPHICS: 8/10
SOUND: 7/10

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

[PC Game Review] Deus Ex: The Fall

DEUS EX: THE FALL
Platform: PC (Steam)
Released: 2014
Genre: First Person Shooter
Developer: nFusion
Publisher: Square Enix
Buy on Steam

I'm a pretty huge fan of the Deus Ex franchise. I think the franchise is very unique in terms of gameplay style and Human Revolution was easily one of my favourite games of 2011 and the recently released Director's Cut of it was an amazing experience that I finally 100%'d on Steam recently. So naturally when the previously mobile exclusive game "The Fall" was finally ported to PC, I pretty much bought it on release. I've only played the first episode so far but think it gives a pretty good idea of how the rest of the game will play out once the rest of it is released from a gameplay perspective

As a game I think The Fall is pretty good. The story is set some time before Human Revolution and acts as a sort of prequel to that game that focuses on a character, Ben Saxon, who used to be with the group of mercs, the Tyrants lead by Jaron Namir, that you end up hunting down in Human Revolution. After departing from the group they pretty much want you dead and while they are hunting you down, you and your partner, Anna Kelso, are suffering from augmentation rejection and are in desperate need of Neuropozyne to deal with the symptoms. Most of the first episode centers around this dilemma of securing a steady NuPoz supply though you quickly get caught up in a bit of a web as you realize the mercs you escaped are on to you. I really loved the story in The Fall as it gave a unique opportunity to explore the characters of these mercs and their group and you get a lot of background info on it and what their original goal was. I loved all the emails and story bits that even offered a little extra for the long time fans as it mentioned them talking to some of the characters from Deus Ex 1 and the story was definitely the biggest reason I played through the first episode and can see myself playing through it several times. The only bad thing is that so far the first episode is really short and ends before you feel the game really begins and I really hope the second episode comes out soon.

Environments look really good for the most part. This is the Tyrant airliner.

The gameplay is pretty much what you can expect from a Deus Ex title and I am happy to say that some aspects about it are improved in relation to Human Revolution. For instance, you can buy weapons, upgrades, ammo and items at any time through the menu as long as you have the cash for it which makes the game feel a lot more streamlined and free as you're not restricted to only getting items from shops at certain points. The inventory has also been much more streamlined and obviously suited to a mobile device but I find it very easy to use and makes the game a lot of fun to play. While there are not as many weapons as in Human Revolution, especially if you compare it to the Director's Cut, there are more variations on weapons here with unique abilities that you can buy at any time, which is a nice touch that I liked.

The controls are also fairly easy to get used to if you've played Human Revolution on PC, though I disliked that there was no option to customize your keys and there is no jump button, making the game feel a bit like playing Deus Ex as if it was Doom. Of course being a mobile title, this makes perfect sense so I wasn't all too bothered by it. The one big issue I came upon though was that the mouse for some reason gets really glitchy after playing for a while and mouse clicks didn't even register properly, making the menus unnecessarily difficult to navigate. I really sincerely hope they patch this issue quickly because it IS a huge issue for me as the only fix for it seems to be restarting the game which is very tedious to do.

Many familiar enemies from DXHR make a return, such as the infamous boxguard robot.

Graphically the game looks very scaled down, especially compared to other PC titles. I really wish the animations and texture detail had been improved for the PC port but you sort of get used to it. The style from Human Revolution is very intact though and the game looks really good for a mobile game even if it doesn't in any conceivable way shape or form hold up to PC standards. Some of the models do look a bit bad though and the stiff animations made the game definitely feel a lot cheaper than it should. The environments also feel a bit cramped and small compared to Human Revolution so the game, again, does tend to feeling a bit like playing Deus Ex in Doom, though I quickly got used to it. The frequent loading between areas does make the game feel a bit tedious though as the areas are quite small.

Sound-wise the game pretty much re-uses music and sound effects from Human Revolution with no original music tracks or much original sound design to speak of which I found a bit boring. It makes the game feel more like a spinoff title than its own game, which it pretty much is. I really wish the game had its own unique soundtrack but the tracks from Human Revolution are still really good and it's hard to imagine the game without them. The voice acting ranges from tolerable to absolutely horrendous. The accents feel laughably fake and I almost fell off my chair several times listening to the NPC's talking, it was an absolute disaster. Some of the voice acting wasn't even enjoyably bad, just really tedious and ear-raping. I especially remember one NPC that gave me a mission and I kept skipping the dialogue because her voice literally felt like it was raping my ears. Thankfully most of the voice acting isn't that bad and it was nice hearing some of the cast from Human Revolution again.

Doing takedowns. Like a boss.

All in all, Deus Ex: The Fall as a game is not as bad as people are making it out to be, but it definitely feels like a mobile port and feels by all means more like a spinoff title than its own game. As a mobile game this is a pretty decent game and I can see it being perfectly tolerable on a mobile platform as you only pick it up and play it now and then and it offers you a portable Deus Ex experience. As a PC game though it fails utterly to live up to Human Revolution. The voice acting, scaled down graphics and sometimes annoying mouse clicking issues makes it feel like a chore to play at times which is a shame as there are some genuinely fun elements here such as the story and gameplay. If you're a big Deus Ex fan like me, I definitely recommend it but if you only have a casual interest in Deus Ex, it's probably not worth it, at least not on PC as I can imagine this being much more playable on its original platform. Judging this as a PC game it's not in any way holding up to PC standards, especially compared to Human Revolution. I personally really enjoy the game, I do not at all regret buying it, but objectively, it isn't a very good port and an average game experience at best.

SUMMARY:
STORY: 10/10
GAMEPLAY: 7/10
GRAPHICS: 4/10
SOUND: 3/10

FINAL SCORE: 5/10

UPDATE!
I normally don't do this but it's come to my attention that there's an easy way of working around the mouse clicks not registering properly. If you don't move your mouse at all when clicking it should work just fine. It has something to do with the touch screen emulation registering moving the mouse as swiping the screen, not touching it. If you can get used to this, the game becomes perfectly playable.

Thrift Store Catch 09.04.2014

So yesterday I went thrift shopping and this is what I hauled in:

A complete collection of the "Quest" games. King's Quest, Space Quest and Police Quest respectively on 3 CD-ROM sets. Bargain bin versions under Sierra's "Best Seller" series but not complaining. Also picked up a complete copy of GTA San Andreas and Contra: Shattered Soldier for PS2, as well as a CD with the Norwegian dance group Reset (totally unrelated to the games but a cool pickup).

