Days Gone: My thoughts so far.

 

By Sam Coles:

 

To say that zombies are the white noise of creativity is hyperbole that I like to use would be hyperbolic, but there was a time that zombies where basically in every corner of entertainment. These days the trend has slowed down, but that doesn’t mean that the trope can’t be used in meaningful ways and this brings me to the topic of this article. Days Gone was a game that wasn’t well received when it initially debuted back in 2019, most due to its unstable launch with bugs and technical issues. However now it runs mostly fine, and is very captivating. Let’s get into it.  

You step into the leather boots of former biker gang member Deacon St. John, where he finds himself surviving the everyday life of a zombie apocalypse. However, his past troubles him as he still can’t let go the fact that the love of his life is dead, but he has a tip off that she might be still alive so he goes onto pursue the lead which leads him into a whole world of betrayal and death. I have to say the story is fantastic the actors really convey their emotions, plus Sam Witwer who plays Deacon is excellent. He can be quite frightening when he threatens people, to caring and crazy when he mumbles to himself when you are out exploring. Unlike other open world games where it is jarring when they say things out loud to themselves, in Days Gone it fits with the scenario as Deacon is more than likely alone and isolated most days so the crazed mumbles fit the situation.  

Now when you generally have a zombie setting gameplay falls into the survival crafting aspect, and this game is no different. However, Days Gone gets this right as it does not feel laborious to pick up items and craft new weapons and object to help you. The game incentivises you to explore and pick up everything that isn’t nailed to the floor, but unlike games such as Red Dead Redemption 2 it doesn’t animate each pick up individually as it goes for convivence and not realism in that regard. It evokes a sense of danger and tensity, which really immerses you in the world as you explore not knowing what dangers lurk in the shadows whether it be human or zombie.  

Combat is meaty and satisfying with weighty slashes with your knife as you eviscerate your opponent's, coupled with the sickening sound design as Deacon’s knife plunges into a zombie’s jugular. Guns are also really nice to use in this game, you are obviously not pin point accurate in this game as it leans more to the survival horror side of things. However, firefights are tense as the enemies will actively flank you, so you cannot just sit behind cover and plink at them with your dinky 9MM pistol. You have to outwit enemies, by sneaking around slicing new grins in their throats, set traps or just using the right gun in the right scenario.  

I remember the big selling point with this game at E3 2016 (yes that long ago) were the massive zombie hordes on screen, and oh my this game does not disappoint. In certain parts of the world, you will come across huge hordes of zombies, and the first time I stumbled across one of these I almost defecated my pants in fright. These scenarios really dial up the tension up to eleven, I never thought I would be shouting “fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck” out loud in quick succession when playing a game. What surprises me when these moments happen, the game runs really well I was expecting the framerate to take massive dip, but no it runs fine.  

Visually this game looks amazing especially during the cutscenes, the detail on the character models is fantastic with great detail on Deacon’s tattoos and textures on his clothes. The world is beautiful with pine forests that stretch as far as the eye can see, welcoming camps and snowy mountains that can more of a threat than the infected creatures you face. Everything just looks exquisite and runs beautifully even on a base PS4, which is what I played it on.  

Overall, I am really pleased with what I have played of Days Gone so far, yes, it is yet another zombie game in a sea of zombie games, but its engaging plot (so far) and beautiful world to explore makes it standout compared to your usual undead affair. If you have a PS4 or a PS5 then pick this game up, you won’t regret it and I can’t wait to play more.  

Kingdoms of Amalur Switch Review - Exploration in your hands!

By Sam Coles: 

If you know me personally or on social media, you would know that I have a new love for Nintendo’s latest portable hybrid The Switch. It is a fantastic companion console when I want to take a break from my main consoles, where I can cuddle up in my bed and explore a different world. Kingdoms of Amalur got a fresh coat of paint recently on the PS4 and Xbox One last year, however we Switch owners had to wait for a bit for the portable experience. How does it fair on The Switch? Really well, although when it first came out there were some framerate and image clarity issues, but I will get into more detail later. 

The game takes place in the titular kingdom where you play as a fateless one, you start off dead or so one thinks. However, you bend fate and rise from a pile of corpses, and you must seek out the Fate Weavers to find out what is going on and why you survived. It turns out that you are what the Fate Weavers deem as “Fateless”, which means you can bend fate to your will which basically breaks the laws of time and fate. This revelation gets the attention of a hostile outfit called the Tuatha who are interested in utilising your fate bending powers. The story is nothing particularly groundbreaking as it is once again another chosen one set up in fantasy, but the world itself is great with its background lore.  

Now let’s get to the gameplay and to put it simply it is fantastic, the combat is easily a highlight as it takes inspiration from more action focused games such as Devil May Cry or God of War. It’s not anywhere near as complex as those games with their combat, but it is basic and functional with its weight and brutality. You feel every swing of a sword, axe, dagger and staff as you shoot fire to turn your enemies into ashes.  

