PC Game Review: Call of Duty - Infinite Warfare

CALL OF DUTY: INFINITE WARFARE
Reviewed by Alyxx

Year: 2016
System: PC
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher. Activision
Genre: First person shooter


When I initially heard about Infinite Warfare I wasn't all that hyped about it. It seemed marketed as a bit of a "back to the basics" kind of game, but of course once I heard about the story taking place in space, I was on board completely, being the sci-fi nut that I am. Of course, for the same reason I can't say I have any kind of hype for the next Call of Duty going back to WWII, but I'm glad on behalf of the people who wanted it. It's just not my cup of tea and I really hope the next Call of Duty will stay in the future as I love seeing what these games can offer in terms of futuristic content. So without further ado, let's take a look at the latest and hopefully not last sci-fi installment in the ever-running Call of Duty series!


The Campaign

The graphics and locations in Infinite Warfare fully take advantage of the setting and provide some truly spectacular and gorgeous setpieces.

Infinite Warfare's story campaign centers on a singular character this time. Nick Reyes (Brian Bloom), a soldier who is fighting for Earth in a battle for the resources of the solar system, where a group of Martian colonists who calls themselves the Settlement Defense Front (SDF) are waging war on Earth, lead by the charismatic Salen Kotch (played by Kit Harrington). You soon become captain of the warship "Retribution", and join a crew who set out to drive back the SDF forces.
Your crew consists of the "brobot" E3N (affectionally called Ethan, voiced by Jeffrey Nordling), easily one of the most memorable and likeable robot characters in recent history, Admiral Fredrick Raines (played by John Marshall Jones) who is a mentor to Nick, Lieutenant Lora Salter (played by Jamie Gray Hyder) who is Nick's wingman, Staff Sergeant Usef Omar (David Harewood), Corporal Sean Brooks (Jason Barry) and Private Todd Kashima (Eric Ladin) who all assist Nick in some of the missions. The other notable crewmembers are the Navigator Victor "Gator" Diallo (Omid Abtahi), Captain Maureen Ferran (played by Claudia Christian, famous from Babylon 5), and Chief Engineer Audrey "Mac" MaCallum (Claudia Black).

For the first time in the series, the missions are laid out in a more non-linear structure where you actually get to choose if you want to do a side mission or a story mission. Although the story missions technically are more linear, and the side missions offer no real reward beyond some loadout options, it still helps give you some choices on what kind of mission you wanna do next and feels a bit progressive for the series.

Space combat is a lot of fun in Infinite Warfare, feeling reminiscent of classics like Wing Commander and Descent.

Some of the missions require you to pilot a space fighter in a style similar to Descent and Wing Commander, usually with the goal of either taking you to an objective or taking out enemy fighters and cruisers. It helps break up the gameplay and fits well with the sci-fi theme of the game. The fighter kinda moves a bit unrealistic in the sense you have absolute control of where the spacecraft is facing at all times using your mouse, which kinda gives it that same feeling of 360 degrees control from Descent. It's definitely a lot of fun playing these segments and it really did remind me of oldschool space shooters like the aforementioned Descent and Wing Commander and even Star Fox.

Otherwise the missions follow the typical Call of Duty structure where you go into large setpieces, and overall the campaign definitely feels like it has a ton of production value behind it. The series has always been known for its cinematic flair and it's really strong in this game with a lot of cutscenes feeling like it could belong in a big budget movie, especially with the stellar voice acting from the aforementioned cast, especially Brian Bloom as the protagonist Nick Reyes does a great job, and Claudia Christian is stellar in her role, who almost feels like she's playing the same role she did on Babylon 5. The badguy who's played by Kit Harrington sadly doesn't get nearly as much buildup and screentime as I would've liked, and by the time you get to fight him it kinda feels a little anticlimatic.

I also didn't like how there was no co-op option in the single player campaign, especially when Black Ops 3 had it. I mean, that would've made the campaign a lot more interesting to me and I think more Call of Duty games should offer co-op campaigns.
That being said, overall the campaign is an absolute blast, if not feeling a little short and it gets a little intense on the millitary stuff. I would've preferred a bit more focus on characters and character buildup, similar to Ghosts' focus on building up the characters and their relationship with the badguy. Infinite Warfare feels a bit like a rethread of Modern Warfare's focus on the military operations over the characters and the badguys being pretty lacking in character. While the badguys in this game, even the lesser ones obviously have had a lot of backstory put into them and even are given their own portraits, I feel this is all a bit wasted since none of it really matters in the final product.


The Multiplayer

I'm not gonna lie, finding people to play with in Infinite Warfare can be a problem sometimes. And this sucks because it's not really a problem with the game itself and more with people just not playing it. I think it's a shame because once you do get into a match, it still feels like Call of Duty and it's as fun and fast as it's ever been. Similar to Black Ops 3 you're offered different specialists to play, although this time they're called "rigs" and are essentially robots you control. I'm a bit iffed you're not able to play as a female, although you can give your rig a female voice. To me it just feels a bit lazy to not offer gender options.
Anyway, each of the rigs have their own set of abilities, and you can even choose between multiple abilities now, giving each rig 3 offensive and 3 tactical abilities, which gives a lot of variety to the gameplay. The rigs are also each focused on different playstyles, offering everything from raw speed to accuracy and stealth, which makes it feel like there's no stronger or weaker rig, all of them simply offer different boons to different playstyles, which gives incentive to mix it up now and then if you wanna try a different playstyle.
The weapons are a bit lacking in akimbo options, sad to say, but not as bad as Black Ops 3 thankfully. There are also a lot more weapon varieties to pick from, similar to Advanced Warfare and Black Ops 3 you can purchase supply drops from the Quartermaster using either in-game points or real life currency. Whether you're a fan of these microtransactions or not doesn't really matter to me since you can easily get most good gear just by saving up points. The chance you'll find a weapon that suits your playstyle and preference is really high.

Making custom emblems was unavailable at first, but paid off as it has a lot more options this time.

The modes on offer are Team Deathmatch, Free-for-all, Domination, Frontline, Defender, Gun Game, Infected and Ground War, with hardcore modes of TDM, FFA and a mosh-pit of several modes being available. Sadly only TDM seems to really have any players, if at all.
In addition to multiplayer there is also a Zombies mode, which has a bit of a throwback retro feel to it, with each episode taking place in different decades, with episode 1 taking place in an 80's fun fair, complete with a load of awesome 80's music. The second episode takes place in the 90's in a rave, and the third takes place in the 70's. The zombies mode is pretty much the same as it's always been and doesn't really offer anything new. It's fun in bursts but since I've never been any huge fan of this mode I can't really recommend getting the game just for this. However if you really like the zombies mode from previous installments this likely won't disappoint.



Graphics and Sound

Hey, I can see my house from here!

Call of Duty IW is an absolutely gorgeous game. It also runs very smoothly on PC and feels a lot better optimized than earlier titles. Some of the textures look a bit blurry up close, even on high settings but overall I think this is one of the best looking games in the franchise. The designs are also really cool and I especially love the locations and setpiece designs. My jaw dropped a bit on the first few levels of the game and the game never ceases to lose its cool factor all the way to the end, constantly throwing really large and impressive visuals at you. It really does feel like a bit of a rollercoaster ride at times and you'll definitely get your money's worth in this regard.
Sound-wise the game also really shines. The weapon sounds are really satisfying and beefy overall the sound design is really polished and well done. The music is not really memorable sadly but the music selection in the zombies mode is awesome with a ton of badass 80's tracks, including Every Day Is Halloween by Ministry among others.