Paid about 6$ for the whole thing and I am very happy with it.

[PC Game Review] Titanfall

TITANFALL
Platform: PC (Origin)
Released: 2014
Genre: First Person Shooter
Developer: Respawn Entertainment
Publisher: EA
Buy on Origin

Titanfall is without a doubt one of the most anticipated games in a while. Not only is it made by the people who made some of the most renowned Call of Duty games, it's also seemingly a truly unique shooter that brings the genre forward and away from the Call of Duty style we've seen so far. Is it truly a game changer or is this a titanic fall?

Already having played the beta, I could tell Titanfall would be a pretty unique shooter that firmly establishes itself within the multiplayer shooter genre. The thing I looked forward to was to see how the full version would handle the story mode and how it would integrate the story into the multiplayer and how this would work out. The answer is that it simply doesn't. Rather quickly the story takes second stage to the action and the only story we get are brief map introductions and some radio chatter that is quite easily drowned out by battle noise and you're often too immersed in the action to pay attention to the paper thin story. Honestly, if you are looking for a game with a good story, look elsewhere. Titanfall in a way feels rather oldschool in how it handles it story mode and brings to mind such classic multiplayer shooters as Unreal Tournament and how its campaign similarly were just a series of multiplayer maps you played in succession. In Titanfall you can play these maps twice as both sides to unlock new Titans for the multiplayer mode and that is pretty much your only reason to play the story mode.

One good thing about titans, they explode. :P

However the multiplayer itself is definitely where Titanfall shines. I can wholeheartedly say I have never played any game like this and in an era of copycat Call of Duty inspired shooters, that's a tough claim to make. What sets Titanfall apart from its competition as far as gameplay goes is how seamless it blends mech combat and fast-paced on-foot sections. While other games like Blackout Retribution and Hawken have tried focusing on mech combat for a while and doing it well, Titanfall more or less perfects the transition between pilot and mech.

As a pilot you have much more freedom of movement and agility than ever before, and you're basically a special type of elite soldier on the field who can use your jetpack to get to higher places on the map as well as run on walls Mirror's Edge style. This freedom of movement frees you from being locked to the ground like in most other FPS's of today and makes the game feel almost oldschool in its movement style. It brings to mind classics like Quake and Unreal Tournament with their more vertical gameplay. While most shooters today have become almost entirely horizontal and locked to the ground, especially Call of Duty where vertical gameplay has been restricted to running into a building and finding a sniper spot, Titanfall is almost entirely vertical and the levels are designed to accommodate this.

C'mere!

The freedom of movement of course becomes restricted once you enter your titan which you can call in during a match after a certain cooldown period. Entering the titan is dead simple and thankfully, your mech is YOURS and nobody else can like come and snag it or anything as it has a protective shield. This makes you feel a lot more connected to your titan. When you're out of the titan, the AI takes over and you can use it like a partner on the field that helps you take out enemies, or you can enter it and control it yourself which also is a ton of fun. The controls for the titan are identical to your pilot controls in most ways and the titan feels deliciously agile as well. I was fearing it would feel clunky and kind of disorienting but Respawn has done a perfect job here making it feel like your pilot is ONE with the machine. On the battlefield you also have AI opponents known as grunts and spectres. While these pose little to no actual harm to you as they are mere fodder for your guns and don't really support you all that much, they add flair to the battle and make for good target practice for new players and makes it easier for them to get into the game.

The multiplayer features several game modes. You have regular Team Deathmatch (Attrition) where the goal is to get the most kills over the enemy team in the allotted time. Once the time runs out you get a special ending mode where the losing team has to reach an evacuation shuttle before the enemy team wipes them out completely. This is easily the most fun thing about Titanfall and adds a unique flair to the battles. The feeling when you successfully manage to evacuate a battle is amazing. I recommend most people to start out with Attrition if you have never played Titanfall before as it offers a very good introduction in a familiar and dead simple game mode. You also have Last Titan Standing which is a mode where you spawn in a Titan and the goal is to eliminate all Titans on the enemy team. Pretty simple and with no respawns, it is still a pretty fun mode to play. Hardpoint is pretty straightforward. Capture and hold 3 hardpoints on a map. The more hardpoints held, the faster your team wins. Capture the Flag is what it says on the tin. Go into the enemy base, get their flag and take it back to yours. Pilot Hunter is all about eliminating the enemy team pilots to reach the score limit. And finally Variety Pack is a mosh pit of all the different game modes, perfect if you want to play for a while and want some variety.

Pilots can still be pretty dangerous to titans. Especially if they have satchel charges.

As a pilot, in addition to the standard loadouts you start out with, you can customize your own Pilot and Titan loadouts after a while as you level up, giving you full reign over how you want to play since the more you unlock, the more freedom you have. I also love that you can choose which gender to make your pilot, something I've wanted in multiplayer shooters for a while. Another addition are Burn Cards. These are basically like the perks in Call of Duty except they are only good for one use and you can choose up to 3 cards to have for each match. They add a bit of extra to the gameplay and as you play you earn more of them so you never run out. They modify your abilities and weapons in various ways, some giving you unlimited cloaking, some giving you more powerful weapon variants, and it's always random which ones you get, making it a lot of fun to play just to see which cards you'll get. You get tactical abilities such as cloaking (making you somewhat invisible to other pilots and titans) and stims (enhancing your running speed), and a good variety of weapons, ranging from Assault Rifles, SMGs, Snipers and Shotguns to the very fun and unique smart pistol that automatically targets your enemies. You also have special anti-titan weapons specifically designed to make your pilot a real force to be reckoned with. The titan weapons range from Chainguns to rocket launchers and they also have tactical abilities like deflector shields and electric smoke.

Worth noting is how the game deals with hackers and cheaters. If you are caught cheating you can technically continue playing the game, however you are restricted to lobbies with other cheaters only in what the developers describe as the "Wimbledon of aimbots". In my opinion this is a really cool way of dealing with cheaters.

The graphics are really good and high res, and I actually went ahead and upgraded my PC graphics card just for this game since they require a bit of a strong gaming rig to fully experience the game how it's meant to be played. They have a bit of a Call of Duty style to them except a bit more futuristic and sci-fi. The sounds are also pretty good though the music is mostly forgetable and I usually have it muted.

The epilogue is often the most intense part of the battle as the losing team has to reach a dropship in time to evacuate while being hunted by the winning team.

