My favourite games of 2018.

By Sam Coles:

2018 has been a hell of year when it comes to video games with some excellent releases; we had long awaited sequels to the more surprising. I just want to cover my top games of this year, now remember this is my opinion if there is a game that is not on here it is either because I didn’t play it or I didn’t enjoy it so don’t get your panties in a twist. These are in no particular order I just want to talk about my favourite games of this year and I don’t want to put them in a numeric order.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Now you are probably going to say “Sam you do realise that this game came out in 2017”. Which I would say yes, on PS4 but I’m judging this by its 2018 release on the Xbox One as this is the first time that I’d played the game.

It’s not often that a game really gets to me on an emotional level, but Hellblade is a very disturbing game with its depiction of Psychosis. It’s not often that mental health is shown in video games, but Hellblade utilises the Norse mythology setting to their advantage, where we see Senua being taunted by the voices that constantly whisper in her head.  It’s a prime example of narrative design in video games, with the fantastic performance Melina Juergens, she really nails the twitches and genuinely creep me out as she starred longingly into the camera. If you haven’t pick this game up I can’t recommend it enough, plus it got a physical release.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

In 2017 I got the chance to review Yakuza 0 and Kiwami a month before their public release, and I was instantly in love with the series. To say I was excited for Yakuza 6 would be an understatement as I was anticipating Kazma Kiryu’s last adventure.

What I like about the story in Yakuza 6 is that we’re seeing an aging Kiryu who is trying to live a normal life with his adopted daughter. However it’s not easy for Haruka, as the public have found out that her Father Kiryu is a former Yakuza thug and it tarnishes her reputation and she runs off from the orphanage she runs. Kiryu comes back to Okinawa after serving three years in prision and finds out she has disappeared where he ends up back on the seedy streets of Kamurocho, and he finds out she has been involved in a hit and run which links back to the Chinese mafia. So he does what he does best by asking questions with the heel of shoes, as he explodes nose cartilage.

Gameplay was changed and simplified in this game, but that is not necessarily a bad thing as combat has weight to it and I really feel it when I cave in a thug’s skull in with a bicycle. The only down side of the gameplay we went from a smooth 60 frames per second to 30 fps, but it’s understandable given the amount of detail and this was the first game in the series to be exclusively released on the PS4 as 0 and Kiwami were also on the PS3.

Forza Horizon 4

Now I can hear your monocles pop off with shock as you say “A racing game being a favourite game of Sam’s”? Well to tell you the truth reader, it was nice to play a game where I wasn’t making someone’s jaw bone fly off in eight directions with a 12 gauge where I can flaw it and speed through the countryside at 200 mph.

Forza Horizon 4 was a real surprise for me because to be honest on the surface it looked to be yet another open world racer, but this game with its setting, visuals and tight controls was a joy to play. The setting of my homeland of the UK was a unique setting, because to be honest it’s not often to see a video game set in Britain unless it’s within a historically setting.

Controls and visuals are top notch, it feels great to take a super car and flaw it through the beautifully rendered countryside of a condensed version of the north of England. It is always a joy to drift around corners, coupled with the excellent audio design as you hear your tyres screaming as the engine under the hood roars like a lion.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy

My stance on remasters is generally pretty bleak, but this game was more of a remake and I think publishers and gamers in general need to know the difference. What we got here is a beautiful reimagining of the first three games that were released 20 years ago.

Booting up the first game made feel five years old again, with its stunning graphics that look like a Pixar film where Spyro is expressive and animated beautifully. Controls are a big improvement where Spyro no longer controls like a tank, he has been tweaked in the speed department too he is much faster in these remakes especially when he charges. This is a wonderful remake of the first three games and gave me a childlike wonder again something I have not had in years, If you haven’t pick it up for your Xbox One or PS4.

Red Dead Redemption II

It has been a long time waiting for this game as I adore the original Red Dead Redemption; the original game is very emotional to me as it got me through a rough patch when I was studying my A-levels. When I was low during the summer of 2010 I would boot up Red Dead Redemption, where I would experience John Marston’s endeavours.