Score
STORY: 7/10
Failed to engage me in some of the characters, and some uneven pacing made the story itself a bit mediocre, however the acting and variety in gameplay saved it for me.
CONTROLS: 8/10
Responsive for the most part although during some moments of the game it felt like the mouse sensitivity dropped for no reason, which was a bit annoying.
GRAPHICS: 10/10
Absolutely gorgeous. My jaw dropped multiple times during this game. I love the different locations and space just looks enormous as it should! Facial animations are stunning and makes it feel more like watching a movie at times than playing a game.
SOUND: 8/10
Sound design is excellent and the voice acting is stellar. Sadly the music is not that memorable and mostly feels like background noise but the music selection in the Zombies mode is excellent.

OVERALL SCORE: 8/10
Overall Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare doesn't deserve the hate it gets. It just happened to not be the game that the fans wanted, but personally I think it's still one of the better games in the franchise and like Ghosts I can't help but feel it's going to end up a bit underappreciated and underrated by the fans.

Top 10 Games of 2016

I feel I'm a bit late to the party but since I completely ditched doing a "best of 2015" list last year I feel I owe people a list of my favourite games from 2016. So... here we go!

10. RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER

Jaw-dropping vistas are still commonplace in Rise of the Tomb Raider...

2016 got off to a great start with this one, a highly anticipated game on my part as I've been a huge fan of the franchise ever since my childhood, practically growing up with Lara. While I still haven't finished it, all I can say is that so far it's been a pure joy to play, carrying over the gameplay style of the first game while still doing its own thing and having a story and atmosphere of its own. I also feel a ton of subtle hints to the classic games in here. My only complaint so far though is STILL NO DUAL WIELDING?! Stop teasing us, Square Enix and let Lara dual wield some pistols already!

9. FALLOUT 4

Billy Idol with an explosion behind him. Yeah, kinda obvious why this game still appeals to me!

While it technically launched in 2015, I still played a fuckload of Fallout 4 in 2016 as a lot of new DLC still came out for it and the mod scene pretty much exploded around the game. Being addictive as fuck, with a ton of stuff to explore and a lot of stuff to do, it's still an amazing game to play and all I can say is that I'll likely keep playing it for the next few years...

8. DUSK

Polygons so sharp they probably hurt.

Even if it's still in early access and beta, Dusk was an amazing game to play this year. It perfectly captures the look and gameplay of late 90's shooters such as Quake, Redneck Rampage, Half-Life and Blood. If you're at all a fan of those types of games, I highly recommend keeping an eye on this one!

7. RAD RODGERS: WORLD ONE

I'm admittedly a huge Interceptor fan at this point, and while their games aren't as polished as I'd like sometimes, they still deliver fun games that pay homage to the old days while still feeling fresh. So I feel like giving them two spots on the list this year. Rad Rodgers was a kickstarter game that is made in the spirit of classic Apogee run'n'gun platformers, and it's actually really good with a lot of humor and bright colorful graphics. The animation is also really good and I really love the synthwave soundtrack. I'm probably gonna write a full review of the game later on so stay tuned! Can't wait to see more coming from the guys at Apogee!

6. BATTLEBORN

While I did enjoy Overwatch this year I simply didn't get around to playing it much as I never bought it (I plan on maybe doing so later though). However, I did play a lot of Battleborn this year and in my opinion, it is the superior game in the FPS MOBA genre that seems to have taken off lately. Made by the team who brought us Borderlands, it offers a co-op campaign with pretty good writing in the same style as Borderlands and it honestly had me chuckling a lot and laughing out loud at certain things. I love the style of humor here and it feels very classic Gearbox. The versus mode is the only game mode I'm not a particular fan of, and my recommendation is to just play the game with a few friends.

5. BOMBSHELL

Bombshell had been teased for a while by Interceptor. Starting out as a Duke Nukem action RPG, after losing the rights to the IP, Interceptor instead decided to do their own thing and make a new IP. Bombshell had been a concept character for Duke Nukem Forever, where she would pretty much act as a female sidekick that ended up on the scrapping floor. So it was decided that she would now get her own game. Bombshell is an isometric shooter and while it is marketed as an action RPG, the RPG part is kinda lackluster. But if you go into it expecting a solid overhead shooter, you can definitely get some fun out of it. While it had some lukewarm reviews on launch, the game has since been patched a lot and most of the issues have been fixed.

4. CALL OF DUTY: INFINITE WARFARE

Space ace!

When I heard there was going to be a Call of Duty in space, I was kind of unsure what to feel, but after seeing the trailers I was sold on the concept. And boy, Infinite Warfare did deliver and not disappoint! I'm eventually going to write a whole review for the game so I won't say too much here except that the game is probably the best CoD campaign so far and the multiplayer is solid as fuck with great controls and some of my favourite guns so far.

3. SHADOW WARRIOR 2

Explosive orgasm...?

Flying Wild Hog did an amazing reboot of the Shadow Warrior franchise back in 2014 and it didn't take long for them to start working on a sequel. While I haven't completed it yet, Shadow Warrior 2 is an amazing game so far that carries over what made the first game great and pretty much improves on it. If you're not into the Serious Sam style of shooters, then this is probably not gonna be your cup of tea or win you over in any way, but if you liked the first Shadow Warrior, then this is a must-have. Helps that you can also play it co-op!

2. DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED 

The future, now with anti-gravity refridgerators...

Ever since Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I had been eagerly awaiting a sequel. And while The Fall offered a temporary fix for my Deus Ex cravings, Mankind Divided eventually did deliver the full package. While the story feels cut a bit short, and the addition of microtransactions is a bit confusing and frustrating, there's no denying the game is solid as balls (of steel even) and I have no problem recommending this game. It offered pretty much everything I wanted out of a Deus Ex game and then some.

1. DOOM

Giant pillars of light in the sky is usually a bad sign in a FPS...

There's just no other game that could be the game of the year for me. Pretty much taking Doom 3's "horror" approach and shoving it into the ditch and burying it with a dirty shovel, DOOM 2016 is just fucking DOOM. It brings back the badass protagonist with the double barrel shotgun, and strangely enough gives him more personality than most FPS protagonists these days without a single line of dialogue. DOOM, like Shadow Warrior 2, goes the Serious Sam route where you go from room to room, clearing out waves of enemies in a brilliant ballet of death, ripping and tearing enemies to shreds. I was a bit unsure about the game to begin with but after playing it, I was won over quickly. Add an amazingly cool industrial soundtrack and a self-aware tongue-in-cheek story that doesn't take itself too seriously, and you have easily my favourite game this year.

Top 10 FPS Games of the 90's

The 90's was pretty much the decade the FPS genre got its birth. With early titles such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom paving the way for the future success of the genre, it didn't take long for the genre to take a major foothold in the industry. With a genre still so prevalent in the industry, let's take a look at some of my favorites from the decade.

10. WOLFENSTEIN 3D

While it may be the grand-daddy of all FPS's, Wolfenstein 3D sadly hasn't aged that well. With
confusing mazes and repetitive gameplay, it's a game that tends to get a bit stale after a while. It's still worth mentioning though as it helped popularize the genre and lead to future successes for id and at the time, it was one of the first smash indie hits on the PC, helped in large part by the free shareware episode that spread the game all over the world.