What is great about this combat system is that you can mix and match combos, as you have a primary and secondary weapon which you can use with the X or Y button. This is great as you can mix great sword swings with quick jabs of daggers, or combine magical staffs with warhammers. The combat is really good as it never gets boring, as the game encourages you to experiment with different weapons and combinations.  

This doesn’t just apply to combat but to your classes too, you can mix and match your classes to make effective and interesting combos. Do you want to be a sneaky thief that shoots lighting out your hands? You can do that; you want to be a hulking warrior that is also adept with magical staffs you can also do that. It is a very flexible system where it keeps the combat fresh, it never gets boring the combat and it is easily one of the best combat systems in an action RPG.  

The exploration aspect of the game is good not the best, but think of the world structure on the same lines of Fable with a sprinkle of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Which is very ironic as the lead designer of Oblivion worked on this game, which makes some of the gameplay design choices make more sense. Anyway, the game is open world, well sort of but it is more linear in structure, so going off the beaten path isn’t as common. Don’t get me wrong it isn’t a corridor like Dragon Age II, as it is very much an open-ended game world but you can’t create your own path to a destination as you are very much on a set path.  

Now to the meat and potatoes of this review, how the game runs on the Nintendo Switch and it works rather well. Let me get the negative aspects out the way first, when the game first launched the framerate was all over the place especially during combat, but fortunately they have fixed that via patches. The other issues were image quality, again at launch the game’s image clarity was rather blurry and fuzzy which again has now been fixed with updates. Since the updates Kingdoms of Amalur is a captivating game and it works really well on Switch, the pick up and play nature fits in Amalur’s gameplay and world. It feels fantastic to be led in bed, with the room dimly lit and just explore as you are snuggled up under the covers.  

Kingdoms of Amalur Re-Reckoning on Switch is my new favourite way to play one of the best, and underrated RPGs from 2012. If you have a Switch this is a must play for Nintendo’s portable hybrid.  

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey - Falling in love with a series again.

By Sam Coles: 

There are video game franchises that go on for years, with that longevity can come with fatigue with the audience and the franchise for me that springs to mind is Assassin’s Creed. I am a huge fan of the series, however around 2015 when Syndicate came out, I just lost all interest for the series and just drop it for a few years. As the years went by, I get an email from Ubisoft in 2019, they said “Do you want a copy of Far Cry 5 and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey”. Me not being an idiot I said yes of course, I booted up Assassin’s Creed Odyssey I fell back in love with the series. What made Assassin’s Creed Odyssey so special? Well let’s talk about it.  

I think what immediately stood out for me with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was the setting, Ancient Greece is such a fantastic setting for a game especially for an open world game, plus I did study era for A-Level. Not only that, the story within said period is always good not ground breaking but it is engaging throughout as you converse with various figures throughout Greek history. You can either play as Alexios or Kassandra, who are both Spartan warriors that meet an untimely fate and are exiled. I picked Alexios because his sarcastic remarks never cease to make smile and burst out laughing, and in my opinion Kassandra as the antagonist works better.  

What was instantly refreshing when I first booted this game up was the world, now I may come across as a tad biased because I did study this period of history for my A-levels and still own a copy of Herodotus’ The Histories on my shelf. However, it is a setting that is not often explored especially with open world games and it works beautiful for Assassin’s Creed, as Ubisoft always have a good eye for detail and authenticity with each historic period.  

Like the real-world version of Greece, the landscape consists of islands, coastal towns and cities, these can range from small remote areas to sprawling and thriving cities. The first time I entered the outskirts of Athens I was in awe as I saw the Parthenon on the horizon, I couldn’t wait to the enter the city and explore like the curious cat that I am. Coupled with the large and beautiful landscapes is a superb musical score, it is relaxing to listening to as I explored beautiful vineyards as the sun would slowly set as I find myself journeying towards a valley.  

The gameplay is something that is rather contentious within the Assassin’s Creed community, however this is what drew me back to the series as it was refreshing. It does try to do a more simplified version of The Witcher 3’s dialogue mechanics, but simplified is not necessarily a bad thing. The combat is simple but it can be challenging in the early stages, especially when you are up against big groups of enemies as they will discard you like a football and kick you hard. Plus the combat is instantly enjoyable when you unlock the Spartan Kick, as it basically throws the balance of the game off a cliff literally as you can kick high level enemies into the ocean. Before you ask, yes I do shout "This is Sparta"! in the middle of my bedroom/office every time I do it.  

What also drew me back to Assassin’s Creed with Odyssey as well were the visuals, yes, the animations with characters during conversations are stiff at best, but the details on main characters are in fact very good. From the blemishes on their faces, to the exquisite detail on armor. Not only that as I said before the landscapes are beautiful, with the blue hues of the ocean as I sail across the Greek World, the sunset vistas as I walk through an out of the way village to the busy and bustling cities as people are trying to sell me their wares.  

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is a game that brought me back to the series, yes one could argue that it is not really an Assassin’s Creed game but maybe that is why it drew back in. It’s on the list of games that I play when I want to relax or if I am feeling low, this is the game that made me fall in love again with the series.