All in all, Titanfall is a really good multiplayer shooter, in fact it's one of the best I've played in a long time. There was no problems with it on launch, the servers have always worked fine for me and the game is always fun to pick up and play and in a lot of ways I prefer it over Call of Duty. However, the downside is, well, this is all you get. There is little to no story and it takes a clear backseat to the gameplay, there's no DLC to speak of yet and so for a full price I find it hard to recommend this game due to the small amount of content you get. You get a variety of game modes and several good maps to play on sure, but that's all you get. If you can find it at around 20-30$ I would say definitely pick it up. Do I regret paying full price for it though? No, not really. The game is rock solid and a ton of fun and I don't mind paying full price for it at all, but I can see some people on a limited budget not wanting to pay full price for a kind of stripped down experience.

SUMMARY
STORY: 4/10
GAMEPLAY: 10/10
SOUND: 5/10
GRAPHICS: 8/10

FINAL SCORE: 7/10

PC Game Review: Alien Rage

ALIEN RAGE
Platform: PC (Steam)
Released: 2013
Genre: First Person Shooter
Developer/Publisher. CI Games
Buy on Steam

There are games out there that label themselves as expert games. Games you seek out for the challenge and sheer bragging rights of completing them. Alien Rage has put itself in that league, selling itself as a shooter with old school gameplay and difficulty. Does it hold up to its promises? Let's find out as I take a look at a game that almost make my top 10 games of 2013 list.

The story in Alien Rage is paper thin and doesn't really have much impact on the game, basically giving you a setting, though the game itself is pretty much going from level to level in a linear fashion. I do like the writing though, as the use of humor and witty writing offsets the somewhat harsh difficulty of the game, giving you some relief between tense moments.

At first glance, you might look at the game and think "wait, that's not old school, this is Call of Duty with aliens". Well, that would be doing the game a disservice. Sure, it might have aiming down sights, it might have a 2 weapon limit and health regen. But the oldschool elements are there, just a bit subtle and requires you to actually play the game a bit to get them. The oldschool elements come in from the fact that the game gives you scores for skillshots, similar to Bulletstorm. The game also has a rather high difficulty which comes from the fact that the weapons are all really powerful and you aren't really that good at resisting them since the bad guys ALSO use those weapons.
That's why using skillshots and using your head as much as your gun is essential to surviving in this game and it requires that you do more than just shoot at the enemy. Sometimes ingenuity, awareness of your environment and timing can be more important. The fact the game does not have any mini-map and doesn't hold your hand in any way, shape or form means you have to rely on your senses and skills the entire time, which is where a lot of the more oldschool difficulty comes from.
Being limited to 2 weapons really doesn't have that much of an impact anyway since all of the weapons, as stated, are powerful and fit all situations. They just lend themselves to different play styles. I played through the entire game using almost exclusively the alien and human assault rifles. Even the boss fights were handled with those guns so what weapon you use doesn't matter all that much. Find a favourite and stick with it.

The game also has another modern element in that as you play and get scores, you level up, and each time you level up you gain a perk. Perks are, needless to say, modifiers that give you certain boosts that can benefit your playstyle and a lot of the fun comes from earning new perks, trying them out and finding the right combination. A little tip is that once you get the Mega Pistol perk, it makes the side arm pistol you have (which doesn't count as one of your 2 weapons btw) essentially the most powerful gun in the entire game and gives you a much needed edge over your enemies. Combined with other perks such as projectile damage bonus and Mega Health, it makes for a highly lethal combination that makes the brutal difficulty seem possible to overcome. I strongly suggest playing through the game on the easy difficulty to earn these perks before tackling the normal or hard difficulties. The mega pistol perk also makes it much more likely to get the achievement for completing the game using only the pistol.

All the weapons are also equipped with an alternate fire mode that uses up special ammunition that you can find in limited quantities around the levels. The alternate mode usually works as a grenade substitute as it usually leads to a lot of explosions. Keep in mind though that the enemies also have these alternate fire modes and will exploit them to kick your ass hard. The AI in this game is actually surprisingly impressive for a shooter and behave a lot like real players would. Another strategic tip is that if you have no other option but to shoot the enemies directly, aim for the head. Headshots are insanely OP in Alien Rage and can lead to a lot of easy kills, and you get bonus points for them.
The bosses all have their own techniques in how to take them down and figuring them out can take a while so prepare to be slaughtered a lot before you actually manage to take them down. Once you figure it out though it's sometimes astonishingly easy.

The level designs are fairly linear and save for searching for a few secret items there isn't much exploration possible which I think is fair considering the game is more of a linear arcady on-rails shooter for the most part, but for it to be truly oldschool they should've taken a cue from the recently released Shadow Warrior and give you secret locations and easter eggs to find. I don't know why so many game developers nowadays shy away from this. But that being said, the levels are fine and lend themselves to some pretty intense battle scenarios. I especially found it cool that the enemy can shoot through cover and even blow it apart so you are never truly safe in one spot for too long, forcing you to move from cover to cover a lot.

I haven't played much of the multiplayer but what I've played was pretty standard TDM fare. It doesn't really stand out all that much and I don't think this game is worth getting for the multiplayer. In fact it's near impossible to find people playing the game nowadays anyway as I think most people are playing the single player mode or are playing other and better multiplayer shooters that offer more variety. I would've loved a co-op mode or something here to really bring that oldschool arcade feel to it, so there's a bit of a missed opportunity there. All in all, the multiplayer feels pretty tacked on and could easily have been left out.

The graphics are absolutely one of the best things about the game. The game oozes style and I especially love the limited colour palette which for some reason reminds me a lot of early Amiga games in how it's focused very much on the contrasts of blue and orange, similar to a lot of 16bit games, which really does help give the game an oldschool style about it. The enemy designs are really cool and I especially like the huge boss designs that give them a true sense of menace. There's  a lot of subtle details in your field of view and the use of harsh lighting gives the game a dark and intense contrasting atmosphere which makes all the colours pop all the more. This game is absolutely gorgeous and definitely feels next gen when you play it. Despite looking this good it runs surprisingly well on my computer, even if at launch the game had some optimization issues.