9. QUAKE

Quake is a bit of a mess. But it's a damn fun mess. It was one of the first FPS's that featured true 3D
environments and 3D models instead of sprites, giving it a unique look for the time. Helped by an extremely atmospheric soundtrack and sound effects by the legendary Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, intricate level design, and a multiplayer that is still active to this day, Quake quickly became a legend among gamers. Sadly, in my opinion, as good as Quake is, and being one of the most visceral FPS's ever made, it's also a bit tough to play for any lengths of time given the monotone graphics and somewhat repetitive gameplay. The technology behind the game might in many cases be more interesting than the game itself. It also feels like the Lovecraftian influence was criminally underused and the story never quite got wrapped up. Still worth playing though!

8. HALF-LIFE

Released in 1998, Half-Life pretty much revolutionized the industry upon release. It was one of the first FPS's to tell a complete in-game story, but without ever taking the player out of the first person view or taking control from the player in any way, achieving this through heavily scripted scenes. It also brought in some survival horror elements, making ammo sparse in some places and intentionally making the player feel vulnerable. You'd have to play tactically and carefully in order to survive. The technology behind the game was also rather impressive. Using a heavily modified Quake engine, it supported skeletal animation and some very complex AI routines that helped give the enemies in the game a very eerily realistic feel to them. It also had no definitive level structure, taking you from area to area with a "loading" text on the screen, which helped the genre move away from the heavily level-based structure of the past. Half-Life still holds up rather well today, although some of the mechanics feel a bit antiquated, especially crouch-jumping.

7. SiN

SiN launched almost at the same time as Half-Life and thus quickly became overshadowed by the latter's enormous success. Undeservedly so as SiN did a ton of stuff that was rather innovative at the time. The outcome of the game relied on how well you completed mission objectives, as failing some of them or missing some things could affect what levels you got to play, where you'd start and so on. It also featured hackable computers, some of them featuring a fully featured DOS prompt to peruse. Mixed with some really cool weaponry, and a talking badass protagonist who obviously takes a few hints from Duke Nukem, SiN to me feels like one of the most typical 90's FPS's ever, in all the best ways. Sadly it's bogged down by some uneven difficulty spikes and some annoying vehicle sections with bad controls.

6. BLOOD

Easily one of my personal favourites from the 90's, Blood is one of the goriest games I've had the pleasure of playing and more than lives up to its name. It's pretty much a spoof game, though as where Duke Nukem spoofs action movies, and Shadow Warrior spoofs kung fu movies, Blood takes its inspiration from horror flicks. Almost all of the weapons are fun to use, and the protagonist, Caleb, has so much dry dark humor he's a delight to be listening to as you play through the game. Featuring some amazing level design and graphics for the time (helped by its use of voxels for some objects to give them a 3D look), it's a hell of a ride that's worth taking if you're into oldschool shooters.

5. ERADICATOR

Eradicator is one of those kind of overlooked gems from the 90's. Soaked in a really hardcore cyberpunk/biomechanical sci-fi atmosphere obviously influenced by H.R. Gieger, it's a pretty awesome FPS that has a ton of features that are kind of mindblowing for a 1996 game. Not only do you have 3 characters to play as, all properly voiced, you can remote control bombs, exploding RC cars, control things through terminals in the game, and it mixes a lot of cool oldschool shooter combat with some really challenging puzzles, often involving timing, forcing you to have pretty much the entire level memorized in some cases, which to me might be the only thing not making this game great. But I think it definitely deserves more attention.

4.  STAR WARS: DARK FORCES

When it comes to Star Wars games, some might argue the sequel, Jedi Knight, is the better game but to me, this is still one of the best Star Wars games and shooters of the 90's. What makes this game so awesome is that you're not playing a jedi (yet) and just a mercenary doing missions for the rebels. It even ties in with Episode IV, explaining that you retrieved the Death Star blueprints for the rebels (this was way before Rogue One, lol). It has a lot of amazing features for the time, including a flashlight, and some more objective-based gameplay than earlier shooters which were more about just getting keycards and getting to the end of the level. Sadly, there's no quicksave option which to me is the only thing not making it that fun to play. But it still is an amazing FPS and worth playing, especially if you're a Star Wars fan.

3. UNREAL TOURNAMENT

While some might argue this is cheating a bit, the game DID technically come out in 1999, keeping it firmly within the 90's. It's in my opinion one of the best multiplayer shooters of all time, with lots of awesome and memorable one-liners, unforgetable weapons and levels, and a mix of game modes that always keeps the game fresh. In my opinion, the game never gets old and it's always fun to play this. It has an awesome soundtrack as well, and for the time mindblowing graphics using the then somewhat new and noticable Unreal Engine that nowadays is used in pretty much everything.

2. DOOM

Making a list of the best FPS shooters of the 90's without mentioning the big daddy of them all would be a criminal offense. So here it is. Mentioned. There's really not much to say that hasn't already been said about Doom. It set the standard, it popularized online deathmatches, it created insane controversy due to its satanic imagery, and is STILL played and enjoyed to this day. It is the rock star of gaming, showing its age but still kicking ass. But... as good as Doom is, it's not my absolute favourite... that would be...

1. DUKE NUKEM 3D 

Duke Nukem 3D did so much for the FPS genre it's insane. Where previously shooters had been based in fantasy or sci-fi levels with more abstract level designs, Duke 3D had levels that felt more set in the real world, helping grounding it in reality like few shooters before it. It was also the first FPS to feature a talking protagonist. And boy did he have much to say! Duke's personality still is entertaining to this day, being a total spoof of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Campbell and pretty much every macho man you can imagine. He's also got an insane weaponry at his disposal, with an arsenal unlike any other. While you have all the default weapons you'd expect, it is stuff like the shrink ray, freezeray and not to mention, the almighty Devastator that still makes Duke Nukem 3D a unique experience. Hail to the king, baby!

[PlayStation Vita Game Review] Call Of Duty - Black Ops: Declassified

CALL OF DUTY - BLACK OPS: DECLASSIFIED
Platform: PlayStation Vita
Released: November 13th, 2012
Genre: FPS
Developer: Nihilistic
Publisher: Activision

Call of Duty has always had a bit of a rocky reputation on handheld consoles. The only title released on PSP was the critically panned "Roads To Victory" and the two games on the Nintendo DS were technically impressive for the system but hindered by awkward controls on a system that wasn't really meant for FPS games. The Vita was in many ways a new chance for Activision to prove they could release a good portable Call of Duty experience, as the Vita was heralded by many as a handheld PS3 and a powerhouse for console-quality games on the go. Sadly Black Ops: Declassified doesn't really live up to this standard, and let's discuss why.


As always, the game has a campaign mode although instead of following a linear narrative, the campaign is split into multiple "Operations", which act as missions to play through. To be perfectly honest the story isn't at all interesting and I barely remember anything of it other than going places, doing shit for some reason and blowing shit up. Which is par for the course for most CoD games but with games like Ghosts and the more recent Black Ops 3 offering really memorable narratives, it feels like a bit of a letdown and like a lot of older CoD games, the game seems a lot more centered on political black operations and agendas than exploring personalities. Similar to Black Ops you play as Frank Woods and Alex Mason during the Vietnam era, sent to complete varying missions or some shit here and there. It all doesn't really conclude in anything and the whole campaign can be finished in under an hour, which is laughably short, even for a handheld game. True, you can replay missions for achievements or to beat them on higher difficulties, but in the end, while the campaign is servicable, compared to the other titles in the series, it comes off as a joke. The nail in the coffin for me is the lack of checkpoints. You HAVE to play an entire mission from start to finish without dying, even on Veteran difficulty. While the missions are short, starting the entire mission over each time you die is a fucking disaster and just ends up being extremely frustrating. There's a REASON they added mid-level saves to the Killzone: Mercenary missions...


