Editorial | My favourite games of the decade (2010s).

By Sam Coles:

Another decade has gone straight into the void of existence known as time, so it’s time to do an obligatory list of my favourite games of the decade. What a decade it has been for games, with the old guard of the Xbox 360 and PS3 standing down to let a new generation take the reins in the form of the Xbox One and PS4, with a wealth of titles. Now remember these are my person picks, so don’t get your knickers in a twist if a game you like doesn’t show up.

2010: Red Dead Redemption

2010 saw the excellent western open world game with Red Dead Redemption, a game I remember being

announced in 2009 and me being a dismissive teenager just thought it was Grand Theft Auto in the Wild

West. While it does share elements from its automobile stealing simulator comrade, it has its own identity, with a beautiful open world to explore, coupled with ambient music and well written characters. Red Dead Redemption was a turning point for Rockstar Games as they started to grow up, where they could tell mature stories without having to resort to over the top graphic violence which is still there but not use as much to shock the audience.

2011: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Now these days Skyrim is generally used as a punchline at the expense of Bethesda, mostly stemming from the countless re-releases. However there is a reason why it has been ported hundreds of times from consoles to Amazon’s Alexa (yes really), because it is an amazing experience. This game truly embodies exploration; as soon as you finish the first storyline quest you can do a complete 180 and go in the other direction. Skyrim is the true definition of freedom when it comes to exploration in the open world genre, I often boot the game to just explore with particular goal in mind and to this day I always find something new.

2012: Max Payne 3

Should have prefaced this but this list may have a few Rockstar produced titles and for good reason, Max Payne 3 shows that Rockstar can go toe to toe with the likes of Naughty Dog with an excellent linear action adventure. This game had a troubled development cycle where every Rockstar studio around the world ended up working on the game, and the game we got is amazing. This game tells a story of Max at his lowest, his alcohol and drug addled mind makes him reckless where he ends up working private security in South America. The story takes some dark twists with a high level of emotional impact, not only that the gameplay is incredible with slow motion gunfights looking their best with Rockstar’s RAGE engine. If you haven’t played this game it is insanely cheap these days on 360 and PS3.

2013: Grand Theft Auto V

Oh look Rockstar Games are back again, probably one of the most anticipated games outside of Skyrim Grand Theft Auto V rewrote the play book of open world design. Instead of doing the standard island by island structure, they instead let you explore the entirety of world from the word go. They shook things up by letting you play as three protagonists which you could switch on the fly; this could lead to some comedic timing I’m looking at you Trevor. The world of Los Santos and the outskirts of San Andreas were truly beautiful to explore, with the crimson skies of sunsets and just the vibrant colours in general. This was truly a beautiful send off for the Xbox 360 and PS3, which it still astounds me that this game was running on the outdated hardware.

2014: Wolfenstein: The New Order

Wolfenstein: The New Order was a game that surprised a lot of people myself included, at first it looked like a generic first person shooter. However when the game came out my god it was a masterpiece of storytelling and first person action! The game takes place in an alternate reality in the 1960s where the Nazis win World War II, where we see the square jawed hero B.J Blazkowicz taking them down. What won the hearts of gamers was the story, Machine Games somehow made what was a gurning face at the bottom of the screen into a sympathetic and tired person. B.J constantly questions his actions throughout and wonders if it is worth fighting, but he carries on despite his trepidation. The gameplay was no slouch either, it never gets old running down a corridor with duel automatic shotguns as you see arms fly off and heads pop like watermelons. If you haven’t give this game a go!

2015: The Witcher 3

Okay you saw this one coming didn’t you, if you know me personally or on Twitter you will know that I’m a huge fan of The Witcher, I love the books and the games. Back in 2012 I played The Witcher 2 and read The Last Wish where I instantly fell in love with this world, when The Witcher 3 was announced in 2013 that was the main reason I wanted a PS4 or Xbox One. When it finally came out in 2015 it did not disappoint, the transition to a full open world was beautiful the locations from the books were fully realised. The writing was sharp and there were moments that got me emotionally, the characters are well written where you will grow to hate and love them. The post-game support was also great they provided free updates, not only that they gave us the best expansions I have seen in years with Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. The Witcher 3 is a triumph for role playing games, with great characters, combat and a story that will have you hooked from start to finish.

2016: Doom

Oh my lord what can I say about Doon that hasn’t been said, but I will as it is a fantastic resurgence of the old school shooter. This game was stuck in development hell since 2008 and played more like a Call of Duty game initially, however id Software scrapped it and went back to what made Doom…. Well Doom. What we got in 2016 was intense action filled with blood, gore and guns that make you hip thrust with every pull of the trigger. Not only that a soundtrack composed by the godly hands of Mick Gordon, a mix of electronica and heavy metal. The gameplay was fast and frantic, where Doom takes a look at cover and laughs and then proceeds to run at 60 miles per hour. I played it on Ultra Violence (hard), which is the gentlemen’s way of playing Doom as it offered the right amount of fun and challenge.