The soundtrack is a bit lackluster in my opinion. It falls into the trap of trying to be a bit cinematic so it ends up being largely forgettable. It works well to compliment the constant action and I did enjoy the slightly electronic feel to it, but it just ended up being not memorable enough for me. Would've loved some driving techno or dubstep here to really push the action to the next level, and I think the devs should've gone for that personally. The voice acting is great however and brings a lot of the humor and wit out of the script, giving the protagonist a much needed personality that made him stand out a bit. I also loved the sound effects, all of them having a nice sound design to them. The game shows a lot of polish both in the sound and graphics department.

Alien Rage is a great shooter but hard to recommend if you only have a casual interest in shooters. It's definitely for you if you want a challenge and liked more oldschool arcady shooters such as Bulletstorm. It does try to find a true balance between the oldschool and modern game mechanics which might throw some people off if they expect it to be more like Half-Life or Quake. But for what it is, it's a great looking and awesome sounding experience that is fun while it lasts and the brutal difficulty makes the reward of completing it all that higher and I felt pretty f*cking good when I had completed it. But like I said, hard to recommend because this game does NOT hold your hand at all and REQUIRES you to THINK about how you play it and use the environment and your skills to survive.

SUMMARY
Story: 5/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 8/10

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

Top 5 Anticipated Games of 2014

I was thinking of making a top 10 list but realized I am not really anticipating that many games this year. So here are the top 5 I am anticipating in 2014, plain and simple. Let's get to it!


5. WOLFENSTEIN: THE NEW ORDER

Set in an alternate 1960's, The New Order seems like pure Nazi-sploitation from the get-go and definitely has my attention. The game play also seems like ridiculously old school fun! Definitely excited for this game, not to mention pre-ordering it grants you beta access for Doom 4! I am intrigued by how you can interact with cover in this game and it seems like it's gonna be a fun FPS that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's pure exploitation and knows it.


4. BORDERLANDS 2 VITA

Definitely excited about this. Borderlands 2 is pretty much my favourite game of all time at the moment and having it on a handheld is going to be pretty awesome and was my reason for getting the PS Vita to begin with. And of course, being able to play it locally with anyone without the need for a PC LAN is also a good thing.


3. ALIEN: ISOLATION

 

With Aliens: Colonial Marines being such a flop for SEGA, let's hope they can set things straight with Isolation, which seems to harken more back to the first movie's space terror. So far it seems to be set as a straight up survival horror game, which arguably suits a game based on the first movie. Definitely excited to play this if it comes out on PC as well, so far it's stated to come out on XBox One and PS4.

2. WATCH_DOGS

 

Being a huge cyberpunk fan, this game caught my interest easily and I have already pre-ordered it. It basically puts you in the role of a hacker and gives you a lot of power to hack things and use that to your advantage rather than just shooting everything. It has me intrigued and I can't wait to play it.

1. TITANFALL

Already been hyped for this game since I saw the trailers and I've thoroughly played the beta of Titanfall and what can I say, I fucking love it! It's the most fresh and unique shooter I've played in a long time. Sure, it's going to be multiplayer only but that doesn't really bother me that much. The sheer fun I've had so far has me sold on this game and I am definitely getting it on launch.

So that's it for my top 5 anticipated games, some of them coming out already next month. Stay tuned for more reviews and gaming perspectives from yours truly, Alyxx. <3

Titanfall Beta Impressions

BETA IMPRESSIONS

Hello, guys!

This isn't really a review or anything so don't take it as such. This is just a quick little overview of the Titanfall Beta version I've played so far and my impressions of it. I will be writing a full game review later after the full version is out.

In short, Titanfall is just as awesome as I was expecting it to be. I had already been hyped by all the trailers of the game and it did not disappoint. The gameplay feels really fast paced and kind of like a mix between several game genres. As a pilot you're really agile and have a LOT of freedom of movement. The parkour elements really help give the game its own unique feel and makes you feel empowered in a way that games like Battlefield and Call of Duty never did. It's as if you had the parkour elements from Mirror's Edge but weren't restricted to using them exclusively. It's up to you as a player to judge when it is necessary to flee and when to face your enemies. It honestly reminds me a lot of Unreal Tournament or Tribes and other oldschool shooters in how much freedom you have in the game and you never feel like you are locked to the map layout like other shooters since you can climb buildings and run on walls as much as you can run inside buildings and hide if you want to.  Of course, it takes a bit of getting used to and I often fell into the trap of playing it more like Call of Duty, so I definitely need to play this game more to get into the groove of it.

Playing the Titans also feels extremely easy and smooth and it still feels like a FPS when you get into a Titan and feels like strapping on a heavier second skin. It never feels too clunky and responds very quickly to your movements which I appreciate. Once you get your own Titan, nobody else can take it or destroy it as it has a protective shield and it definitely feels like Christmas when you call one in. Its main weapon depends on which type of Titan you choose on the loadout screen, though they all share the same basic abilites and secondary weapon which is a multiple rocket launcher. You can dash in any direction and you have a shield that basically gathers any bullets or missiles fired at you from enemy Titans, and once you release the shield, you send the ammunition back at them, which feels like a more badass way of giving the finger to them.

Graphically the game looks really beautiful but, of course, being a Beta I found the game wasn't really optimized as I experienced a lot of lag if I used anything but the medium to low settings, and this might also be because it's a next gen game. It really does make me want to upgrade my hardware to be honest as I want to experience this game with everything maxed out. During training there wasn't much lag but don't let that deceive you as the matches themselves can be pretty intensive on your graphics hardware. On low settings it doesn't look as beautiful, it does look a bit grey and washed out in parts, but overall the gameplay made up for it.

Music isn't all that memorable, I turned it off in favour of a little Skrillex. The sounds though are really good, especially the gun sounds and all the little details in the voice acting and such.

You start out with about 2 default pilot classes, but unlock a third as you level up and eventually you can create your own custom classes (3 of them) all with different loadouts. There isn't much in the way of character appearance customization, other than choosing gender, though that's fine by me. Your general appearance is mostly decided by the game according to the loadout you are using. Pick a tactical weapon and you look more like an assassin. Pick a sniper rifle and you look like a sniper. It works very much like the Call of Duty games in that regard. 

