Assassin's Creed IV Blag Flag Review - Ahoy mateys!

By Sam Coles:

Assassin’s Creed these days has the credibility of stale bread due to the lack of innovation and the disastrous launch of Unity, but here is a game where they flexed their creative muscles after the bore fest that was Assassin’s Creed III so they went screw it! Let’s make a pirate game where you’re not even an Assassin’s for most of the game.

So in Assassin’s Creed IV you take control of Edward Kenway who is a Welsh pirate who happens to seek what the Assassin’s and Templars are seeking not because of destiny, but because he is a bastard who wants to make money. That’s what I like about this game is the fact that you’re not an Assassin for most of the game you’re just a pirate out to make money and flip the finger at the King’s Navy and it’s brilliant. It’s a good Pirate’s of the Caribbean game! So you’ll be sailing through the West Indies getting into naval skirmishes, getting into drunken fist fights, raiding plantations and part taking in breath taking sword fights.

The gameplay takes the good parts of Assassin’s Creed III with the naval combat but they’ve made it the main focus of the game so you’ll be getting into battles with the Spanish and British navy and plundering their goods to help upgrade your ship such as armour and weapons.

The sword fighting is fast and fluid and I think that helps the fact that you can carry two swords and four flintlock pistols on you, so you can set a rhythm to the fights so if there are enemies that are far away you can cap them and then get back into the sword fighting with no delay. It does feel that you need to be aggressive by actually fighting instead of just standing there like a twat waiting for them to take turns to hit you before you stab them up and their ears pop off like champagne corks.

As you sail the West Indies you’ll find loot and people in the ocean that you can save to be part of your crew and bolster your supplies such as rum or new materials to help you craft new holsters and other parts to help upgrade your ship the Jackdaw. You can also steal supplies from other ships where it has you engage in thrilling naval battles to weaken their defences where you then board them and get your swords dirty.

Visually this game looks beautiful from the subtle touches with the serine emerald see to the smoke settling from the cannons after you’ve unleashed a barrage for death and pain. The character models do look a bit strange, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt because it was a cross gen game and the start of the 8^th generation of consoles, so it’s excusable.

Overall this game is the best Assassin’s Creed in the series and I’m glad that I downloaded it when it was free on Xbox Live with the games with gold program. Although it’s no longer free on the Xbox Live you can pick up for a really cheap price on all platforms which can range from £10-£15 so grab it and set sail.  

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Supremacy DLC Review (PS4) - "This is my Boomstick"

By Sam Coles:

 

So Sledgehammer games finally release their third piece of DLC for Call of Duty Advanced Warfare for PS4 which continues the Exo Zombie mode and gives you 4 new maps to play around in multiplayer which seem revolve around governmental building as well as a remake of the Modern Warfare 2 map Highrise.

The new map Carrier adds a new character to the mix who is played by none other than Bruce Campbell who brings his fantastic B-movie cheese to the Zombie mode. It is what the mode needed because up to until this point the mode was somewhat serious and Bruce mixed with the over the top violence is a perfect match.

Here are the 4 maps that you’ll get with the multiplayer:

 

Kremlin:

 

 

This map takes place in the parliament of Russia also known as the Kremlin so you’ll be battling through the halls of this governmental building which is a mix of close quarters and medium range fights as there is an outside bridge where there are mounted Miniguns in windows either side of the bridge. It can get very dicey in game modes such as Hardpoint as you can have people at either end on the miniguns laying down covering fire on the area.

 

Parliament:

 

 

This is a close quarter’s map set on a boat in the river Thames just by the Houses of Parliament so recommended loadout would be SMG’s and Shotguns to get the best out of this map, but do watch out there are a lot of out of the way places where snipers can get set up and aren’t that noticeable sometimes.

 

Skyrise:

 

Skyrise if the title didn’t give it away or if you have not been a Call of Duty player in the past 7 years is a reimagining of the map Highrise from Modern Warfare 2 which with the added boost jumps makes the map more interesting because you can reach parts of the map that you couldn’t before, so you can get great vantage points. This a medium to long range map so keep an assault rifle or sniper handy to deal with resistance.