2017: Yakuza 0

Talk about falling in love with a new series, the Yakuza series was always something that I tried to play but never got into when I foolishly bought Yakuza 4 back in 2015. However when Sega approached me in early 2017 and said to me “Sam this game is not out for a month, do you want to play Yakuza 0 early and review it”? I graciously accepted and fell in love with it! The stories are what forms the series with dark crime drama’s set within Japan, but it also doesn’t take itself too seriously. The gameplay makes you smile with glee as you split someone’s nose open with the heel of your shoe, where you can use anything as a weapon as long as it is not nailed to the floor. It’s a great a way to start the series if you want to get into it.

2018: Red Dead Redemption II

Talk about waiting forever for a sequel to one of my most beloved games, when I first finished Red Dead Redemption back in 2010 I thought can’t wait to play the sequel. I wasn’t expecting to wait 8 years for it and to go from being 17 years old to my mid-20s, don’t worry about me Rockstar I’m just here aging, but I digress. Red Dead Redemption II is a master class of storytelling, and Rockstar once again rewriting the playbook of how open world games are made. The characters are all fleshed out where I grew to love Arthur Morgan, which his struggles become heart breaking by the end of the game. The open world is a joy to explore; it doesn’t feel like a video game as it organically opens up to you as your curiosity gets the better of you. Gameplay is rather contentious with most people, but honestly I feel that the combat is meaty where you see arms fly off, eyes pop out and heads explode. Truly a masterpiece of storytelling and one of Rockstar’s best.

2019: Devil May Cry 5

A genre that one would think that wouldn’t work in today’s triple A space, but Capcom said “Hold my beer” and retuned the demon slayer Dante back to his routes. Utilising the RE Engine which was first used in Resident Evil 7, DMC V is a technical marvel with realistic facial animations and blood effects that shower the characters in meaty giblets. The gameplay is fast and skilful requiring timing and finesse from players, coupled with an entertaining story that does not take itself seriously at all where I found myself laughing at it. Capcom this generation have slowly climbed back into the good books of players, they are the Capcom I fell in love with from the late 90s to the mid-2000s.

Those were my favourite games from the decade, what are your favourite games from the 2010s?  

Editorial | Christmas gaming memories: Spyro the Dragon.

By Sam Coles:

Christmas is a special time especially when you are a child, but as the years go by the less extravagant presents get. However when you are child nine times out of ten you will probably get a video game related gift, for me that was the original PlayStation and Spyro the Dragon.

So picture this it is the late 1990s and my Mum and Dad bought a PlayStation to share between me and three other brothers, the game that hooked me first was Spyro the Dragon. Me being five years old at the time I was immediately enthralled with the game, the world, gameplay and soundtrack had me giddy like a trotting horse. It’s a moment that is cemented in my history within gaming; you don’t get those moments often and is something that one must cherish.

Spyro the Dragon is a game that is still in my life now and when Activision announced that they were remaking them in back in 2018, my inner child erupted with excitement. Now you would probably think that Spyro wasn’t that ground breaking, and yes you would be correct as it capitalised on current trends on platformers such as Mario 64. However it’s the setting of the game that was more unique as it took on a more fantasy aesthetic, with fairies, castle to explore and of course treasure to plunder to add to your Dragon’s horde.

The first time I booted up Spyro the Dragon I just remember the track playing in the Artisans world hub, with the rolling green hills in front of me as I could hear the ominous drones of portals to other worlds. When I first stepped through a portal to take me to a different world, I was enraptured, from the calm and sunny day of Stone Hills to the sleepy twilight of the Dark Hollow. The different worlds help separate Spyro from its contemporaries, as they are all unique and standout instead of the standard forest, desert and Iceland areas. Not to say those sort of levels are not there, they are but the game adds its own flavour to the mix to stop it feeling stale like a loath of bread that has been left out on the side for a week.

Exploration in the first Spyro was something that it got right compared to other platformers, the game enticed you to explore with the subtle visual ques helping you on the way. You can hear the mischievous laugh of the egg thief, that’s when you know a Dragon egg is nearby to the twinkle of a distant gem to add to your horde of treasure. It’s these elements that had me intrigued as a child, as it all came together to make for a thrilling adventure which blossomed my love affair for video games for the next 21 years of my life.  

Not only that the basic combat of breathing fire and horn charging is immensely satisfying, you see bushes turn to ash and get a cartoonish noise when you charge into someone’s backside. I will always remember the first time when I managed to break a line of metal chests in one fell swoop with a charge, the audio and visual feedback is wonderful.  

Even the visuals to this day have this charm to them, now I know that is almost laughable to say these days but they are still very animated and have a decent amount of detail considering the limited hardware. Spyro’s facial expressions are greatly exaggerated alongside the other characters; they have this charm that I can still look at today. The different worlds look beautiful still, I think what helps make these areas age well are the good use of colour, there are no dull colours in this game everything pops and leaps out of the screen.

Spyro the Dragon will always be one of those games that will be forever linked to my childhood and Christmas, its beautiful world and gameplay are timeless. It’s a game that is legendary within the genre, so much so that when Activision released the remakes in 2018 I felt like a child again experiencing them for the first time.

Editorial | Dragon's Dogma: A forgotten gem you should play.