The loadouts consist of a primary weapon that you use against other regular enemies. These range from an auto-targeting Smart Pistol to a Longbow Sniper Rifle and all of them offer unique advantages and feel really satisfying to use. I absolutely love the weapon designs and how they feel and that is always one of the most important things to me when playing a shooter. You also have a secondary weapon specifically designed to take out enemy Titans and my most used weapon for that purpose is the Sidewinder which is basically a full auto rocket launcher. It kinda reminds me of the Devastator from Duke Nukem which is never a bad thing. In addition to these weapons you can pick a third sidearm, usually a pistol. These are handy in a pinch if you accidentally burn all your ammo, but otherwise I never use them and instead try to pick up weapons from dead enemies. I will give them props for letting you use a full auto pistol right off the bat though. All of the weapons, excluding the sidearms, have weapon attachments like in Call of Duty and you unlock more of them as you level up. I definitely look forward to unlocking all of them and trying out different attachment combos as that is always a fun thing I do in Call of Duty. 

In addition to choosing what weapons you wanna use, you can also choose a tactical ability. These are basically little powers that have a cooldown and can come in handy during a heated match. The first one you get and will be using a lot is a cloaking device and while it makes you pretty much invisible to Titans, you can still be spotted by other pilots easily since you're not entirely invisible, just hard to see. You can also choose an ordnance, basically grenades or other throwable objects, like cats, midgets and Tom Cruise. You also have Tier Kits. These are basically perks and on higher levels I assume you get access to more of them. They affect your gameplay style in certain ways by enhancing certain aspects like giving you better parkour abilites or constantly displaying enemies on the minimap instead of only occasionally. What kits you use will be entirely up to you.

The titan loadouts, as far as I have played, are not customizable, though from what I can tell you get access to different Titans as you play. They all have different weapons but all share the same common traits.

In the beta I only had access to some multiplayer modes and not really the main game so I'll only be talking about those:

Attrition is basically a team deathmatch game where the goal is to kill everyone on the enemy team and get the highest score before the timer runs out, and feels the closest to a traditional multiplayer FPS. As you play you gain experience points that you use to level up, earning them from kills where headshots and other specialized damage earns you extra points, as well as completing certain challenges during gameplay. During the match a timer cools down to when you can call in your Titan and that's where the real fun begins. Going up against other Titans feels like a true match of skill and is a lot of fun. And once your Titan dies, you can just eject from it and jump on the enemy Titan and shoot into its head as an act of revenge. The gameplay here feels beautifully balanced and a LOT of fun. Once the timer runs out you get to play a bit of an epilogue where the winning team chases the losing team as they wait for an escape vehicle to pick them up. There are of course no respawns at this point and it's a nice way for the teams to earn extra points and test their survival skills and does feel really intense. I absolutely LOVE how this adds a unique flair to the game mode.

Hardpoint is basically domination where the point is to capture and hold all 3 hardpoints on a map and keep the enemy from taking over them. If you've played this mode in Call of Duty you'll feel right at home here and here the Titans aren't THAT useful but can act as giant guardians.

Last Titan Standing is a mode where everyone spawns as a Titan and the objective is to eliminate all Titans on the enemy team. While you do survive as a pilot if your Titan dies, if you die as a pilot there is no respawn so being careful and responsive is essential to surviving in this game mode. It definitely feels a lot like Last Man Standing from Call of Duty but with the Titanfall twist.

So yeah, those are my impressions of Titanfall so far, at least the Beta. I honestly feel excited to play the full version now and will definitely pre-order it as soon as I can afford it. I can't wait to see it getting more optimized for lower end computers like mine and what DLC they have to offer and most of all, what the main campaign is like and how it will integrate this gameplay with a story and how the multiplayer and single player elements will merge. From what I've seen so far, Titanfall is a fresh and unique take on the FPS genre, nothing like anything I've played before even if it borrows elements from Call of Duty a lot. It definitely feels like more than just another CoD clone and for that reason I can't recommend it enough.

- Alyxx

Top 10 Sega Mega Drive Games (At the moment)

I am pretty much a fresh Sega fangirl and I have already gotten a nice Mega Drive library since a lot of games are very easy to come by, very affordable and easy to find complete in box. So here's a list of my top 10 Mega Drive games as of now. Keep in mind I might do an update on this list later when my library has grown, but these are my top 10 MD games at the moment.

 

10. ZERO TOLERANCE
There aren't many first person shooters on the Mega Drive, and so far this is the only one I have really played to any great length. Zero Tolerance is kind of a mix between Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, with a few unique twists. For instance, you can jump and crouch which is mostly useless but adds a bit of movement to the game, you also have some really cool guns although since your inventory space is limited you can't carry every single thing in the game and have to sometimes waste ammo to get a new weapon which adds a lot of thought and strategy to the game. The weapons themselves also have unique features, such as laser targeting. For the time this was a really ambitious game for a 16bit system and has some really impressive graphics. The game is divided into several episodes, kinda like Doom or Wolf3D but you keep your inventory items between episodes, which is pretty cool. The only bad thing I can say about it though is that the framerate is a bit low and the game therefore feels a bit slow as a result. I also thought the music was really bad and forgetable and I usually turn it off when playing the game. I also really wish the game had saves instead of having to use a password but other than that, this is a solid effort for the Mega Drive and a really impressive one at that. One thing I also wanna mention is that instead of the game having lives, you have several characters to play as, each with their own unique character strengths and backstories, giving the game kind of a roguelike feel as each life is a character and once they are all dead, the game is over.


 
9.MEGA BOMBERMAN

Of course a console isn't worth getting unless you have some real party games. Mega Bomberman is a perfect party game as up to 4 players can play simultaneously on the same screen by using a multitap adapter, offering some true classic Bomberman action. Bomberman is one of those classics that never get old and this is no exception. I also love that you have cute furry kangaroo-like animals to ride on that offer some extra abilities and protection. The basic goal of Bomberman, if you don't know already, is to kill all the enemies on the board using bombs, getting powerups that alter your gameplay in various ways along the way.








8. MICHAEL JACKSON'S MOONWALKER

I've heard a lot of people call this a bad game but... I have no idea how anyone could come to that judgement. Sure it is based on one of the most controversial pop stars of all time but as a game I think it's kinda awesome. I don't care what anyone says, Michael Jackson still is one of the coolest entertainers to have ever lived and turning his dance style and his overall coolness into a game is just an amazing concept in my opinion. In this game your primary goal is to rescue children kidnapped by the evil Joe Pesci from the movie, even though all of them are identical girls.
At your disposal you have Michael's magical dust that he throws at enemies to send them offscreen or you can challenge everyone to a dance-off, which of course the king of pop easily wins. Add a ton of classic Michael Jackson hits rendered gloriously in 16bit Mega Drive music form and you have one of the quirkiest and coolest games on the system in my opinion. Oh and he turns into a freakin' robot.