There are also two other single player modes. The first is Time Trial, which sends you onto a course where you shoot cardboard enemies with various weapons and you're scored for your time and efficiency. This mode feels a bit like some sort of training mode and isn't really all that fun unless you enjoy shooting cardboard enemies.
The second mode is Hostiles which acts basically as a horde mode where you fight increasingly difficult waves of enemies. It's the same mode as in Modern Warfare 3 basically and while it's fun if you're offline and just wanna play some simple multiplayer maps with bots, it tends to get very repetitive. The care packages you get between waves also only offer 3 different killstreaks which is pretty dull.


Multiplayer is also a bit of a letdown with a very limited weapon selection, an outdated loadout system, no calling cards or emblems, and while challenges are there, they offer no long lasting reward such as cool skins or calling cards. By outdated loadout system I mean it uses the old pick primary, secondary and 3 perks system and you can't use a slot system like in Black Ops 2 (which ironically came out around the same time), meaning you can't have multiple perks, you can't specialize in a weapon and you are pretty limited in loadout selections.
The weapon selection is alright, with a list of fairly standard weapons that all don't really look or feel all that special or memorable but function nicely. The FAMAS assault rifle is pretty cool looking though. What i miss the most is the akimbo attachment which is nowhere to be seen, a huge letdown as I am a huge fan of akimbo in Call of Duty games.
Surprisingly there are still a lot of people playing the multiplayer, though I've had tons of problems with disconnections and lag during matches, and a lot of players seem to be cheating, either hitting with perfect aim or running around with god mode, soaking up bullets like a bloody sponge. Thankfully those players have been few but they have been there and it's always annoying, especially on a console.
Some of the maps are ridicilously small, even smaller than Nuketown (in this game you have Nukehouse instead which is just a single building) and you often end up spawning right next to an enemy. On the larger maps this issue isn't all that prevalent but on the smaller maps it happens frequently so be prepared to fire as soon as you spawn.
While the multiplayer is perfectly servicable like most things in this game, it just doesn't feel rewarding to play and gets very repetitive quickly.


Graphically the game looks... okay. While nowhere near the quality of Killzone: Mercenary or even Resistance: Burning Skies, it looks okay though it suffers from a very drab colour palette, boring weapon skins, extremely simple lighting and at times resembles a PS2 game.
Models and textures are decent though and from what I hear they got so much flak during an E3 presentation of the game they worked on the game a bit extra to sharpen up the graphics. Shame it still kinda looks like crap.
Sound-wise it's alright as well. Weapons sound like they lack punch, music is forgetable and boring and all in all, not a very memorable experience.


All in all, this is far from the Call of Duty I wanted on Vita. Hoping for more of a Black Ops 2 experience on the go, to say this game is disappointing is putting it lightly. To this day it remains one of the most critically panned Call of Dutys and it's easy to see why, given how little value you get for your money. If you can get it on a sale, I'd say it's worth picking up as the multiplayer is still active and it's worth at least one playthrough if you're desperate for a Vita FPS that isn't Borderlands 2, Resistance or Killzone. But if you haven't played Killzone or Resistance first, I'd say grab those instead of this. Hopefully one day we'll get a Vita CoD game that's good but I won't hold my breath given the reception to this.


STORY: 5/10
Not that memorable, very short and not worth replaying much.

GAMEPLAY: 5/10
Tight controls, good ADS snapon but hindered by a pretty bad AI that at times has absolute perfect accuracy, which is highly annoying on higher difficulties where the lack of checkpoints really makes the game a frustrating mess. Multiplayer is servicable but a bit of a letdown compared to other games in the series.

GRAPHICS: 5/10
Drab colors, uninspired weapon skins and bad lighting makes this game kind of horrible looking, especially compared to Killzone: Mercenary or even Resistance: Burning Skies which came out before it.

SOUND: 6/10
No big complaints really but can't say there was any of it I particurarily enjoyed. Weapons seem to sound weak and not that satisfying.


FINAL SCORE: 5/10

[PC Game Review] Undertale

UNDERTALE
Platform: PC
Released: September 15th, 2015
Genre: RPG
Developer/Publisher: Toby Fox


Before my complete review of Undertale, I want to recount my experience with this game...


It was... I don't remember what day it was. Thadeus had bought me a game he loved. Undertale it was called. For a while, I didn't really want to play it. I mean, the graphics seemed... not that impressive and all I knew about it was that it was influenced by Mother/Earthbound, which granted are some of my favourite RPG's, but for some reason, I held off on playing the game.


I sat down one day, Thadeus eagerly sitting on Steam chat, awaiting my reaction. I fired up the game, commented how I could tell it was made in Game Maker, cause of the collision detection. Commented how I wish the music wouldn't constantly change styles. I kinda half-ass played it, not really paying full attention. I met Flowey, he of course was creepy as all hell, letting me know it was "kill or be killed". I killed some enemies. That's what you do in RPG's, right? I earned some EXP and felt pretty good. This character Toriel took me in, she seemed very nice. I liked her. In fact... I started to enjoy her company. Then I wanted to leave her place and move on. She blocked my way, said she was going to test if I was ready.


Then I killed her.



Realizing what I'd done, realizing I had killed a character who was friendly, I panicked. What happened? In other games, friendly NPC's wouldn't die if you fought them. They would stop, not let you kill them, something would keep it from happening. Yet here I sat, watching Toriel vaporize in front of me after the most blood chilling speech I've ever seen from someone friendly.


I cried, I felt rotten. I felt ashamed. I reloaded the game so I could get her back. The next fight the game told me I thought of letting Toriel know I watched her die, and she said she felt like a ghost when I looked at her. Finally figuring out how to spare her I moved on. Then... Flowey appeared again. He let me know he was aware I had reloaded to try and save Toriel. I felt a chill down my spine unlike anything I've ever felt in any game. I knew it was possible for game characters to break the fourth wall but this felt like Flowey was speaking directly to me. Not the sprite on the screen, but the player controlling the sprite. Instantly I felt like I couldn't play anymore. I was scared, way out of my comfort zone. I had just played a game that held me directly responsible for taking the life of a friendly character. I shut down the game and didn't touch it again for a long time...


I deleted my save file... manually... complete reset of the game... then I went back one day. Thadeus urged me to go back to it, struggling not to spoil it for me.


I had an experience that changed my entire view on games. What games can do to you, how they can impact you. Undertale takes every trope, every preconception you might have about games and turn them entirely on their heads. Instead of killing everything, you are urged NOT to kill, but to use non-violent solutions. The game has no limits on who you can kill. You can kill everyone if you so desire. It is up to you if you want to kill everyone or make friends. So on my second playthrough, scarred by my initial experience, I didn't hurt anyone. And the rest of the game was honestly one of the most unforgetable experiences I've had in gaming ever, something that will truly stick with me forever.


Undertale proves that 8bit sprites on a computer screen can feel as real as you and me, it proves that killing is a horrible thing and holds nothing back to push that point home. It proves that in the end, the only thing that matters is what you choose.


So choose wisely...