By Sam Coles:

Games can go two ways, they are successful and are talked about for years to come or they are quickly forgotten and left to the void. Dragon’s Dogma is one of those games that people don’t really talk about, now it does get brought up in certain conversations but after seven plus years after its release there has been no sequel and only a re-release of its debut game. Now I want to talk about why it is a great game (mostly) and why you should play it, just to preface this piece I would like to thank Capcom UK for supplying me an Xbox One code for the remaster of the game! Let’s get into it!

The story of Dragon’s Dogma is rather simple you are a peasant living on a coastal town, where things go wrong when a dragon attacks. However the dragon takes a specific interest in you where he rips your heart out, but due to strange events you survive the endeavour because you are an Arisen. You are tasked with taking this dragon down with the help of Pawns, who are at your command. The story is not anything spectacular as it just serves as basic context for the quest ahead, it’s the gameplay and world that stand out to me and I remember it enthralling me back in 2012 when it first release.

Now I can hear shout from the hills “Sam what is so special about the gameplay”? Well it takes elements form several different games, think of it as an experimental smoothie where they take bits from Dark Souls, Monster Hunter, Shadow of The Colossus, Devil May Cry and The Elder Scrolls to make this unique and fun fantasy adventure.

The gameplay was something that grabbed me immediately especially combat, unlike Skyrim which it was compared to straight away combat feels like you are doing something. The problem with combat in Elder Scrolls games it lacked finesse because all you did is wave your sword at something until it was dead, however in Dragon’s Dogma combat is fast and you have to time blocks coupled with being able to climb on bigger enemies. This is where the Shadow of the Colossus comparison comes in, you can climb on larger enemies and this gets really tense especially when you are on the back of a dragon it decides it’s bored of the fight and flies off with you clinging for dear life. Not only that the combat in general just feels great as it takes the fast and flashy approach from Devil May Cry, you can pick from the standard warrior, rogue and mage which the rogue is my favourite as you can flip around like Spider-Man.

Now let’s get into the Pawns, these act like your companions on your adventure but they are made by other players from around the world. You can choose various Pawns who will be different levels and vocations, but like any mercenary they cost money to hire which are rift points in this game. When you use them and want to swap them out you can rate them as well as give other players feedback, this is also the same for you as your Pawn will bring items back to you from different playthroughs which always seem to be rocks the thanks guys!

The game wasn’t perfect in fact it had a lot of issues with its initial launch back in 2012, for one the visual presentation was a bit of a mess not the graphics themselves which were okay, but the black bars on screen and the mess that was the UI. Fortunately in the remaster on PS4 and Xbox One the black bars are gone, which is great as you can witness the beauty of the world. The framerate in the original Xbox 360 and PS3 release would tank all the time, it was almost unplayable especially when explosions happen and just moments that involved fire. Other problems stem from the pawns, what I mean is that they never shut up it is the equivalent of a child constantly asking “are we there yet”? You can tell the Pawn you have created to shut up, but the other Pawns carrying on by stating the obvious such as “Fire is effective against them”, really fire against a fleshy mammal is effecting you don’t say!

Dragon’s Dogma is a game that has almost fallen into the void; it’s a game that no one really discusses these days. Outside of a remaster for the PS4 and Xbox One there has been no sign of a new instalment yet, it is pushing on 8 years since its original release and that saddens me. It is an utterly unique title borrowing elements from otheer games, while it forges its own identity. If you haven’t I highly recommend picking this game up, just get the remastered version as the 360 and PS3 versions are a bit of a mess.

Yakuza: Kiwami 2 Review - The best way to play Yakuza 2!

By Sam Coles:

Yakuza is a franchise that I have grown fond of over the years, with their engaging plots, characters that you grow to love and teeth shattering combat. My journey with The Dragon of Dojima has been a blast, and now I have returned to Kamurocho and Sotenbori with Yakuza Kiwami 2 which Sega were kind enough to supply me with a code. I want to talk about how this is one of the best remakes that I have played in recent years.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a remake of Yakuza 2 and takes place one year after the events of the first game, Kiryu is trying to live his life as a civilian. However he is dragged back into the criminal underworld as there is a dispute between the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance, which sees innocent people getting caught in the crossfire. Kiryu solves the issue the only way he knows how, by kicking everyone’s teeth, as he polishes his shoes with someone’s nose cartilage. The story once again is very engaging with superb performances from the entire cast; you can really feel their emotions and I found myself tearing up in certain scenes. The cutscenes are shot for shot from the original, but obviously have a graphical boots and it looks stunning, but more on that later.

Gameplay is familiar if you have played Yakuza 6, and that is because it uses the Dragon Engine which was design specific for the current generation of consoles. Before Yakuza 6 the games were release simultaneously on the PS4 and PS3, that’s why Yakuza 0 and Kiwami look a bit off in places due to those games having to compensate for aging hardware. Back to the gameplay it feels weighty and slower compared to other games, however this is not a bad thing as you can feel every kick, punch and head-butt as you shatter someone’s jaw with the heal of your shoe. Coupled with the bone crunching sound design, I found myself smiling with glee when I repurposed someone’s face as a mop, it just all comes together when you see someone’s nose cartilage explode on your shoes.