 


7. EARTHWORM JIM

Anyone growing up in the 90's remembers Earthworm Jim. The guy even had a cartoon made after him. And for a good reason, the Earthworm Jim game is one of the most solid platformers on the Mega Drive in my opinion. Not to mention it's filled with memorable characters such as Earthworm Jim himself, Peter Puppy, Princess Whatshername and Queen Slug-For-A-Butt (her original name is a LOT longer). While the game can be a bit difficult in parts it's all around a solid sidescrolling platformer shooter with lots of great humor and animation. The game was created by Doug TenNapel who later on made Earthworm Jim 2 as well as the criticially acclaimed claymation adventure game The Neverhood. Earthworm Jim remains one of the most fun games on the Mega Drive today in my opinon.

 




6. DRAGON'S FURY

Originally released as Devil's Crush, Dragon's Fury is probably the most badass pinball game I've ever played. It features really awesome imagery filled with demons, dragons (of course) and other satanic stuff. The soundtrack is equally badass and one of my favourite on the Mega Drive. Very rocking and fitting to the occult imagery on display. Of course the gameplay is also really solid and to this day this remains one of my favourite pinball games. I highly recommend it to anyone who owns a Mega Drive.
 
 
 
 
  
  
 


5. CASTLEVANIA: THE NEW GENERATION 
In the US this game was known as Castlevania Bloodlines but it was censored to remove most of the blood from the game and was renamed The New Generation in Europe. Still, the game remains largely the same and is just as much fun to play. It's classic Castlevania action and in my opinion one of the best Castlevania games out there (I think Super Castlevania IV is a tad bit overrated).
The graphics are really beautiful for the Mega and features some impressive scaling techniques and reflections. I also really like the music, it has some really good classic tunes in there.
Featuring some tough bosses and solid gameplay, it is a classic in every sense of the word and deserves a playthrough at least once though the price on eBay can be a bit high for the game atm.
  
4. ALISIA DRAGOON

This game was brought to my attention by Pat The NES Punk and I am really glad he did as normally he only reviews NES games (hence the name). It's easily one of the most underrated and overlooked games on the Mega Drive, featuring a pretty badass female heroine with a pet dragon who battles a ton of enemies by firing lasers from her hands (how cool is THAT?!). The graphics are some of the best on the Mega arguably, the music is also really good and makes really good use of the Mega Drive's capability. It's also one of the few games on the Mega with a female hero as far as I know and for that it gets a big plus in my book.





 
 
3. THE LION KING

The Lion King is easily one of my favourite Disney movies of all time and the game is also one of the best I've played on the Mega. It features pretty much all the scenes from the movie and you get to play as Simba from a young cub into a majestic adult. The graphics are amazing for the time and I really love the smooth animation on Simba. The same kind of smooth animation was also present in another Mega Drive Disney game, Aladdin though I like this game a bit more than Aladdin. The music is re-arranged versions of the movie's legendary score and it's really hard not to hum along to it when playing the game. My only criticism is that the game can get a bit difficult in certain stages though by being persistent and replaying them again and again, you get past them eventually. Easily worth a pickup if you're a fan of the movie as I am.
 
 
  



 
2. GAIARES

Gaiares (meaning literally Gaia Rescue, as in rescuing the Earth) is probably my favourite shmup of all time, let alone on the Mega Drive. While it was only released in Japan and the US, the US version is fully playable on a European system so importing it is no problem. The graphics are pretty awesome in my opinion and easily some of the best on the system, the music is also equally good with really good melodies and riffs that sticks in your mind for a good time after playing the game, especially the level 1 theme which I always hum along to when playing the game. The game has a pretty fair difficulty as well in comparison with a lot of other shmups from the time and seems to strike a really good balance as the game never feels unfair but rather relies on repetition to get good at it.
I pretty much learned about this game from Mark of Classic Game Room and I can see why he's such a fan of the game. It's an awesome shooter and like I said, one of my favourites of all time.
 
  


 
1. SONIC 3

Now for the number one spot, I knew it had to be a Sonic game. After all, Sonic was the mascot for the system and one of the big reasons I got myself a Mega Drive so I could play the Sonic games on the original console they were made for. Sonic 3 is actually the first Sonic game I played back in the day and I played it on PC of all things. In my opinion it is the best Sonic game and features really amazing graphics for the system, excellent music that easily outclasses anything I've played on the system and in general the game is just really good. I still haven't completed it though and should probably get to that at some point soon. But for now it remains my favourite Sonic game of all time, easily.








So that was my top 10 Mega Drive games. What are your favourites? Comment and share!
- Alyxx <3

PC Game Review: Call of Duty: Ghosts

CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS
Platform: PC (Steam)
Released: 2013
Genre: First Person Shooter
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision
Buy on Steam

Despite being a massive Call of Duty fangirl, I honestly didn't feel much hype for this game when it was first announced. Looking at it, I expected it to be another modern warfare clone, which it sort of is but at the same time isn't. I mean, the reason I got into Black Ops II was the futuristic feel of it and I was very concerned Ghosts would not follow that trend. So is Ghosts a worthy new Call of Duty experience or are you better off not giving in to the hype and steering clear of this? Let's find out in my review of Call of Duty Ghosts. Since the game is split into three distinct modes, I'll basically split my review into three parts, each part covering each game mode, to cover as much ground as possible with the game and then cover generic stuff such as the overall graphics and sound quality. So far I have played it quite thoroughly and I believe I have a pretty good impression of it.

The campaign in Ghosts is pretty much what you can expect from a Call of Duty game, however in my opinion it's probably my favourite campaign so far as I surprisingly found the story really well written. Despite the story not having branching paths like BlOps2 did, I think it's a fairly decent story in its own right. It focuses on the Walker family of a father Elias Walker and his two sons, Logan and David "Hesh" Walker as they join the Ghosts, a group of elite soldiers who take on missions the regular army shun away from and their pursuit of an ex-Ghost member named Gabriel Rorke. Keeping the focus on the characters like this means the story is a lot easier to follow and also makes it a lot more relatable than earlier games as the bond between these characters really shines through to you as a player.

In the midst of all this, the space cannon ODIN, which is basically a kinetic bombardment device (this is actual technology being developed today making the game strangely foreshadowing), leaves several US cities in ruins and you have to navigate these ruins with your brother and your dog Riley for a bit of the game. In my opinion Riley is the real star of the game and I actually ended up really caring for him as he felt like a true member of the team, which I am thankful the game was able to convey.

