Dragon's Dogma Review - A good mix of mechanics from other games.

By Sam Coles:

I don’t know what it was about the summer of 2012, but there were a lot of really good RPG’s that I played that year such as The Witcher 2 and Kingdoms of Amular. There is one unique game that stood out from the rest and in my opinion is really underrated and that game is Dragon’s Dogma, this game takes mechanics from other games and blends them together to bring you a brand new RPG. So imagine this you take The Elder Scrolls, Shadow of the Colossus, Dark Souls, Monster Hunter and Devil May Cry you get a good action role playing game.

Dragon’s Dogma takes place in the region of Soren where you’re nothing more than a peasant to begin with, until a dragon attacks your village where he then rips your heart out. The fortunate outcome is that you’re still alive and the reason why you’re alive is because you’re an Arisen. What an Arisen entails is that they can command a legion part of a mindless race called Pawns and of course speak to dragons *cough* *cough* Skyrim.

The unique part of this game is the Pawn system, how this works is that you only create one companion and you recruit others from other players into your party and they collect loot for their masters and you give them a rating when you swap them out for others. The same goes with your Pawn he or she will be recruited by other players and will return to you with loot after you have rested, but most of the time you’ll get trolled and players will give a carrot or a rock rather than anything worthwhile. I like this system and I wish more RPG’s would adopt this method of recruitment it’s unique and you tend to get more variety in terms of classes and character looks.

The open world is huge with lots to explore and different monsters to battle and speaking of fighting monsters let’s talk about the combat system. This has to be one the best combat systems in any action RPG it’s fast and exciting with meaty sound effects when you strike your foe. You have a grab button where you can pick enemies up and throw them or when you’re fighting larger enemies you can climb up on their backs and strike their weak points and this is where the Shadow of the Colossus comparison comes into play. This system hasn’t been used in any other game to my knowledge and it gets really tense when you’re battling a dragon because they will take off and fly away while you’re still holding on which adds an extra layer of excitement to the battle.

Graphically this game is a mixed bag the character models look too clean and what I mean by that their faces have no blemishes such as scares or blood when they have been in battle it reminds of the old Dragon Age character models. The environments on the other hand are absolutely beautiful with rolling green hills, dark and dingy valleys, the spectacular architecture in the capital and the fantastic lighting at night as you wonder the land with your torch.

This game isn’t perfect by all means and there are few things that really annoy me about this game. First aspect that really ruins the experience are the pawns dialogue, which I have no problem with your companions conveying information about monsters or the area you’re in, but when they keep repeating the same line over and over again it starts to try my patience. Secondly there is no default fast travel system and I know what people are going to say there are the teleport crystals but they’re extremely rare and they only take you back to the capital city, it’s unacceptable to not have a fast travel system in a big open world. Thirdly the lip syncing during gameplay with the dialogue is abysmal it is completely out of sync because they will start moving their lips before the dialogue starts, in cutscenes it’s fine which is odd why couldn’t they get it right during gameplay. Finally it’s not clear what quest is a main quest or side quest and it doesn’t help that they don’t tell you if you’re the right level or not.

Dragon’s Dogma is a fantastic RPG it’s hard to begin with but that is all part of the learning curve so you get better similar to Dark Souls. The game isn’t terribly expensive these days I would recommend getting the Dark Arisen version because it comes with all the DLC and you can get it on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Republique Review - Good concept poor execution.

By Sam Coles:

There is always something about episodic games that rub me the wrong way, it’s because there is never a reliable release schedule I’m looking at you Tell Tale games. When people ask me if I have played the latest episode of whatever is popular at the time I just say “I’m waiting for the disc that will come out and it will turn out cheaper” *cough* *cough* Hitman. Republique is another episodic game that came out in full recently on the PS4 which has a good concept, but has its annoyances.

Republique is set in an Orwellian future where everything is monitored it’s not a terribly original plot that we haven’t seen in video games before because we’ve been beating this plot in many forms to death. You play as yourself helping out a girl named Hope who wants to escape an institute where the residences are called “Pre-Cals” where they are born and raised in the institute as they monitor how she grows up etc.

When the gameplay starts it has a fixed camera angle similar to Resident Evil (the first three) as you have the perspective from the CCTV cameras which is interesting. You control the girl as well, but it’s a chore because the game decides to put tank controls in a stealth game which does not work because you leave one screen and enter the other and you end up walking back in the other direction. This is quite infuriating because you could end up walking back into the enemy who you’re running away from which resulted with me nearly biting my controller in half in frustration. The gameplay aspects I liked about this game was the CCTV perspective because you can leave girl where she is and scout a head and see what threats lie ahead or loot you can find to help upgrade your hacking abilities. Overall though the gameplay is extremely clunky in terms of controlling the girl because someone on the dev team has had a lobotomy and thought tank controls work with stealth games.

Graphically it’s okay, nothing special because sometimes it can look great with some of the lighting effects especially in the intro cutscene when the main character is talking to you with her phone. Other times the game can look very ugly with burly and bland textures coupled with lacklustre character models with poor animations which look right at home on a PS2.