Yakuza has always been known for a magnitude of mini games and let’s be honest wasting your time with distractions, but there are fun nonetheless with claw machines, Sega arcade games or the best and my favourite karaoke. If it were up to me in this review I could talk about the karaoke for an entire page, it’s just really funny how a hardened ex-gangster has this inner singing voice and emotions and then goes back to slamming someone’s face into a wall in the next scene. This is what I like about Yakuza it betrays its own serious tone; it knows when to laugh and when to be serious with its story and gameplay.

The visuals are a huge bump from the original which is expect from PS2 to PS4, it runs on the same engine as Yakuza 6 where reuses assets from that game especially in Kamurocho. Cutscenes look beautiful with excellent redone animations; it adds an extra layer of engagement to them coupled with the photorealistic character models which are stunning. The different cities look great especially at night, where you see neon lit streets as the rain slowly descends down on you to form puddles under your feet.

The only two issues that I had and one of them is specific to me, is one the framerate. The framerate mostly sticks to a consistent 30 frames per second, but when the busy crowds come into play it can stutter a bit not so much to hinder the experience, but enough for me to notice. Secondly they brought back text only dialogue, after the fully voiced Yakuza 6 it was a bit of a downgrade. Now I know this was a lower budget affair and they couldn’t possibly make every NPC and bits of dialogue voiced given the scale of the game, but it kind of sucks you out of the experience with how good the voice acting is in this game.

Yakuza: Kiwami 2 is an excellent way of experiencing Yakuza 2, with its beautiful visuals, dark story darker than the rest of the series and weighty combat that is immensely satisfying. A must play if you are slowly going through the series!

Editorial | Resident Evil: Humble beginnings, downfall and resurrection.

By Sam Coles:

Resident Evil was once a household name within the video game industry; even people who didn’t play games knew what Resident Evil was mostly due to its zombies and gore. Not to say that Resident Evil doesn’t have the brand recognition now, however from the mid-90s and mid 2000s Resident Evil was immensely popular until Capcom lost sight of why people like it. I’m going to go over its origins with the fixed camera games, to the over the shoulder era/downfall and the resurgence with Resident Evil 7. Just preface this retrospective, I would like to thank Capcom UK for sending me HD versions of various RE games to get some sharp images.

Enter The Survival Horror:

In the early 90s Capcom wanted to do a follow up to their Famicom horror game Sweet Home, but they wanted to make in 3D inspired by Alone in the Dark. They tasked Shinji Mikami with directing the project because apparently he scares easily, one thing led to another and it got the new title Biohazard. However due to copyright issues releasing it in the west, which most sight the heavy metal band of the same name the game became Resident Evil. They looked at the setting and gave a literal description of the game, which makes less sense with each sequel but I digress.

Released in 1996 on the Sony PlayStation first Resident Evil (at the time) was a tense horror game, now that may come across a tad laughable when I say this 23 years later after its release but put yourself as a teenager back in 1996 there was nothing like it. The strange dialogue, sinister music or lack thereof in some rooms as well the sound design from monsters created this thick atmosphere that was unheard of back then.

You may be a specially trained police officer, however that doesn’t mean this is an action game. No ammunition is finite as well healing items being very scarce, you have to manage your inventory where it is harder depending which character you pick. At the start of the game you have the choice between Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, they are not just for cosmetics sake, no they both have their weaknesses and strengths. For starters Jill has eight inventory slots compared to Chris’s six, on the over hand Chris can take more damage from zombies, but Jill starts off with a gun and lockpick where Chris only has a knife at the start. The character selection is basically a glorified difficulty setting, and most of the time I pick Jill.

The game works on a fixed camera angle when it comes to the perspective; this was originally done due to technical restraints as they used pre-rendered backgrounds with 3D models on top. It was a great way of creating tension because didn’t know what was around the corner, all you had for a warning sign were the distant moans and shuffles of monsters. It can be a bit awkward at times due to the tank controls, but eventually you do get use to it.

After the success of the first game Capcom wanted a sequel and work began, however Shinji Mikami stood down from the director’s chair but the project didn’t meet expectations so they started from scratch and started again. Resident Evil 2 released in 1998 and was bigger, better and visually more impressive. To this day this is sited as the best in the series and it is easy to see why, the scale has been ramped and the gameplay feels less clunky compared to the first. This game is so beloved that it got a remake in early 2019, but I will get to that later.

After Resident Evil 2 Capcom went into overdrive with sequels, we had another on the PlayStation with Resident Evil 3: Nemesis which has the titular creature following you through out. However Capcom were working on a spin off for Sega’s upcoming console the Dreamcast. Resident Evil: Code Veronica was released in 2000 on Sega’s failing console and it was a bit different, it was still fixed camera however the camera would follow you a bit more similar to Konami’s Silent Hill. This was because everything was rendered in 3D, no longer were the environments pre-rendered with a 3D character model on screen it was a technical marvel but it has aged poor due to this. Code Veronica predictably didn’t sell well on the Dreamcast, where eventually Capcom would release it on the PS2, GameCube and Xbox in the form of Code Veronica X.