STORY: 10/10
While I don't want to spoil everything, the gist of the game (told in an opening narration that seems amazingly influenced by Mother) is that the world once was ruled by humans and monsters, but a war broke out and the humans sealed the monsters underground behind a magic barrier. But one day in our time, a human child falls down into Mt. Ebbot, seemingly the only way down to the monsters anymore. After waking up you are confronted by Flowey, a seemingly innocent flower who is a lot more than he seems to be. You quickly learn he's actually trying to kill you and are saved by a female goat named Toriel, who takes care of you and functions as a literal tutorial guide, teaching you the basic gameplay mechanics. However, you quickly learn that in order to get back home, you have to cross the magical barrier, and in order to do so, defeat Asgore. After a test of your willpower, you leave Toriel behind and set out on a journey to reach Asgore. How you go through this journey is up to you.
The character you play as is intentionally left nameless and gender neutral, allowing the player to completely immerse themselves into the game by projecting onto the character. Whether you're a young kid or an adult, anyone can play this game and feel immersed in it which I think is amazing. It uses very simple old tricks but they work wonders.



GAMEPLAY: 10/10
The game is split into two different levels. The overworld where you explore, talk to NPCs and do the main path of the game, and the combat system which occurs whenever you encounter a monster or an NPC initiates a battle. The overworld gameplay relies mostly on simply puzzle solving, character interaction and exploration so there's really not much to say about it. It feels very similar to Mother in that you have a menu with items, stats and a phone (which you can use for a lot of things).
The battle system is where things start to get really interesting though and where the game shines as very unique. While you have a Fight button you can use to hurt and even kill both enemies and friendly NPC's alike (which does have pretty huge consequences I might add), you also have an Act button which opens up the non-violent solutions to a battle. Each battle is basically like a puzzle and choosing the right actions in the Act menu is essential to solving the puzzle and giving the monster some kind of resolution so that it gives up and you can choose the Mercy option and spare it (at the start of the battle, the Spare option won't be available). You can also use the Item menu to access your inventory. Between each action you make, the monster will attack you in a style reminiscent of bullet hell shooters, although it relies mostly on you dodging the attacks.
What the game does very brilliantly is making EACH battle, even with minor monsters feel memorable and meaningful, and each battle has slight variations on the mechanics so the game never feels repetitive or stale, you never know what to expect and it keeps the game interesting and fresh all the way through.

The controls are fairly simple, you move with the arrow keys and use Z, X, and C for different things. Z is the general action key, X is for cancelling usually, and C is for bringing up the menu during gameplay.




GRAPHICS: 10/10
Undertale mixes a lot of different styles together, but for the most part has a very limited 8bit influenced color palette, giving it a retro style that's still pretty charming. The character sprites are all drawn with a ton of personality and small details that are fun to pick up on. The HUD during battle is very well defined and some of the backgrounds are downright gorgeous. The graphics aren't really the focus of the game though, as their limited range almost makes your imagination kick in more than it would with something more realistic looking.




SOUND: 10/10
Undertale has a rather remarkable sound design. While a lot of the sounds are very 8bit and 16bit sounding, the soundtrack ranges in styles from 8bit, 16bit to very orchestrated themes. While I kind of wish the soundtrack stuck to one style, it's only a minor complaint. The themes are all really good and function well for their intended purposes and I'm still humming most of them on occasion.



FINAL SCORE: 10/10


This is a game I urge everyone to play all the way through. It's one of the most memorable games made in ages and holds its place as one of the most important games ever made. It reminds us that games don't have to be about mindless murder, but can be about something very beautiful and emotional, something that can leave us with a feeling we'll never forget...


Reseting the game has never been this difficult.

 

Top 10 Games of 2015

Another year comes to an end, and another year of gaming is over. For me, this year was filled with a lot of expectations, a lot of disappointments and some unforgettable moments. So let's take a look at my top 10 games of 2015.

10. CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 3

Black Ops 3 for me is a bit of a disappointment. While I enjoy the campaign and multiplayer, especially with the new specialists, the game is horribly unoptimized on PC and suffers from really bad memory leaks. Specifically the game runs really well... for the first few minutes. And then the framerate gets worse and worse and it keeps degrading the longer I run it. The game also feels like it's somewhat lacking compared to Advanced Warfare which I loved and played the heck out of. Lack of akimbo weapons, lack of those various weapon and camo drops from AW, and while the gunshop is a neat idea you still are restricted to what attachments you have unlocked or not. It's a decent game but doesn't hold up to Advanced Warfare's standards in my opinion. Still, I will probably play the fuck out of it since it's still a lot of fun at times.

9. GRIM FANDANGO REMASTERED

 

Arguably one of the best adventure games ever finally got re-released digitally early this year and what a way to start of the year. I grew up on Grim Fandango, and I've played through it countless times over the years. Coming back to Grim's world after all these years, it still looks as great as it did in 1999 and graphically this game has held up incredibly well. The pre-rendered scenes have been remastered in glorious high definition and look as crisp as ever, and the game has even been given some beautiful lighting effects, though these are more subtle really. The game now also offers you to play it with more traditional point-and-click controls as opposed to the "tank" controls of the original game (which I kinda prefer, that's how I played the game in its original form). One of my favourite games of all time and definitely worth picking up.

8. WOLFENSTEIN: THE OLD BLOOD

 

The Old Blood is a standalone prequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order, and if you loved that game, this is definitely for you. It offers more of the stealthy action from New Order but mixes in a lot of new and fresh ingredients that makes it much more of its own experience. I won't spoil the game too much but it gets really interesting near the end. It did NOT disappoint in any way and I highly recommend picking it up if you're ready for even more Nazi killing fun!

7. SHADOWRUN CHRONICLES

Shadowrun Chronicles is pretty much an online co-op experience of Shadowrun where runners can meet up in hubs and go on missions together. I've played it a ton with my friends and while it still remains very tactical, I really love the cyberpunk atmosphere and the fun of customizing your character's look, gear and playstyle. It's a very fun game that I highly recommend picking up if you're looking for something more like a tabletop Shadowrun experience since the other games on Steam now are more single-player campaigns.

6. MAD MAX

 I was pretty hyped for this game ever since I saw the trailers for it. And I was not disappointed. Paying a lot of homage to the classic Mad Max movies as well as Fury Road, the atmosphere, characterization and story is absolutely spot on in this game. It gets it right, so to speak. And while the gameplay is more on the generic side, it still offers a really good open-world fix for fans of games like Far Cry or Tomb Raider. A good little time-waster that will make you feel badass as soon as you fire it up.

5. 3D REALMS ANTHOLOGY

 

It's definitely sad to hear that this will be taken off Steam next year for undisclosed reasons (though I have my suspicions Gearbox is involved). But this is probably one of the most solid packs I've ever seen released. Offering 32 classic PC titles that helped define the 90's in PC gaming, it's a hell of a deal. Whether you like Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior, Blake Stone, Terminal Velocity, Rise of the Triad or any of the other classic titles from 3D Realms, this pack is a must-own for any PC gamer. I still play a lot of these games from time to time, both for nostalgic reasons and because I feel they have held up very well. They are all simple action titles that you can just pick up and play any time and that's what makes them so great in my opinion. Apogee means action!