Red Dead Redemption II lives up to my expectations, and surpasses the original with a superbly written narrative with excellent performances from everyone in the cast. The open world is absolutely wonderful with varied landscapes, with frost covered mountains to the damp and humid swamps. Arthur Morgan is one of the best video game protagonist, he is a level headed individual he knows what he is doing is wrong but he doesn’t know any other way of life, where does end up doubting if it is worth it anymore.

The environments are so beautiful that I have had a blast taking screenshots for my Instagram; it is the definition of video games as an art form. This is easily the best game of the year and dare I say it one of the best games of all times, I can’t believe that this game is real and it makes me happy to be alive as a gamer.  

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Review - A birth of a beautiful friendship

By Sam Coles:

It’s hard to believe it was five years ago when I bought a PlayStation 3 and experienced the Uncharted series for the first with the third instalment, yes the third game may have been an odd choice to start with but I fell in love nonetheless. I was captivated by the characters and how light hearted it was, however it knew when to switch out the happy mask to the sad one. When Uncharted 4 was first announced I was a bit hesitant, as it look to be taking a more serious tone and that is somewhat the case with the final release due to it being under the director of The Last of Us. However it still had its fun moments, but overall has a very serious tone compared to the first three games. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy on the otheer hand goes back to what made Uncharted special, where it is a fun swash buckling adventure with wise cracking one liners with the beautiful and lustful Chloe Frazer.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy takes place after the events of the fourth game, we step into the tight jeans of Chloe Frazer who has teamed up with former shoreline mercenary Nadine Ross. They are on the hunt for the Golden Tusk of Ganesh, so Nadine can buy back her private military company… well initially. Unfortunately they find themselves in competition with the local warlord, where he is wreaking havoc across the region, and wants the relic to buy a bomb to destabilise the region more. He is not a deep villain he is a classic moustache twirling villain, which is fine as this game does not take itself seriously with a few scenes that are an exception.  What stands out in this story is the chemistry between Chloe and Nadine, they start off resenting each other, but as the story moves forward they grow closer as friends and it is truly beautiful to witness.

How is the gameplay? Well I might as well copy and paste the gameplay segment of my Uncharted 4 review from 2016 as it is fundamentally the same, where you climb, shoot, swing from ropes and dodge roll. But there is one new feature that crops up in the first few hours of the game, where the adventure gives you more of a choice of how to tackle your current task, think of it as a mini open world. However this is used and never looked at again, but to be honest this is just a standalone expansion I wasn’t expecting The Witcher 3: Uncharted Edition (Naughty Dog call me), but it seems rather one note as the game goes back to the scripted sequences we are used to with the series.

Visually the game looks great, what can I say that I haven’t already when it comes to a Naughty Dog game. The facial animations are nothings short of amazing with believable expressions, coupled with the beautiful motion capped movements from the actors. The environments are breath taking, with the lush jungles and huge expansive spaces that I took a lot of screenshots for my social media that’s how beautiful the game is.

The only issue I have stems from all Uncharted games, where the main character will not climb up to the platform I’m aiming at, or they jump up and down like they have incontinence problems. It does get very irritating especially when you are being chased or when you are being shot at on the side of cliff, where Chloe can take as many hits as an asthmatic bong user.  

Overall Uncharted: The Lost Legacy was an enjoyable game and is a return to form with the more light hearted tone compared to 4. The story is fantastic with the beautiful chemistry between Chloe and Nadine, where you genuine care about them as the story progresses and to see a friendship blossom between the two is truly special. The game is cheap these days, I picked it up second hand for £10 and it’s worth the 6 to 7 hours it will take to finish.

Editorial | Battlefield V: The Last Tiger.

By Sam Coles:

Battlefield V has had a tough time recently, due to its announcement earlier this year as well as releasing in an unfinished state with EA’s “Live Services” strategy. There was one piece locked behind this and that was The Last Tiger campaign in the war stories. When I heard about this when they were talking about it in press conferences I thought, What? They are making a German war story during the Second World War? That is bold. Honestly it is an engaging story, but it is rather weird with certain aspects I will go into that make it standout and not in a good way.