In the early 2000’s Capcom decided to help their old ally Nintendo as their console the GameCube was struggling to find an audience, so they decided to release three Resident Evil games exclusively on the console. You have Resident Evil 0 which was meant to be an N64 game initially, the remake of the first game and Resident Evil 4, but will get to that one later.

The Resident Evil remake was Mikami wanting to make the game that he wanted to make, as he thought the original hasn’t aged that well and even by 2002 it was laughable. What isn’t laughable is the remake on the GameCube, which was and still is a terrifying and tension filled experience even for a game that came out nearly two decades ago it has aged really well. It took the foundation of the original PlayStation game and added more elements to it, with new enemies, areas to explore and new ways to despatch your undead foes. It was a great way for new comers to get into the series, but it was also good for veterans of the series as it kept them on their toes with the new features. When you kill a zombie in this game it will just stay there for hours, when I first played this game I thought cool the bodies don’t disappear however I was in for a shock later. Zombies will resurrect if you don’t blow their head clean off or burn their body, but the resource to do so are finite. It added this extra layer of strategy the Crimson Heads, which made you feel less inclined to engage with zombies.

The same year Capcom would release Resident Evil 0, and if it wasn’t obvious enough is a prequel to the entirety of the series. It sees you take control of two characters, Rebecca Chambers who is 18 years old and is a fresh recruit in the Racoon City Police Department and Billy Cohen a convict who murdered several people. They put aside their differences due to fact there are zombies made of leeches, so they find themselves stuck on a train at first. Resident Evil 0 was met with mix reviews from gamers and critics due to the character switching mechanic, and at this point people were getting a bit tired of traditional Resident Evil games due to over saturation. Resident Evil 0 wasn’t a bad game, as it added in new elements like being able to drop items on the floor. This was a huge help and streamlined inventory management, where you didn’t have to jog back to item boxes every five minutes.

The loss of focus and rebirth:

After 0 Capcom went into overdrive and were releasing Resident Evil games every five minutes, from light gun shooters, online games (Outbreak) and horrible movies by Wes Anderson. When Resident Evil 4 came out, it went back to the drawing board and would shape how third person games are made for the next decade.

Resident Evil 4 shifted the series for better or worse depending on who you ask, as it turned the action dial up to 11. Now it isn’t action all the time because despite the absurdity of it, it is still an unnerving horror games. There are moments in this game where it uses quiet time effectively, where all you can hear are the footsteps of your heals as you traverse a cave, mine or castle corridor! The game got rid of fixed camera angles and embraced the shooting more; item management was still an aspect of the game where it was its own mini game with the attaché briefcase where you can unload your inner OCD. I found myself spending up to 4 minutes making my inventory tidy and symmetric, it is completely unnecessary but I have to give credit for making inventory management fun.

However in the late 2000s and the start of the 2010s Capcom started to chase an audience that wasn’t interested in Resident Evil, what was popular at the time? Call of Duty, the games scraped any sentiment of horror with Resident Evil 5 and 6 having set pieces that would make Michael Bay blush. Shoehorning co-op which isn’t a bad thing, but you had more ammo and explosives than the US military which sucked all tension out of all the scenarios.

Resident Evil 5 was a good game, but it lost its moniker of being a survival horror, for one you had way too much ammo which would make the NRA look like pacifists and the co-op sucked all tension out of the scenario. Then Resident Evil 6 missed the memo and was about as subtle as a sledgehammer with the word mellow drama written down the side of it, it wasn’t a bad game per say but it wasn’t a very good Resident Evil game. After the negative reception the series took with 5 and 6 they went back to the drawing board. After 2012 Capcom regrouped, and it wouldn’t be until 2017 we would get another mainline Resident Evil game.

Back to the drawing board (again):

Resident Evil 7 changed the series again, but this time it went back to its survival horror routes and changed the perspective from third person to first person. At first I was very sceptical as I thought they were capitalising off the heels of P.T, but that was not the case as it still felt like a Resident Evil game despite the shift in perspective. When the demo released around a few months before release it went for a more supernatural vibe similar to Silent Hill, now I know what you are thinking “Sam Resident Evil is supernatural”. No the reason why Resident Evil is scary is because it’s science gone wrong, or should I say science in its own world going wrong as it comes across as believable. However when the full game came out it stuck to that. After the release of Resident Evil 7 Capcom realised that gamers wanted survival horror again, where the next project would be a remake and not a new instalment.

Resident Evil 2 (remake) has a bit of a mysterious development history due to it being announced in 2015 and then nothing, well until E3 2018. Rumours were flooding in about the game before its re-announcement saying it was going to be first person, fortunately that was not the case as it instead went for a third person over the shoulder perspective similar to Resident Evil 4. However unlike Resident Evil 4 it wasn’t about the shooting, no it was a survival horror like its original 1998 release.

It took the foundation of Resident Evil 7’s engine the RE Engine and propelled it, it has a huge amount of detail with limbs and skin rotting and heads exploding as you pump buckshot into it. It did streamline the process too not that it was easy god no it was rather challenging, but it would have checkpoints in certain places just so you didn’t lose two hours of progress. However there was a hardcore mode included for those sadists out there who wanted limited saves and want enemies to do more damage, I tried this mode once and I think a kick to the gonads is more appealing.