4. UNDERTALE

 

I was kind of resistant to Undertale to begin with. It didn't seem like my cup of tea, the graphics seemed a bit bad and it didn't help everyone hyped the game to the end of the world and back. That kind of effect usually just makes me stay away from something. But oh boy am I glad I gave this game a chance because Undertale is absolutely deceiving. At the surface it might seem like nothing more than an Earthbound ripoff with terrible graphics and a soundtrack that doesn't seem to be able to decide what chiptune era it wants to reside in. The truth is Undertale has one of the best stories I've ever seen in a game, and it's also one of the most unique gaming experiences I've ever had in my entire life. I won't spoil it for you but let's just say this game has gotten under my skin. It has cut deep into my soul and left marks that will forever remain there. It's a game I am almost afraid to play because I know I will get even more attached to it as I have barely played beyond the first areas yet. This game is simply amazing and is so much more than it appears to be. It is definitely deserving of all the hype it gets and the only reason it's not on my number one spot is out of pure defiance as all the games on this list are games I enjoy and Undertale is no different. You definitely should play this game and it's so cheap you really have no excuse not to. It offers so much for how little it asks of you, trust me on that.

3. TALES FROM THE BORDERLANDS

Tales From The Borderlands technically released last year but has gotten on-going episodes all year. It's remained one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had and while I hesitate to call it an adventure game since it plays more like a quick-time event movie, it's a great story with really well written characters. It's a bit less heavy on the Borderlands style humor but it still made me gigglesnort a lot so it gets points from me. Worth picking up if you like Telltale and Borderlands, which I do. In fact Borderlands is one of my favourite franchises ever so... this automatically is awesome to me.

2. DUKE NUKEM 3D:  MEGATON EDITION (VITA)

You may be wondering why I am listing Duke Nukem 3D as a game of 2015. Well here are my reasons:
1. I can play it while I'm taking a dump
2. It has all the expansions and PSN multiplayer
3. It's fucking Duke Nukem
4. Your argument is invalid.

1. FALLOUT 4

Fallout 4 is probably the game I was the most hyped for this year and boy did it deliver. Everything feels like a vast improvement over Fallout 3. Better controls, better combat, better graphics (seriously, I'm so glad they actually gave this game some colour), and a much better story that had me pretty involved from the beginning. And while it's anything but a perfect game, it hit all the right marks for me and I can imagine I will be playing this for years to come, and I can't wait to see the mod scene really take off for this game now that they can offer mods on consoles as well. The world feels a lot more alive than in Fallout 3 and less barren which to me is a huge plus, and there's just so much more to do as there's a whole new crafting system involved as well as building houses and settlements. It's a very dynamic game where everything comes together much better and synergizes more. Junk isn't just junk, it's now ingredients for your crafting and is a lot more involved than in Fallout 3 where junk was just junk and vendor trash at best. Sadly no Liam Neeson in this game but hey, we get Garrus so I'm happy. :P

[PS1 Game Review] Resident Evil: Director's Cut

RESIDENT EVIL: DIRECTOR'S CUT
Platform: PlayStation
Released: December 10th 1997
Genre: Action/Adventure / Survival Horror
Developer/Publisher: Capcom

Let's get this straight, I'm not a fan of horror games so I never went into Resident Evil because I wanted a scary experience. And let's face it, while the game does have a creepy atmosphere, to me it's all done in a very cheesy b-movie fashion like a cheap grindhouse horror flick. That was pretty much what drew me to the game. The voice acting is pretty much the definition of "so bad it's good" and the intro live action movie sets the tone perfectly. Even the end credits with its cheesy 90's rock music felt like I was watching the end credits to a cheap horror flick so I enjoyed the game probably for entirely different reasons than people of a certain age did who played it before they had any kind of relationship to b-movies and found it genuinely scary.

The story is pretty simple and taken straight out of a b-movie horror flick. An elite police squad known as S.T.A.R.S. (no idea what it stands for but the acronym looks cool, lol) are sent to investigate a mansion in the outskirts of Raccoon City (a fictional US city). On the way there they are attacked by what seems to be rabid dogs and take shelter in the mansion's main hall. From there they slowly discover they are not alone in the mansion as the place is filled with zombies, more rabid dogs and other mutated creatures due to the spread of a bio-weapon known as the T-virus, developed by the Umbrella Corporation. The game is about their survival, and whether or not they will make it out of there alive to spread the truth.

Resident Evil is probably the first game to outright state itself as "survival horror", which is something I consider more an offshoot of the action/adventure genre since it still relies heavily on inventory management and puzzle solving with some combat thrown in for good measure. The focus is put more on limited resources, forcing you to think tactically about ammo and item usage, and this is pretty much the defining key gameplay mechanic of the game. Though usually it boils down to using specific weapons for specific enemies. The pistol is alright as a starting weapon but the shotgun is probably my favouite weapon. For bigger enemies I'd pick up a Bazooka or even the magnum. Most of the puzzles in the game are environment related, finding the right key for the right door etc. Often they rely on you checking the items in your inventory which often lead to me getting stuck since I wasn't that good at checking items. :P
Even saves are limited, as you are forced to collect "ink ribbons" to use on typewriters in certain rooms throughout the game. To me, this doesn't really add any horror aspect to the game as it feels like a very cheap and manipulative way of adding tension. I mean yes, I understand the intention but I don't think it would matter if the game had unlimited saves personally. Playing the game on the Easy difficulty gave me plenty of ink ribbons though so in my opinion, it removed the main problem I had with the game.

A lot of people have criticized the controls, which are often called "tank controls" due to being a bit stiff. There's no way to strafe so you tend to turn and walk forward or backwards a lot. It feels a bit awkward, sure, but I got used to it very quickly and it soon became second nature to me. There aren't a lot of open spaces anyway and strafing would probably end up feeling weird with the fixed camera angles. Sometimes the fixed camera angles can be a bit disorienting, but again, something I got used to quickly, probably from playing a ton of Grim Fandango which had similar controls and camera angles.

The fixed camera angles are obviously there for a reason though as the game used pre-rendered graphics for the environments, in the sense that everything on the screen that doesn't move is just a static image. For the time this gave the game really realistic graphics and it's one of the aspects of the game that has made it hold up much better over time than some of its contemporary titles. All the characters, enemies and interactable objects are rendered in real time though so they still look pretty chunky, but it's nothing that bothered me too much.

The music is one of the main contributors to the game's atmosphere, and it's often one of the more creepy aspects of the game. For the time the music is exceptionally well done and a lot of times I would feel tense just walking into a room from the music alone. I also loved the cheesy end theme. Felt like a bit of a "reward" after playing the game to the end. The sounds are also pretty well done, and the voice acting is and always will be gloriously cheesy. I loved every second of it as it really felt like I was watching a bad movie.

So all in all, Resident Evil hasn't aged that well in some ways. The controls and camera angles might be a turnoff to some people, and a lot of the puzzles are way too obscure to figure out easily (it seriously took me a WHOLE YEAR to finish the game as I started playing it in 2014...). But the voice acting, prerendered scenery and music is all there and still creepy enough.

SUMMARY:

STORY: 7/10
It's definitely nothing special and wasn't anything special at the time. However it's presented very well and definitely has a charm to it. The twists aren't that shocking either, but add a nice flair to it.

GAMEPLAY: 6/10
A lot of the puzzles were pretty obsucre and took a long time to figure out, stalling the game for me. Otherwise an enjoyable experience though only on Easy mode. I might be seen as a pussy for saying it but... the Normal mode is just too difficult for my taste.

GRAPHICS: 8/10
The prerendered scenery has held up fine and makes the game seem less dated than some of its counterparts. Granted the models look pretty dated, but that's to be expected.