Republique is a game I can’t recommend because it is more frustrating than good for me to carry on through the plot with its clunky controls and bad stealth elements. Give this one a miss.

Blues and Bullets – Review on the first episode – A Noir Detective Game

By Kim Arnold

Twitter: @wildestdreams93

Blues and Bullets is a crime thriller developed by A Crowd of Monsters. There will be 5 episodes in total with Episode 1 and 2 available to play now on PC.

The player plays Eliot Ness a retired cop in which runs his own diner called “Blues and Bullets”. With turn of events of children going missing and the police ignoring the situation, Eliot Ness decides to take matters into his own hands through a gruesome crime scene in this first episode.

Blues and Bullets is set in a black and white noir style with the occasional hint of red in places that stands out, in which reminds me very much of the film Sin City. The game itself looks graphically stunning and has a great atmosphere  throughout the episode but is let down slightly by some poor animation. Saying that, the game grabbed my attention from the moment I started playing it, and I didn’t stop playing it until I finished the episode.

In terms of gameplay you play Eliot in a Third Person perspective, and during the episode you will be given the opportunity to make decisions throughout to influence the story for the later episodes (I believe ).  There are also some Quick time events in the game and a Rail shooter in which you cover, aim and shoot the bad guys which I felt was a nice touch to the game.  I should also mention this game has a really great soundtrack.

As you progress through this story – oriented dark game you will be looking to pick up clues for your investigation and will need to piece together your findings which concludes the story a bit more and leaves you in suspense.

I purchased the first episode on PC for £3.99 to see what it was like and I have to admit, I really loved it and finished it within a couple of hours. So if you are still unsure on the game, just buying the first episode should give you a good taster of what is in store for the full series. It has certainly left me wanting the rest of the episodes, and now the waiting begins.

DOOM Closed Beta Thoughts - The old school shooter is back!

By Sam Coles:

Doom is only a few weeks away I’ve managed to get into the closed beta because I bought Wolfenstein The New Order with a code which I completely forgot about because I bought that game two years ago.  Does the Doom multiplayer beta capture the old school quick gameplay from 90’s FPS? Yes it does.

The first thing that hit me when I started the beta are the graphics, they’re absolutely amazing the new id Tech 6 engine looks absolutely stunning with brilliant lighting and particle effects. Environments have a dark and industrial look to suit the setting of Doom coupled with the detail models of the space marines. The game also runs at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second for the most part I did notice some frame drops when it got a bit busy. There is also a lot of screen tearing, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt as the game is not finished and hopefully this issue will be fixed when the game releases.

Let’s get into the meat of the beta and let’s start off by talking about customisation with your character, which is very extensive although it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. When you load up the multiplayer menu you wouldn’t be shocked if they had pinched the layout from the Call of Duty series because it looks exactly the same. You can customise loadouts with various weapons such as the Plasma Rifle, Rocket Launcher, Super Shotgun and the list goes on, there are no added attachments just the weapon and your reflexes so everyone is on an even playing field. 

You can equip hacking modules which function like perks in Call of Duty but you don’t have them for the match they have a time limit which again makes everyone equally matched which is good because it relies on the player’s skills and reflexes rather than stupid bonuses which dampen the match.

The gameplay is fantastic it’s fast which keeps you on your toes because there is no sprint button in this game it’s like the old school shooters where you run at break neck speeds, so if you try to use cowardly camping tactics it won’t work because this game requires you to keep moving. There is no regenerating health either so you can’t be a wuss and hide behind cover and wait for your forehead to grow back, no you have to find health packs around the map which brings back the skill of map control where you know where the picks are going to spawn. In the middle of matches a Demon Rune will spawn and whoever gets to it first can turn into a famous Demon from the game we only had access to the Revenant in the beta that has two rocket launchers on his shoulders and has a jetpack. This can be utterly devastating and you can really rack up kills if you need to catch up.

The only problem I have is the power of the Plasma Rifle it’s too powerful they need to tone down the damage a bit, I can understand if it is a power weapon you find on the map, but it’s not anyone can have this weapon the power needs to be turned down.

I enjoyed my time with Doom beta and it has got me very excited for the full release when it hits PS4, Xbox One and PC on the 13^th of May.

American Truck Simulator – Truckin through America

By  Kim Arnold: 

Twitter: @wildestdreams93

American Truck Simulator is another addition to the driving simulators. If you enjoyed Euro Truck Simulator 2 then no doubt you will enjoy this game.

American Truck Simulator is a smaller version of Euro Truck Simulator 2 at the moment, it currently covers California and Nevada, but hopefully someday we will see more expansion to the US. In fact they are currently working hard on the Arizona DLC as we speak which will be a free update to the game.

 The driving simulator is a great single player game if you just want to relax and drive. It consists of beautiful scenery as you drive place to place to make your deliveries. You also have the feature of the inbuilt radio which you can update via the internet. For me, nothing beats driving down an empty road with the classic rock station blaring and singing along.