You play as a tank commander named Peter Muller, where he is in the Rhineland during the closing stages of the war where they are trying to push American forces back. You are accompanied by three other soldiers; you have Kertz the tank driver who is indifferent about the conflict, Schröder a devoted Nazi fanatic who follows everything by the book and finally Hartmann a rookie soldier who is frightened.

You get a range of feelings from each of the characters with Peter being the veteran within the German military who followers orders but is ultimately human and sees the errors of his ways by the end of the war story. Kertz is there because he has to be and he doesn’t really care about who wins or loses the war, he is there to drive to the tank. Schröder is devoted to the cause and will shoot anyone who dares to desert the battle, where Peter has to tell to calm down at certain points of the story. Hartmann is like any other young man during the Second World War German or not, he is frightened and wonders why he is there.

As engaging the story is we get into a factor that makes the story feel weird, and that is the fact the game does not reference Nazi Germany or Adolf Hitler at all. You can put a smoke screen over it as much as you want, but you know damn well they are fighting on behalf of the Nazi party especially when it comes to the character of Schröder who is the embodiment of a Nazi fanatic. It just feels very odd to play a World War II game with no reference to the Nazi party, whether it is the Swastika not being present which it is not in any of the war stories, to the fact they don’t reference the Third Reich.

Now I know why they did this, it is because they wanted to show that the Germans were following orders as they had to like other countries around the world. However I think sugar coating Nazi references makes the impact of the story stagger, if they didn’t hold back I think the story could have more of an emotional and shocking impact. I say this because half way through the story Peter starts to doubt what they are doing, it’s scene when he is driving through the streets and he sees soldiers that have been hung for fleeing where he comes across Hartmann who has been given the same fate. This is a powerful moment as he starts to have second thoughts about the war efforts, and tells Schröder to shut up as he calls him a traitor.

The ending is just as powerful as Peter and his crew are surrounded by American soldiers, where the tank driver Kertz starts to doubt everything as says they lied to us and starts to realise what he has done during the war. Again who they are is left up to the viewer, which again is rather jarring due to the lack of Nazi reference in the story. He leaves and is shot in the back by Schröder because he sees him as traitor as he is fleeing the battlefield, which Peter is mortified as it is his old friend. After seeing that he is surrounded Peter gives up and realises what he has done is not moral, and surrenders where is then gunned down by Schröder as he sees him as a traitor of the fatherland.

The Last Tiger is a bizarre story, because I know they want to portray the German side of the war from the eyes of the soldiers, but the sugar coating of the Nazi party makes it jarring. If they were to keep that in the game I think the story would have more of an impact, I understand that what the Nazi’s did was horrible in war, but that would make the story all the more impactful and show the audience to never forget past atrocities.

Editorial | Exploring the world of Red Dead Redemption II.

By Sam Coles:

Red Dead Redemption II has to be one of my favourite games of this generation; it was a long and staggering wait for me as I had been anticipating a sequel ever since I finished the last game in the summer of 2010. There is something about the open world in this game that stands out from others in the genre, I want to go into it and talk about why it is special. Let’s go on a journey as we explore the world of Red Dead Redemption II.

The problem I have with most open world games is that they don’t feel like a living breathing world, where you are dumped in this visually stunning looking environment where it then reveals its two dimensional nature where you have a check list that you obliterate. Rockstar somehow makes the world interesting to explore, and it doesn’t matter that map is huge I never found myself using fast travel at all because the world is that interesting where anything can happen.

Once the game has finished its prologue the world is more or less yours to explore, this is what I like about Rockstar open worlds since GTA V they no longer restrict you from exploring all of its world from the word go. Things open gradually and organically, there are never any objective markers above an NPC, they will shout to you if you need your help. In Ubisoft open worlds they get this wrong on every level, as it seems they want to constantly remind you that you are playing a video game with their tooltips and constant reminders of events like they are a nagging spouse.

The game’s activities are delivered to you in an organic manner; you don’t see flashing icons in front of you. Say you want to hunt down a bounty all you have to do is find a wanted poster and talk to the sheriff, it makes exploring the world believable and dare I say it “realistic”. It’s something that kept me exploring the world, even the random events are fleshed out more due to the unique scenarios. These can be events such as people trying to blow open a safe on the side of the road, needing a lift to town or stopping a robbery. What makes this great is that you can react how you want to, you can help people or you can pull out a sawn-off shotgun and full their face in with buckshot.