SOUND: 8/10
The music is pretty good and the voice acting is extremely cheesy to the point where it ruins any attempts at taking the game seriously. It's still so bad it's good though.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

[PC Game Review] Star Wars: Dark Forces

STAR WARS: DARK FORCES
Platform: PC
Released: February 1995
Genre: First Person Shooter
Developer/Publisher: LucasArts


Dark Forces is, in a nutshell, Doom with a Star Wars skin. That's pretty much the simple way of looking at it. However, it does some interesting things that in my opinion sets it apart from other shooters of its time. Is it still worth picking up? Let's find out as I take a look at this classic 90's FPS.

Dark Forces is set during the time of the original Star Wars trilogy (you know... episodes 4-6 cause Lucas felt like starting there for some reason) but is more set as a side story to the movies where you play badass mercenary Kyle Katarn who takes up missions for the rebels and ends up dealing with the Empire's new experimental prototype soldier, the Dark Forces. Oh, just to mention, in this game YOU are the guy who gets the Death Star plans that helps the rebels destroy the Death Star in Episode IV. Probably a key moment in the game because it directly ties you to the events that went on in the movie and makes you feel like "hey, I actually have a purpose in this game". The problem with a lot of games of this time is the lack of any meaning with what you're doing. Even though Doom is pretty much a perfect shooter, it lacks purpose. Since there is no plot or story to the game you're kinda just playing to see what's next and for nothing else. With Dark Forces, you don't play levels, you play missions. Each mission has a set goal that will impact the story and the mission briefings before each mission are essential to understanding the game's story and objectives because some of them can be a bit tricky to grasp without reading the briefing. There's also voice acting in the game and some cutscenes with some decent animation for the time, so all in all I felt the story was damn solid in the game and I felt really connected to the characters.

Now, Kyle is not a jedi (although he becomes one in the sequel, Jedi Knight), so instead of relying on the force and flashy lightsaber combat, he relies on his wits and his guns. It feels a bit refreshing playing a Star Wars game where you're not playing a Jedi or Sith to be honest. To just be the Han Solo type character, a grunt with some guns and a job to do, feels very different and that's one of the main reasons I feel this game has held up as well as it has. There's even a spot in the game where you're captured by Jabba the Hutt and thrown to one of his pets as food. So, instead of using the force to get your weapon back, you have to defeat this beast with your bare hands like a fucking badass. It's one of the most awesome moments I've had in gaming recently.

The game plays a lot like Doom though I would say it actually plays closer to Duke Nukem 3D in the sense you can look up and down as well as jump so you have a lot more freedom of movement than you'd expect from an early 90's shooter. The controls feel solid and, thankfully, are very easily customized so playing the game with modern WASD controls is very easy.

You have all the classic FPS weapons you'd expect. From classic blasters to explosives, so you have something for every situation. I really like the sound design on them and they all sound very authentic to the movies. Visually they look really cool as well with very detailed sprites.

The levels themselves are also really well designed, and everything feels like it's there for a purpose. For the time the level design is very impressive, and it does a lot of nice tricks that would probably be impossible in games like Doom. Since you're playing missions the levels feel more cinematic in design than a lot of shooters of the time and a lot of times I felt like I was in an actual Star Wars movie. Some of the levels could get a bit cryptic and I got stuck several times, though it thankfully never got so bad I had to consult a walkthrough. The only mission I didn't care that much for is the sewer mission early in the game. It's very easy to get stuck in the maze on that mission and it was only to assassinate a minor character so I felt it could easily have been cut out of the game. It feels like a filler mission.

One thing I noticed that kind of bothered me is the lack of a quicksave function. Unlike other shooters of the time you cannot save during a mission, the game autosaves between missions. Granted you have an extra lives system and checkpoints so if you die, you're only set back a short distance, making it not a big deal, but what if I have to go during a mission? Having to replay a mission from the start every time I have to leave made the game a bit more frustrating than it should've been. Thankfully they introduced quicksaving in the sequel so they obviously learned from their mistake.

The missions aren't usually that long though and once the objective is completed you are actually free to continue exploring if you want to and can quit when you feel ready to leave. I really liked this approach to gameplay and it feels very ahead of its time as instead of giving you a simple "end level switch" you can keep exploring for secrets if you want to without feeling like you are bound to the mission goal.

Graphically the game is gorgeous for its time. The atmosphere feels very genuinely Star Wars and I loved the attention to detail, especially when you can accidentally run into friendly droids on a level who are just running around peacefully. There are a lot of hostile enemies, sure, but it's nice to have a game where not all NPC's are hostile. The level designs feel like actual locations from the movies and help give the game a lot of authenticity. The atmosphere is definitely a good reason I kept coming back to the game.

Music-wise you have several options, and the quality of the music will depend on what sound card you have. I used SoundBlaster OP4 FM synthesis, which sounded decent enough and very oldschool so I felt it fit the game's time period. There are some very decent renditions of the movie score that helps add to the game's atmosphere. The sound design in general is very good with very authentic sound effects, decent voice acting and a great sense of ambience.


SUMMARY

STORY: 10/10
The story is very well written for its time and draws you into the game unlike a lot of its contemporary games. It offers for a ton of memorable moments from the game.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10
The lack of a quicksave function really is the main downgrade for me in this game. Otherwise the game is pretty solid.

GRAPHICS: 8/10No support for high res modes means you are pretty much forced to play in a low-res 320x240 mode. Otherwise the atmosphere is spot on and the levels are very well designed.
The spritework feels very authentic and detailed.

SOUND: 10/10
Excellent music and authentic sound design. No real complaints here.

FINAL SCORE: 9/10

All in all, Star Wars: Dark Forces is a true classic FPS that you should definitely play if you're a fan of Star Wars or just oldschool shooters in general. Some of its features are well ahead of its time, while in some other ways it does feel a bit obsolete. But as a whole I had a blast playing this game. The force is strong with this one...
Now... on to tackle the sequel, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II!

[PC] Call of Duty: Black Ops III Beta - Impressions

This won't be a review as much as just some general impressions and overview of the Call of Duty: Black Ops III Multiplayer Beta that released earlier in August, what I played of it and what I thought about it. A lot of it will be compared to Advanced Warfare which I have played a lot and so far consider the best game in the series.

One thing that struck me as very different off the bat is the focus on "Specialists". These are basically characters you play as during multiplayer, each with their own special skills and special weapons. I played as the Scout class (although I'm sure she had a different name...) and didn't get a chance to try the other ones. Her skills were a vision pulse that showed enemies around you for a while and a special recurve bow with explosive arrows.
It seems like a very cool concept to have the focus shifted from one customizable character to a whole bunch of more well defined classes to play and seems to take some ideas from games like Borderlands. I didn't get a feeling that these classes were meant to work together or synergize in any way though, which made it feel more like you chose more for your own reasons than to support your team, just choosing a class suiting your playstyle and preference.

The weapons... felt kinda boring. There was no option for akimbo weapons that I saw, which after AW's focus on different akimbo guns made the game feel almost lacking in a sense. The weapons that were shown in the beta felt very underpowered and I never felt like I dealt enough damage, even though I tried out different SMGs and assault rifles (my preferred weapon classes) extensively. I died a lot more than I do in AW as a result.

One thing i kinda like though is that the way of achieving gun attachments is enormously simplified. You now simply level up guns by killing enemies. The higher the level of the gun, the more attachments you get. Although a part of me prefers the weapon challenges in AW, I can see this system being more fun and fair for everyone.