You can just play the game via the Job Market and take on numerous amount of quick delivery jobs. Its a simple way to play the game while building up the money and XP, in which you can put towards building your own trucking company if you wish.

American Truck Simulator is addictive and you can easily lose a vast amount of hours to it and even more so now with the added Steam Workshop, allowing you and the community to download and make mods for the game.

Overall, it's a fantastic game in my opinion, and I for one am looking forward to seeing the game expand more with new States being added and potentially more trucks in the future.

Grand Theft Auto IV Review - A dark and serious tale in the series.

By Sam Coles:

2008 was an interesting year for games because we got sequels on the 7^th generation of consoles that we’ve been anticipating for some time, games such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Fable II. Grand Theft Auto IV had been in production for some time and was first announced late 2006 and people were a bit confused with the change in tone with the series. The reason why people were questioning the tone was because the fact that it wasn’t this over the top and wacky game like the others, but instead was a gritty crime thriller with a sympathetic protagonist.

Grand Theft Auto IV takes place in Liberty City where you play as Niko Belic an Eastern European immigrant with his eyes on the American dream. He arrives by boat where he is greeted by his cousin Roman who is completely wasted while driving his taxi. Niko takes the wheel and finds out that his cousin has been lying to him in his letters about hitting the big time and doesn’t own sports cars or a mansion. Understandably Niko is very angry at his cousin as he is a lying cheat who is up to his eye balls in debt with Russian gangsters, so Niko starts to help Roman out by any means necessary even if it means killing Roman's debt collectors.

I like the story in GTA IV, yes it’s very dark compared to the others but the humour is there it’s just presented in a dry manner because Niko has a dry wit that makes me laugh with his comebacks. You can sympathise with Niko because he is angry with Roman but he still helps him because at the end of the day he is family and you will do anything to help your family.

Gameplay was a big change because it took notes from third person games of the time where you now have a cover mechanic which was a big deal at the time because gun fights in the other GTA games where a pain because there was no way to take cover effectively. Now you can press the right bumper and Niko will slide into cover and you can pop up and take shots or blind fire from your position. Niko feels very weighty and realistic so if a car knocks you slightly he will stumble, you really feel his weight when you’re walking a long or falling over.  The car physics are the same they feel realistic which a lot of people complained about at the time but honestly it didn’t bother me I like it because you really feel the impact when you crash your car and you see Niko fly out the windscreen or when you murder someone with your bumper.

Graphics are great for the most part, when I say the most part it’s because the character models haven’t aged well at all they all look a bit weird. Rockstar have created a pretty accurate recreation of New York City with Liberty City with streets and land marks you would recognise in real life, it really does feel like you’re in a busy city especially on the middle island which is Manhattan. Car models still look fantastic with shiny paint work which can get dirty over time if you drive it in mud; the damage definition is brilliant too with smashed headlights and different dents depending on where you hit the car.

The only problems I have with GTA IV is that in certain gunfights it can be a chore to persuade Niko to get into cover especially in tight spaces, it’s the same problem I had with Red Dead Redemption.

Grand Theft Auto IV is a dark and gritty tale and is sort of the underdog in the series because of the radically different tone, that’s why it’s one my favourite games in the series because it was daring to do something different. If you have an Xbox 360, PS3 or PC grab this game and the two expansions which you can get in the bargain package that is the Game of the Year Edition.

Platinum Demo: Final Fantasy XV Thoughts.

By Sam Coles:

It’s only been recently that I have got into the Final Fantasy series, so I was ecstatic when I could get a chance to try out the latest in the series Final Fantasy XV with the Platinum demo. What I got a chance to play was great but radically different compared to the Final Fantasy games I’ve been playing recently.

The first thing I have to say when I started this demo is that the graphics are incredible it’s like you’re playing a pre-rendered cutscene from Final Fantasy XIII with superb animation from characters and environments with trees and grass swaying in the wind.

It walks you through the basics of the gameplay starting with movement which feels very smooth as you explore areas where you can sprint and jump! Finally you can jump, I know what you’re thinking “What’s the big deal”? Well I hate games that restrict you from jumping especially games that have elevated geometry, games like The Witcher 2 and Kingdoms of Amular had the same problem. It’s a small detail but I like having the freedom to movement where I want when I want.

Gameplay with combat feels very familiar if you have played the Kingdom Hearts series, well it is the Kingdom Hearts battle system where it is real time rather than turn based, and it feels very stream lined compared to previous Final Fantasy games which I’ve been playing recently. This doesn’t mean it’s bad by any means, but I can see it will annoy Final Fantasy veterans because it almost sucks the challenge and tactics from previous games where this time you can mash the attack button and dodge. This is a Final Fantasy game for a new generation and audience and I don’t think the traditional gameplay would work in the triple A market.

You play through a dream sequence and you can control what happens in that dream whether it is the day night cycle and locations. This looks as if it will play a big part in the full game when it releases where you have to deter what is real and is fiction and I like this idea.

Overall I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played of Final Fantasy XV so far and I look forward to the full game when it releases on the 30^th of September on PS4 and Xbox One.