Resident Evil is a series that has had its ups and downs, but for nearly 24 years it still strives to change up the formula for better or worse. Yes the action route wasn’t inherently bad, but it lost the identity of the franchise which is tense horror and you lose that when you have ammunition to arm a small militia. Fortunately the series is firmly back on its feet and I can still say that it is one of if not my favourite video game franchise on the market. Here is hoping for another 20 years.

Editorial | Assassin's Creed: Odyssey - The beauty of exploration.

By Sam Coles:

Assassin’s Creed was a franchise that I took a sizable break from over the years, after Syndicate I kind of got a tad tired of it where I skipped out on Origins and Odyssey until now. Odyssey is a game that I’m kicking myself for not playing when it first came out because it is truly a beautiful game and dare I say it one of the best games in the series, I want to say thank you to Ubisoft for providing me a copy to experience it. Let me preface this by saying this is not a review, at the time of writing I’m 40 hours in with no end in sight think of this as me just going over my experience of exploring the world and the characters I have interacted with.

Odyssey if wasn’t obvious enough is set in Ancient Greece, and you have the choice of picking two Spartan siblings Alexios or Kassandra. I picked Alexios and I’m glad that I did because his personality is fantastic, he has this dry wit and sarcasm in conversation which made me laugh a few times. He doesn’t give a damn about what people think of him, he can put people down with his quips and if that doesn’t work he just kicks their teeth in. I haven’t been this invested in a main character since Ezio in Assassin’s Creed II, the reason why he is great is because he doesn’t always take a situation seriously he knows when to laugh and he knows when to keep his mouth shut when the situation arises.

The game starts off really strong with an epic battle; you could not have an Ancient Greek adventure without starting off as King Leonidas during The Battle of Thermopylae as you impale Persians. It very much feels like 300 even down to Leonidas having a somewhat of a Scottish accent, but I digress. After that it slows down as you start your adventure as Alexios or Kassandra, and this is a good thing as it lets you get acquainted with the world that is about to unfold in front of you.   

Once the game really begins you can just explore the first island you start off on, now it’s not like Skyrim levels of exploration where you can just go in the other direction. No this is due to the fact that game has swapped gears and is now a role playing experience, when I first heard this game was going in that direction I had a lot of trepidation within me. However now that I have played 40 hours of the game it works, it was a natural evolution of the series and yes one could argue that it doesn’t feel like an Assassin’s Creed game but the elements are still there.  

Let’s talk about the world in this game, and I have to say to it is absolutely gorgeous Ubisoft have crafted an excellent recreation of Ancient Greece. The world is bright, colourful and it reflects back on me with the warm sun beating down as I traverse the world on foot or by horseback. All the cities are grand in scale with people going about their business, not only that each area has nooks and crannies for you to explore with different side quests to take on. It is just absolutely staggering how much effort and detail that has been put into this game, it is truly a stunning and immersive world to explore!

Gameplay wise I have to say they have finally got the climbing mechanics right in this game, the problem I had with the other games in the series were the controls. Not that they were bad by any means, however when running in the older games your character had a bad habit of suddenly attaching themselves to a nearby wall like a dog in heat. It got rather arduous over time and fortunately they fixed it in this game, it fast fluid and I never found myself stuck on geometry. Combat too is great as it requires timing with parrying and dodges, you can’t just stand there like a waiter waiting to be summoned to then counter stab them. No you have to actually fight people in this game, and it requires timing or if you can’t be bothered just Spartan Kick them off a cliff to kill them instantly which never stops being funny.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is something that I’m glad I have finally started playing, yes it took me over a year to get to but it is all the more rewarding. It shows that Ubisoft are capable of crafting beautiful worlds with fun main characters you want to stay invested with, not only that they tweaked the gameplay to which I think is absolutely perfect. Yes the RPG elements may come across as not Assassin’s Creed, but ultimately I think it was a good shift for the franchise.

Editorial | Far Cry 5: The Far Cry we asked for.

By Sam Coles:

Far Cry was a great open world experience with Far Cry 2 being my favourite still (don’t @ me), however it was Far Cry 3 that really got the series really popular. Why? Well it was due to first and foremost getting rid of the survival elements of 2, but also the open ended nature of its design and its compelling villains as well as a beautiful landscape to explore. After a few years of getting stuck in a rut with the series, Ubisoft put the series to rest for a little bit, went back to the drawing board and in early 2018 we got Far Cry 5. Far Cry 5 is the Far Cry we have been looking for.

Far Cry 5’s plot is worth mentioning because they actually give lots of screen time to the villains, where we get this little insight into their past as well as them stalking you as they talk to you on your radio. The game is set in a fictional region within the state of Montana in the US called Hope County, however it has been taken over by a crazed religious cult called Project Eden’s Gate or as the locals call them “Peggies”. This cult is controlled by the Seed family Jacob, Jon, Faith and Joseph who leads it. The villains in this game are well fleshed out and are given a lot of screen time, when you tackle each region you will get various scenes when they capture you each time giving you an insight into their mental state. John for instance has this obsession for everyone to say yes as he had an abusive childhood from his father, Jacob is ex-military who can’t quite grasp normal life, Faith likes to sample her own supply of drugs and finally Joseph who holds them all together.