The game also felt really unoptimized, but being a beta that's almost a given. Most of the time it felt perfectly playable but it had its slowdowns. I'm pretty sure this will be fixed in the final weeks leading up to release.

All in all, so far Black Ops 3 seems a lot less fun than AW. It has some interesting features such as the Specialist classes and I'm looking forward to trying more of them and seeing what other guns the game has to offer me. There was no customization in the game in the beta, but they promise gun customization and also custom player cards and emblems, and I truly hope there will be some cosmetic customization of the specialist character you play.
But I died a lot, none of the guns I used felt powerful even at close range and the movement felt clunky compared to AW and I couldn't really get into it. I'm probably still going to love the game, but so far I doubt Advanced Warfare is going to be uninstalled any time soon...

[PlayStation Vita Game Review] Xeodrifter

XEODRIFTER
Platform: PlayStation Vita
Released: September 2015
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sidescroller
Developer/Publisher: Renegade Kid

Since Nintendo seems to have no interest in making good Metroid games anymore, it seems indie game devs have taken the torch and a lot of Metroid-influenced games have entered the market. Xeodrifter is one of them and since it was free on PS Plus for my Vita, I gave it a download. I'm not sure how different this version is from the PC, PS4 or 3DS versions, but you might as well treat this as a general review of the game as nothing about the PS Vita versions felt like it took particular advantage of the Vita's gimmicks. Is it worth picking up, or is this a game that should just be left drifting? Let's find out.

Xeodrifter is about a spaceman who ends up stranded in a small system when he accidentally bumps into a rogue asteroid. Scanning the nearby planets for resources, he finds some good energy signatures. However it turns out the simple plan to get a new warp core turns into a huge ordeal where he has to explore all four planets around him in order to find what he's looking for.

Not sure if it's meant to be lava, or boiling hot KoolAid...

Xeodrifter immediately should feel familiar to anyone who's played Metroid. The formula is pretty much intact, and the game obviously takes most of its inspiration from Nintendo's classic franchise. You know the drill by now. Find upgrades so you can uncover more of the map. You get upgrades by killing bosses. And you kill bosses by upgrading. However the system in Xeodrifter is a little unique. In addition to health upgrades that increase the number of hits you can take, you also have gun upgrades. Now, these upgrades DON'T act like you would expect in a Metroid game. Instead of each gun upgrade being something specific, it instead adds a gun point in your menu that you can spend in several categories, each category impacting how your gun behaves. You can have up to 3 different customizations and this gives you a lot of freedom to create different gun customizations for different situations. For instance, you can have one customization with maximum power for bigger more armoured foes, and one customization focused on fire rate for large hordes of smaller weaker enemies. It's a nice system that gives the game a very nice feel to it where you are in complete control of your power. The upgrades you get from killing the bosses mostly affect your exploration abilitiy. Areas that are previously locked off become available as they rely on you using your new abilites to reach them. For instance, while the areas in the background might seem off limits at first and nothing but cool little backgrounds to add more detail to the game's visuals, once you gain an ability you can literally phase into the background and use it as a secondary playing field. It's a cool mechanic that seems obviously inspired by oldschool platformers that tried playing the 3D gimmick, but adds some extra depth to the gameplay in a literal sense.

All modern space ships are of course outfitted with a save station, teleporter and map screen. No bed though.

Now, that's kind of where the positives about the game end for me. Aside from the graphics which are really good for an 8bit retro game and the music which is perfectly decent, the game falls short in a lot of areas. Despite having 4 planets to explore, they all feel... small. Tiny even. The maps don't feel that big and instead of feeling like you are exploring different planets they might as well be parts of one planet like in Metroid. Each planet has its own unique theme to it, but due to the small size of each planet's map, it ends up feeling a bit unnecessary to have them being 4 planets. I simply wish there was more to explore and not to mention a bit more variety as a lot of the same enemies appear on all of the planets without any indication why they would if they belonged to one planet's ecosystem. For instance, a giant eye-block (for the lack of a better term) on one planet looked like it belonged on that planet because its design seemed to fit the planet's design theme. However I ran into the same enemy on an entirely different planet where it felt entirely out of place. Not to mention, the game is VERY short and you can easily finish it in a couple days if you are good enough. There's a bit of a difficulty to the game but it feels cheap because it relies entirely on how much health and gun powerups you have. If you get killed it's easily because you aren't strong enough and by the end of the game you can pretty much rape everything and take all the hits in the world if you have found enough powerups.

"Imma firin' mah eyelazor!"

Another part where the game feels very lazy and cheap are the bosses themselves. Now, instead of having different bosses that fit the different planets and their themes, they have instead opted to reuse the same boss. Over and over. The only difference is that each iteration is a little bit tricker and involves a new pattern, as well as a simple color swap, but the bosses are essentially the same each time. It ends up feeling extremely monotonous and once you learn the boss' pattern, ALL of them become ridicilously easy. There's simply no challenge in them and they feel repetitive. The final boss does have one cool trick up his sleeve that I won't spoil, but otherwise, I really wish the game had more boss variety. Fighting the same boss over and over with some new patterns is just boring and tedious and doesn't feel interesting. It also feels a bit like untapped potential as the planets felt very thought out in their different designs, however putting the same boss on all planets made NO sense to me.

Controlling the spaceman also feels like it could've been improved. Not only is he WAY too tiny compared to his environment (he basically looks like Samus if she was the size she is when morph balling), which makes calculating his position hard on smaller screens (this game was obviously developed originally with PC in mind...), but his controls feel very slippery and takes a while to get used to. Even hours after playing this game it's still very easy for me to screw up simply because the controls don't feel as tight as they should be.

That'll teach you to spit fireballs on unsuspecting spacemen!

SUMMARY

STORY: 5/10
Not really important to the gameplay and nothing memorable. It's just there pretty much.

GAMEPLAY: 4/10
Offering some cool gimmicks like the gun customization and phasing between background and foreground, but does little to expand on its formula or take full advantage of its level design and concepts. Repetitious boss battles and very cheap difficulty as well as slippery controls makes it hard to recommend repeated playthroughs of the game for anything but speedruns and to get a 100% rating.

GRAPHICS: 8/10
The different planets have very cool designs to them and the graphics are generally very well done. The size of the hero is a bit too small for my taste though and I would've preferred a larger sprite for him.

SOUND: 8/10
While the music isn't outstanding and a lot of the sound effects are re-used over and over, it's servicable. A minor complaint is that the sound feels a little inconsistent. The sound effects sound like 16bit quality but the music is pure NES chiptunes which creates a bit of dissonance in my head. And the end theme is definitely not 8bit by any stretch. A bit more theming and consistency to the sound would've added a lot I feel. The music is alright, but nothing too memorable in my opinion.

FINAL SCORE: 6/10
All in all, Xeodrifter isn't a bad game. But it feels like it could've used more testing, more variation, and simply more of everything. Conceptually I like the idea of exploring different planets, but it doesn't feel like they explored the concept enough and instead stuck to some lazy shortcuts. It doesn't feel fleshed out enough. Compared to something like Metroid which the game obviously takes inspiration from, this doesn't feel like a worthy tribute. It has good ideas, but ultimately falls a bit short on all of them. It's probably worth the cheap price or getting it for free right now on PS Plus, but don't expect much for the money.

- Alyxx