It is the design of the world which encourages players to go off the beaten path and see what they can find, which there is a lot you can find. Whether it is abandoned camps where you piece together what happened or hermits that have decided to live outside of society and reject cultural norms.

What helps with the exploration of Red Dead’s open world is the HUD, or should I say lack thereof. There is a HUD but ever since Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto IV they have gone for a minimalistic look, where they only really display a map and your ammunition as they want you to see the landscapes. What I loved doing is turning off the HUD entirely, as you can really appreciate all the effort that Rockstar have put into crafting this beautifully realised world from frost laden mountains with snow creasing as you walkthrough, to damp and humid swamps with crickets chirping in the darkness.

Red Dead Redemption II is an open world experience that has me captivated with its beauty, it’s been a long time that I felt genuine love for a video game’s world, last time I felt this wonder was when I played Oblivion for the first time. Rockstar have truly created something special, where I want eat, sleep and live in for years to come.

Luigi's Mansion 3DS Review - A GameCube classic in the palm of your hand.

By Sam Coles:

In 2001 Nintendo released the GameCube; a console while good struggled to find a market with gamers. 

For one it probably didn’t help that it used tiny discs which could barely hold 1gb of space, compare to the PS2 and Xbox’s DVD format that could hold over 7gb. However the console housed a lot of great and unique games, Luigi’s Mansion was one of those games. Luigi’s Mansion was met with hostility initially due to it not being a traditional Mario game; however it was a fun and silly spooky horror game although it was not scary and was more like a child version of Resident Evil. 17 years later Nintendo have remastered it for a portable console, and it is mind boggling how I can play a console game in the palm of my hands. How does it hold up? Fine although it does have some control issues, let’s get into it.

You step into the shoes of the green clothed titular plumber, but this time Luigi is not saving the princess with his brother Mario, instead he has won a mansion in the lottery. However this turns out to be a ruse, where Luigi goes to meet Mario but it turns out that he has been kidnapped by King Boo who is well…. King of the Boos. The mansion is flooded with all manners of super natural entities, and Luigi must deal with them with the Poltergust 3000, which is a vacuum cleaner. The game’s story is great it does not take itself seriously, plus Luigi’s cowardly personality really stands out in this game as he hums nervously down the dimly lit corridors.  

Gameplay consists of exploring, light puzzle solving and combat, you explore the mansion looking for keys, money and objects of interest that will lead you to find Mario. The puzzles are not anything too taxing on the brain; it merely comes down to using the correct elemental medallion on certain enemies or doing certain things in a specific order. You have to bear in mind that this game is aimed at children first and foremost, so the puzzles are not going to be enigma code levels of complexity.

Combat is where things start to feel a bit clunky and this is due to me playing this game on an original 3DS from 2011. Luigi’s Mansion on the GameCube relied on a dual analogue stick control scheme, the original 3DS lacks a second stick but it does try different schemes to help improve the situation such as gyroscopic movement. This however was a real pain in the backside because I would find Luigi staring at the ceiling, because I would readjust to get comfortable and my 3DS would register that as movement. I found myself getting very frustrated in some combat scenarios, especially when I was ambushed by ghosts from either side as I could not swing around with ease due to the lack of a second analogue stick. I would recommend playing it on a New 3DS as that has a second stick.

The game has been given a new coat of paint when it comes to graphical fidelity, with Luigi’s character model looking cleaner and smoother instead of the blurry look of the GameCube original. However there are some graphical features missing in this version of the game, there are certain smoke and fog effects not present I expect this is to keep it at a stable framerate. This doesn’t overshadow the experience, as you will only notice it if you own the original game like myself.

Overall it was fun to revisit this classic in a portable environment, if you told me 17 years ago if you could play a game like Luigi’s Mansion on the go I would have laughed. It is astonishing what type of games we can play in the palm of our hands these days. Luigi’s Mansion is still a charming and fun adventure; despite some of the control issues which I got use to eventually it is a very enjoyable game.