All the villains are great minus Faith who was a bit weak to me, they all have good amount of screen time and you get a decent background on all of them and some are rather disturbing. Unlike other Far Cry games where they would introduce them and then drop them off a cliff, I’m looking at you Far Cry 4! They are very compelling and give an excellent performance, especially Joseph he has this calm and collective approach with his personality, but you know he is an unhinged person that could snap and kill you if he wanted to.

The gameplay was something that honestly surprised me, for one they got rid of the tower mechanic to uncover the map which got rather tedious in Far Cry 3 and 4. However after the initial intro and tutorial the game doesn’t  hold your hand, it lets you tackle it in any order you want to. You want to take on Jacob first? You can do that, it adds this free form approach to gameplay, it never restricts even in story missions (mostly) as it lets you proceed anyway you like.

Retaking compounds feels fun again in this game, unlike most Far Cry games where it feels like it is judging me for not taking the stealth route this game goes “pull out a rocket launcher go for it”. It has a Just Cause feeling when I would roll up in my truck LMG in one hand, RPG in the other and a Grizzly Bear as a partner to slaughter those Peggies.

Exploring the world in general feels great it feels like a lived in world, where you have the normal citizens going about their business while the cult is in control. In other Far Cry games it felt rather lifeless, now I know the tropical islands of 3 and the war torn regions of Africa of 2 aren’t going to house a dense population but they just felt a bit bland. Far Cry 5’s world feels organic and alive, you have people getting on with their day, wildlife wondering the beautiful pine forests and cult members getting into skirmishes with people who are not you. I had more of an incentive to explore Far Cry 5’s world, maybe that is due to its more interesting and different location yes it is America but it fits Far Cry’s overall theme.

This is most impressive looking game in the Far Cry series; yes I know there have been videos comparing certain details to Far Cry 2 with foliage, explosions and fire spread. However visually overall Far Cry 5 looks miles above 2, you have dense and lush pine forests where wolves, bears and deer reside. There are towns that are lived in, where they can either be hostile with a hail of bullets or welcoming with a beer at the bar. The time of day make the environments look stunning, from the crisp mornings of dawn, the slow descent to dusk with an orange glow to the star riddled sky of the night.

Far Cry 5 shows that Ubisoft are very much capable of making a really fun and compelling open world game, with great villains to drive the narrative, free from gameplay and a world that is just being begged to explore with its pure beauty. It feels like an open letter to fans of the series asking them “Is this what you want”? And to that I say, yes it is what I want and bravo.

Editorial | Reflecting on Red Dead Redemption 2: One Year Later.

By Sam Coles:

Time is such a fragile existence where it suddenly goes by with the click of a finger, one year use to feel like forever when I was younger but now it just slips through my fingers like sand. Red Dead Redemption 2 came out one year ago (at the time of writing) and it is hard to believe, as it felt like I was waiting for it forever as the first game came out all the way back in 2010. I just want to reflect on my experience with the game over the past year, as well as the lead up to the game.

Back in 2016 gaming was in a weird spot because game releases were a bit meh, but towards the end of the year Rockstar Games changed their logo and it had the rustic look of Red Dead Redemption, we all knew what was coming. Then they dropped the first trailer showing off the beautiful world, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing as the leap from the first RDR was staggering it looked realistic and awe inspiring. Towards the end of the trailer it said it will releases in the fall of 2017, me being me though I knew this wasn’t true and I called it on Twitter at the time as I know how Rockstar work. Then lo and behold Rockstar delayed the game from 2017 to spring 2018 and then once more to fall of 2018.

Working in the games industry naturally I tend to get games sent to me; however there was something special when I got an email from Rockstar Games and they said “We are sending you a copy of Red Dead Redemption 2”. When the game finally arrived on release day at 8 o’clock in the morning, I sat there patiently waiting for the game to install and then when the game started I fell in love and felt 17 years old again like I was playing the first Red Dead Redemption.

The first time I booted up Red Dead Redemption 2 I was immediately enraptured with the world, mostly stemming from the visuals. The graphics from the original Red Dead Redemption were and arguably still are a marvel to look at, and I thought to myself how can they improve the presentation and they did it! Everything has an attention to detail that you just don’t see in most releases, they even put in the effort into things that most players won’t even bother to look at. Rockstar see every blade of grass, every footprint in the snow and specs of dirt on the player character to be just as important as the weather effects and character animations.

The characters and story are something that really stood out, especially the dynamic of Arthur’s gang where they all but heads but they all end up getting the job done, well until Dutch’s plan predictably fails. Arthur is a well-rounded character he knows what he is doing is wrong, however it is the only life that he knows as he has been with Dutch for 20 years. The whole gang have been characterised which is amazing, no other game would bother to flesh out each character like this. They all have their grievances, but they band together to get a robbery done it’s this dynamic that really adds a layer of unpredictably with how they are going to react.