The gameplay is pretty much standard Call of Duty fare. You go from setpiece to setpiece, blast out the opposition with your weapons of choice and that's pretty much it. The new twist is that during some missions you get to control and order Riley to help you out, which adds a bit of coolness and unique quality to the game that I honestly can't say any CoD I've played before this has. The atmosphere and feel of Ghosts is pretty unique and I can definitely say that while it still copies the core Call of Duty style, it feels like its own new sub IP. If Call of Duty is not your cup of tea this game is probably not gonna win you over in any way, but for what it is, it's a solid experience and I really enjoyed the campaign.

The multiplayer experience though is probably the most interesting part of the game as it is the most likely main reason people still buy Call of Duty games. That is, when I could get into it. You see, this is the first time I've ran into any kind of serious bug when it comes to the Call of Duty games. At first, I didn't have any squad points. I dunno why or how this happened, but I couldn't unlock the first soldier. That's right, this bug effectively locked me out of the multiplayer game entirely and I had to use a workaround I found on the net that was essentially me joining a friend in multiplayer and earning enough squad points to unlock my first soldier. Granted the workaround does mess up squad play massively and I can't get the full experience like I should have, but I can at least play the game now which is enough for me. I can still just join a friend if I want the full experience anyway, but still this was a rather aggravating ordeal for me and honestly one of the biggest signs this game was rushed to meet Activision's deadline of having a Call of Duty each year. Such a serious bug should've been caught in testing as it caused a TON of pain for not only me but hundreds of other Call of Duty gamers who had paid the full 60 bucks for the game. Hell if you take into consideration I even upgraded this game to Digital Deluxe edition after buying it, I paid 90 fucking bucks in total! That's a rather high price for a game and, while I do think I get what I am paying for, paying that much for an UNFINISHED product is a huge deal for me and I am sorely reminded of when I paid 90 bucks for the collector's edition of Aliens: Colonial Marines and getting a huge mess of a game, and despite me being a fan of ACM, it was NOT worth 90 bucks. But, that's at least the only really serious bug I've run into when it comes to Ghosts and anything else has been rather minor for me and not even worth mentioning. Overall the game does not feel as polished as earlier titles, especially compared to Black Ops II which was exceptionally enjoyable on PC, but it's still playable.

Anyway, when I actually got into multiplayer I of course was able to fully enjoy the new additions to the multiplayer in Ghosts. It's actually really substantially different from earlier games and there are a ton of changes that I think makes Ghosts not only the best Call of Duty multiplayer experience so far but also the most unique. I think they have really listened to the fans in this case and heard what we all wanted. To start off, the first change you will notice is that you have a squad now. Each soldier is fully customizable in terms of appearance and can have multiple loadouts each. The appearance customization is something I absolutely love as you can finally choose to play as a female, which to me is one of the biggest reasons I got Ghosts as I always wanted that option in Call of Duty. I always felt forced into the role of a faceless man when playing Call of Duty which granted I didn't mind but it would be nice to have the option at least to play as a female like in Blacklight Retribution. You can also get more customization options by completing in-game challenges so there is a lot of incentive to keep playing. You can also use your squad to play what's known as squad matches. These are basically online botmatches where you can earn actual XP and squad points, something you normally wouldn't do in botmatches in earlier CoD's. The bot AI is also surprisingly good in this game and I keep getting impressed by how much they resemble human players, which is very good since you use bots for training purposes and the more human-like they are, the better your training will be.

The second addition you might notice are the aforementioned squad points. You earn these by playing matches and use them to unlock stuff such as additional squad soldiers, and unlike earlier CoD's where you unlocked guns at specific levels, here you can access every gun in the game from the get-go provided you have the squad points to pay for them. I actually really like this system as naturally, if you play a custom game you have access to everything in the game and can try stuff out before playing in online matches and therefore can find out what weapon you prefer and what you wanna invest squad points in. You also use squad points to pay for weapon upgrades and just like the weapons themselves, none are locked to specific levels so if you want an attachment, you can get it if you have enough squad points. This is just a lot more convenient than having to grind a certain number of levels before getting the guns you want, not to mention it makes going prestige more fun as you don't have to re-grind every gun in the game like in earlier CoD's. Cosmetic stuff is locked by challenges however so not everything can be unlocked with squad points.

The third major addition to online matches are field orders. These come in the form of floating briefcase symbols that sometimes drop when you kill an enemy. Picking these up gives you a special objective to do, for instance killing the next enemy from behind or even teabagging him (yes, you can get rewarded for humiliating your enemies in this game XD). Successfully completing a field order grants you a care package. The positive aspect about field orders is that they give incentive to not camp as much and instead be active and run around a bit since if you stay in one place too much, you won't be able to pick up field orders.

The perk system sort of mixes elements from both MW3 and BO2 in that each perk takes up a certain number of slots in your loadout and you can either use several minor perks or few strong ones. Most of the perks come from MW3 but there are some new ones as well. Ghosts also brings back the Assault, Support and Specialist killstreak packages from MW3 which I absolutely love as I always prefer playing Specialist and not overly relying on killstreaks to win a game. Support package also offers more incentive to be a team player and if you wanna know more about how these killstreak packages work, you should check out my MW3 review.

The third game mode is Extinction. If you've played Black Ops Zombies you know what to expect as it is pretty much the same thing. It's a single map (you get more if you buy the DLC packs) where you fight off increasing waves of aliens using weapons you find on the map. You earn money by killing aliens and spend this money however you wish on weapons and traps in the map. It's a fun co-op experience that can give you a short burst of intense action if you've finished the campaign and need a break from competitive multiplayer. I don't particurarily care for Extiniction myself but it is fun to play in short bursts with one or more friends. I strongly recommend getting a party of full 4 players as the mode gets pretty intense after a while. Some of the fun comes from playing as different classes, each with their own perks and playstyles. I have only played weapon specialist so far but might try out the other ones. I guess that's one of the reasons I don't care for the mode as I don't like class-based multiplayer at all usually since it feels a bit restrictive.