 

Compound:

Compound is a very close quarters map which apparently if you use spectator mode it looks very similar to the map Rust from Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, but has been remade into an Atlas training facility. The main problem I have with this map is in the game mode Uplink that the game doesn’t go anywhere most of the time because the ball gets stuck in the middle because people just camp and gun everybody down so you can’t move the ball at all most of the time.

 

Overall the inclusion of Bruce Campbell and his funny quips make this DLC and gives the zombies mode a light hearted to touch.

Wolfenstein The New Order- One Year Later.

 

By Sam Coles:

So if you’re an avid reader of my blog you will know that I love Wolfenstein The New Order, one year later I’ve come back to game since I’ve played The Old Blood and of course I upgraded to the PS4 version which was nice. I just wanted to give my opinion on it after a year of its release and if it stills holds up, in short yes but let’s get into it shall we.

Wolfenstein before this game was on the edge that the fact that no one really talked about it and no one wanted to really play a game in the series, so the series went on hiatus for a few years. Then a third party developer took up the I.P and created a great game which would not have regenerating health and no multiplayer. The thing about Wolfenstein The New Order that gamers and critics loved was the fact there was a human touch added to the series that all the characters felt worn down by the situation and don’t want to fight anymore, even down to B.J questioning what he is doing by killing all these Nazis. The villains are brilliant who instantly hateable and not just the fact that they are Nazis which yes is a big part, but also their characters are well written.

 

 

Let’s talk about the gameplay; has it aged well in a year? Of course it has it’s fast paced and over the top with its hardcore violence where enemies heads pop like cherries and that you can duel weld weapons that you wouldn’t be able to in real life. You have a vast array of weapons from your standard pistol, shotgun, machine and stuff and then you have the sci-fi weapons such as the laser that will make your enemies explode if you do a well-placed headshot. As I said this game has no multiplayer and the thing is it doesn’t need a multiplayer mode as it has a long campaign that will keep you invested with the characters and story.

Overall the game still holds after a year and will hold up as one of the best games of the 8^th generation in my opinion and you can pick up this game and the stand alone expansion The Old Blood for £30 together these days so go and get it if you haven’t played it.

Wolfenstein The Old Blood Review - Loud, Dumb and Fun.

By Sam Coles:

If you are an avid reader of my blog you'll know that Wolfenstein The New Order was one of my favourite games of 2014 with it's human touch to the series and some good old fashioned shooter gameplay with no regenerating health coupled with the ridiculous over top shooter gameplay from the nineties. So here comes the stand alone expansion The Old Blood.

Once again you step into the big shoes of B.J trying to fight the Nazi empire, story is set in two parts, the first part is set in Castle Wolfenstein where you're trying to infiltrate the fortress to find out where Deathshead's compound is, the second part is set in a digging site where the Nazi's are trying to make an undead army so yes you get the clichéd Nazi Zombies. So yes the story this time round is more light hearted and well... stupid, but that is what the charm is because it goes back to the routes of the series where it's over the top, loud and dumb.

Gameplay and visual wise it's exactly the same as The New Order where you can pretty much duel weld any weapon you want to and it never gets boring gunning down Nazi's with duel automatic shotguns.

They've sprinkled in a couple of brand new weapons such as a bolt action rifle that is way over powered because it can take down most enemies in one shot and you have a pistol that is a very portable grenade launcher which is awesome to explode Nazi's into a viscerally satisfying fashion. You also get a new melee weapon in the form of the pipe where takedown enemies silently in a very up close and brutal fashion and it can be used to climb certain walls as well.

The only nit pick I really have with this game and I had the same issue with The New Order is that you have to press square (I played it on PS4) to pick up ammo, health and new weapons and it really kills the pace in some gun fights because you're walking round like an idiot looking at the floor looking for ammo. I hope they fix this in the sequel of Wolfenstein.

Overall The Old Blood is a great short expansion, yes short but you're only paying £14.99 for it which is a bargain for what you get, it's loud, dumb and fun. I would highly recommend getting it if you want more Wolfenstein.