The world itself was a joy to explore, unlike most open world games that relay on numbers *cough* Ubisoft *cough* Red Dead’s world is more organic and narrative based. It doesn’t flash up a notice saying “You are not a high enough level”, no it just lets you explore at your own pace and it gave me the same feeling when I explored Oblivion or Skyrim’s world for the first time. The game outside of missions doesn’t hold your hand, if you see smoke of a campfire nothing is stopping you to go and investigate, however it may hold several perils that will kill you. It’s this freedom that Red Dead Redemption 2 gives you when explore the world that makes it feel alive, this could apply to most of Rockstar’s worlds.

Now gameplay is the most contentious topic as some love the more “realistic” approach, while others prefer the first game with its more freeform movement. I fall in the former category as I find that the more realistic approach to movement and shooting add an extra layer of weight and tension, guns in the 19^th century were not particularly reliable and wore fairly quickly. They brought this across with the gunplay as guns would slowly get dirty and rusty, where they would become more inaccurate. You can clean them off with gun oil yourself or do it at a gunsmith, it doesn’t really eat too much into the gameplay and I think most people are rather hyperbolic about the “realism” because you don’t have to do most of it, it is there for the sake of immersion and role playing.

I’ll be honest I love the combat it has a sense of weight and brutality to it, you see every exit wound as you fan the hammer of your six shooter into a Lawman’s skull. Heads explode if you use a shotgun at close range, which actually made me jump when it first happened to me. Enemies will clutch at specific areas and limbs when you shoot them there as they cry out for help, as well their limbs flying off when you throw a stick of dynamite at them. The detail of body damage is so insane that bodies realistically decompose if you leave them out for long enough, again Rockstar showing almost an unnecessary amount of details in their games, in a good way of course.

Red Dead Redemption 2 will go down as a classic, a game that we will be talking about years to come like the original. One year has passed since its release and five years will go past in the blink of an eye. What Rockstar Games gave us with this beautiful and artistic piece of interactive entertainment is stunning. It just shows there are still triple A developers who want to present us with compelling single player experiences.

Editorial | Dark Souls: Darkness, Danger and Loneliness.

By Sam Coles:

There is something about loneliness in video games that is effective at crafting a thick atmosphere, where there is nothing but darkness and the sound of your feet echoing in the environment. The game I think of when it comes to this is Dark Souls, mostly known for its difficulty this game has a very good atmosphere that I think a lot of people miss. These days the game is used as a measure for a game when it is hard, despite them having nothing in common in terms of gameplay. I just want to go over the game’s atmosphere and what makes it so special, I’ll be mostly talking about the first game with a few snippets of Dark Souls II here and there.

Dark Souls doesn’t bother exposition well only with the opening cutscene, however it is ambiguous for a reason as it wants the player to figure it out. Then after that you wake up imprisoned in a dungeon, where you are thrown a key and told get on with it. When the gameplay starts what do you hear? Nothing, no music, no dialogue just the distant hums as the wind flows through the dungeon coupled with the distant moans of prisoners begging for their life. This introduction sets up Dark Souls’ atmosphere, where you are alone, isolated and no one is coming to help you anytime soon.

As you traverse the dungeon you hear deep rumblings, roars where you realise something is amiss and then you see the towering monster that is The Asylum Demon. At first you are out matched as all you have is a broken sword, fortunately you can flee and reassess your situation. You feel shaken and wonder if you can take it down. As you continue through the dark tunnels, you find a sword and shield where you then feel more prepared. You go back and take on the beast, take him down and feel the accomplishment, then you are unleashed onto the world with more monstrosities want to see your insides on the ground.

Each area in Dark Souls is unique, from the dark and precarious underground village that is Blight Town where every corner evokes a sense of danger to the warm and deceptively welcoming Anor Londo. Under the sunny exterior there are what were the inhabitants lying in wait to see nothing more than your death, it’s this false sense of security that catches you off guard.

Now Dark Souls II’s atmosphere although still good it’s missing something, I think it is because there are moments in that game that I found myself holding my breath less as the tension is not as high compared to the first game. I think it is because they tend to use musical ques in more areas compared to the first game, now using music to emphasise tension is fine but the point of Dark Souls is that you are alone, and the silence highlights that. I still like Dark Souls II, but the areas aren’t as imaginative as the original, it’s mostly castles filled armoured goons. Music was used in the original game, but only during boss fights which got you pumped and at the main camp which gave you a sense of ease, however that track left a bit of uncertainty too.

Dark Souls isn’t really classed as a horror game, however if you were to let someone play it with no notion of what it is they could very much perceive it as a horror experience. From the audio design, dark areas and enemy design with the exception of the mushroom people who look like Patrick Star combined with a Goomba. Digressions aside the thick layer of tension can easily get under your skin outside of the difficulty, the oppressive nature of consistent silence as you traverse these dark lands is almost overwhelming.

I think even you are not a fan of Dark Souls’ difficulty I think one can easily appreciate its atmosphere; it encapsulates the depressing and lonely atmosphere. It will leave you feeling many emotions, scared, alone and overwhelmed by what dangers lurk within the darkness. Even 8 years later I don’t think I have played a game that can replicate this atmosphere, it does without using a single word of dialogue and that is what makes video game storytelling beautiful.