Overall the graphics in Call of Duty: Ghosts are pretty gorgeous despite the engine starting to show its age at this point compared to more graphics-intensive games. Everything is really well animated, especially Riley the dog who really does feel very alive in the game, essential to how much of a relationship you build with him. The ruins are full of atmosphere and I especially love the setpieces under water and in space where everything feels like you are actually in space or actually under water. Hell, the devs even went as far as giving the fish a rudimentary AI to keep them from swimming in repetitive patterns which I think is pretty awesome. I also like how the multiplayer maps has architecture that crumbles in front of you and some maps can change the layout entirely during a match, which I always find really cool. There is a very good colour balance too, and while it does get a bit grey and brown in places, it's not to the extent Modern Warfare 1-3 was. I've heard of people experience some glitches though, and unless you set the Image Quality to Extra specifically, the effective resolution will be 720p maximum even if you set the resolution to higher. I would guess this is to make the game run more smoothly but I got it running smoothly by setting the image quality to Extra and just not maxing out the texture or shadow quality.

Sound-wise I love the muffled sounds in space and underwater and the attention to detail when it comes to the ambience and atmosphere. I've heard people compare the gun sounds to N64 quality, though I don't honestly feel they are that bad. They get the job done and sound okay to me and do have a bit of punch to them. Not a fan of the music though. I'm sure Eminem did a fine job with the end credits song, it just isn't my taste at all and I would take Skrillex from Black Ops 2 over it any day. And overall the soundtrack felt very forgetable which for me has been a common problem with Call of Duty so far but it's to be expected I suppose.

SUMMARY
Story: 8/10
Despite a bit of a cheesy cliffhanger and some rather fantastical "Michael Bay" moments, the story is surprisingly enjoyable and I found the characters and dialogue really well written for a Call of Duty game. A huge improvement over previous iterations.
Gameplay: 8/10
Aside from a very annoying multiplayer bug, the gameplay is pretty solid. The campaign gives you exactly what you want from a Call of Duty title and the multiplayer adds enough to make the game feel like its own thing and improves on most of my problems with earlier iterations. Overall the multiplayer is a lot of fun, considering all the additions and changes that I frankly believe are for the better. I especially love that the maps in Ghosts feel a lot more open and not as tight and cramped as earlier Call of Duty games. They can feel a bit overwhelming at first but the more I played them, they more they've grown on me. And if you get tired of hackers and other cheaters or just want some training, squad mode gives you the opportunity to play botmatches and still feel like you earn XP from it which I believe you should. The Extinction mode feels a bit too class-based for my taste and not much fun if you only play it alone or with a friend, though it can be fun in bursts. I look forward to seeing new maps being added in DLC's.
Graphics: 8/10
While the engine still is showing a bit of age and the game won't blow your mind, this is a pretty good looking title.
Sound: 6/10
Sound is pretty average, it gets the job done. The voice acting is pretty good and suits the story. Though I don't care much for the boring soundtrack.

Overall Score: 8/10

Don't get me wrong, Call of Duty: Ghosts is a massively fun experience and if you're a CoD fan like me, you owe it to yourself to get it. However, if you're not, this is probably not going to win you over.

- Alyxx

PC Game Review: MURI

MURI
Platform: PC (Steam)
Released: 2013
Genre: Platformer
Developer: Remar Games
Publisher: Ludosity
Buy on Steam

Unlike most gamers who grew up with consoles such as the NES, Mega Drive/Genesis and Super Nintendo, I really grew up as a PC gamer and DOS EGA games was my bread and butter for a long time, especially since my dad had a ton of shareware games on his PC when I grew up. My favourite of these was without a doubt Duke Nukem, a platformer from Apogee, which we nowadays know as 3D Realms. It was honestly the first game I remember playing and since then I've been playing these kind of oldschool platformers at least once every week and I always have fun with them because of not only nostalgia but because there is such a unique feel about them that you didn't find in console games at the time. Just look at something like Commander Keen and compare it to Super Mario Bros., there is a huge notable difference in how it controls, looks and sounds.

MURI is a game made in the style of these early EGA platformers, especially the ones from Apogee such as the aforementioned Duke Nukem though it also borrows slightly from games like Metroid, especially with how alien everything looks and the fact you play some kind of female space hunter. I picked it up the moment I saw the trailer which I absolutely loved since it had a wonderful sense of humor about it and made the game seem very authentic. And that's the keyword here, authenticity.

You see, this game is made with an almost painstaking attention to looking, sounding AND feeling like an actual DOS EGA game and you can see this from the fact all the graphics are using the classic EGA 16 colour palette and are even made in the 320x200 resolution that was commonly used back in the early 90's. Not only that but the animation is made using 16 frames per second which may sound like very little and that's because most games back in the day didn't really have smooth animation and it was one of the idiosyncrasies of DOS games. You CAN choose 32 frames per second IF you are not comfortable with this but I think that ruins the authentic feel of the game completely so I would avoid it if you want this game to remain true to its influences. I also like that there is a slight Lovecraftian feel to the final episode and the enemies in it which gives this game a rather unique vibe to it that I like.

The same can be said about the sound which consists entirely of PC speaker effects. Although they aren't actually PC speaker sounds, they are definitely made to sound as authentic as possible. The game does get very silent a lot of the time though and I really wish it had more sounds to it, such as a simple jumping sound or walking sound which I think would make it feel a lot more like an old DOS game. There's also barely any music in this game aside from the title screen so that would certainly be welcome. I wish this game had a full AdLib soundtrack like Duke Nukem 2 but... you might as well put on some early 90's rock for authenticity's sake. I personally put on the Afterburner album by ZZ Top from 1988.

The controls are also really similar to a lot of early DOS platformers, especially with how you use the Ctrl and Alt keys to shoot and jump respectively although you are free to also use Z and X which I recommend if you play on Windows 8 since Ctrl + Alt does some weird shit there. for some reason.  The jumping is also a little bit weird at first since the longer you hold the button the higher you jump and if you let go you instantly fall back down so it feels like you have not much real gravity to the jumping though you'll get used to this very quickly. The gameplay should feel fairly familiar to you if you've played any Apogee platformers and revolves mostly around destroying forcefield generators to progress through the level and reach the exit and it's about as simple as it can get, although one interesting factor is that the game keeps track of how many items and enemies are left on the level and if you get everything, you get a 100% bonus and the game even tells you when you've gotten 100% completion which to me is a great addition since it keeps my OCD at peace.

So yeah, not much else to say. If you have 4€ to spare and is looking for an authentic retro EGA platformer, then you can't go wrong with MURI. Aside from a few flaws about the game such as wishing it had a little more sound effects, there's not much wrong about it and I really have to commend the makers for making an authentic EGA platformer which you don't see that much of these days.

Final Score: 9/10

- Alyxx