Editorial | What makes Far Cry..... Far Cry?

By Sam Coles:

Hard to believe that the Far Cry series is still going, case in point with the recent announcement of Far Cry 6 (at the time of writing). This time I want to cover gameplay aspects and settings with in the series, and what makes them so compelling and fun. The Far Cry games have always had a special place in my heart since my teenage years when I first explored baron deserts of Far Cry 2, with chaotic moments mix with more sombre moments. Let’s get into it.

Oh look I’m contradicting myself already by talking about the villains which is narrative based, but to be fair they tend to be the first thing you see in each game as they set up the context for your adventure. Most of the villains tend to be absolutely psychotic although The Jackal is an outlier as he is more with it, but anyway they are mad with an agenda with you the protagonist. From the psychotic ramblings of Vaas, the calm yet volatile mind of Pagan Min and the insane brainwashed mumbling of Joseph Seed. They all serve their setting and purpose of an antagonist, which serve as the context of each game and elevates the narrative.

Let’s talk about setting when a Far Cry game is announced my curiosity stems to where it is set, because the setting is often a great backdrop to the chaos that is about to ensue. From the tropical Rook Islands, the frost laden mountains of The Himalayas and the rural farms of Hope County. They all feel unique and will have your mouth dropping to the floor with their beauty; they make you want to explore every corner to see each detail. Exploration is key in these games as you have to craft items for yourself, now I know crafting is generally met with a resounding groan but honestly it is at a basic level where you have to hunt an animal and then you can craft holsters etc. Nothing particularly complex, but it encourages you to cover the map to hunt for supplies it adds to the survival and gritty nature of the series.

Gameplay is one that can often be contentious, on one have you have those that it gets stale and doesn’t really innovate and on the other you have those who say it has different outcomes and possibilities to a situation. I fall into the latter because yes you can break the game with a suppressed sniper rifle if you are boring, but you would be missing out on the other weapons and opportunities when conquering strongholds and enemy encounters.

The game gives a lot of weapons and tools for a reason, you can scope out enemies and take the silent approach and pick them off with your bow and machete like the ghost you are. Or my favourite in Far Cry 4 storm through the gates as you ride an elephant and mow down everyone with a light machinegun, as you watch them run away and cower in fear. It is this flexibility of the series that it doesn’t punish you for choosing a specific approach, it actively encourages you by providing you with the right tools. There was one scenario where I assaulted an enemy base where I rigged several walls with C4, then I went back to a safe distance and detonated it and watched them all run around in confusion and then a tiger came out of nowhere to tear them apart. It is also organic with the wildlife too, speaking of which.

The wildlife adds to the gameplay too as they can be used as distractions, get in your way when an eagle decides to attack you when you are scoping a compound out or can be killed for bait. It is an extra string to the combat, as you will come across animals caged in bases where you can then shoot the cage and watch the entire base run around flapping their arms. It creates many knee slapping moments especially in Far Cry 5 where you throw some bait, and all of a sudden the game spawns a bear out of thin air. Granted it does break the immersion somewhat to see a bear spawn out of a tree but it us funny nonetheless.

Far Cry is a series that has flexibility with its gameplay it becomes monotonous because you find a comfortable playstyle without experimenting, as the game gives you the tools to find new ways of conquering challenges. I look forward to the release of Far Cry 6 with what new weapons I can use to terrify my enemies.

Ion Fury Review - "Talk sh*t, get shot".

By Sam Coles:

We now return to another instalment of Sam waiting for the games industry to release something noteworthy, anyway while I do that let me tell you about an amazing old school first person shooter called Ion Fury. Original named Ion Maiden until a metal band who I shall not name which is really obvious who it is decided to threaten the devs with legal action, however despite the name change the game is excellent and something that is worth your time.

Ion Fury takes place in a dystopian future where the world has been destroyed, where an evil scientist is trying to take over the world (que Pinky and The Brain reference). You play as Bombshell trying to stop him, and that’s your lot and to be honest it is an old school shooter they were not exactly known for their intelligence with storytelling. The most you would get back in the day were scrolling text screens just in case that you haven’t burned the nearest school down, it’s just a small layer of context to flesh out the gameplay.

Now onto the gameplay, this game uses the Build Engine and if that sounds familiar then that is because it was the same engine that was used to make Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior and Blood. It is your typical shooter of the time where you find secrets for more exotic pick-ups and weapons and key cards to open colour specific doors, it sounds stock standard but the level design has a lot of verticality so you will be ambushed from up, down, right, left and every corner known to man or woman in this game’s case. The level design is fantastic as it encourages you to explore it, with nooks and crannies holding goodies and surprises plus it will make you a bit cautious as enemies could be hiding anywhere.

Now let’s talk about Bombshell’s arsenal, she starts off with a revolver which unlike most shooters it is actually useful for the entirety of the game as it can one shot most enemies with its alternate fire. If you hold down the left trigger (Xbox) she will hold her hand above the hammer, then you can lock onto multiple enemies at once and gun them down like Charles Bronson at the start of Once Upon a Time in the West. It is very effect, and I would argue somewhat over powered for a pistol in an FPS game but let’s talk about the other weapons.

For the sake of time I will be briefer with the other weapons. You gain a shotgun which can also fire grenades and yes that is as amazing as it sounds, a crossbow which is very effect with headshots, an SMG which have fire rounds which can also be duel wielded (Shadow Warrior influence there) and bombs that you can bowl at people or light a timed fuse to throw in a room. All the weapons in the game have their uses; they don’t feel completely situational, because every single one of them are useful throughout the game.

In terms of controls Ion Fury is slick and smooth to play, Bombshell will run at the speed of sound which makes speedruns of levels so satisfying. Enemies are extremely tough, but at the same time can be put down relatively quick with a few shots not counting boss characters. Hit scan enemies do cause annoyance but hey they were a staple in shooters back then, but the small crawling enemies can go back to the hell came from and burn for an eternity. The game can be very difficult, I played this on normal and the game kick seven shades of blue out of me and stuck prong up my backside and repurposed me as a windscreen wiper, what I’m trying to say is that it mopped the floor with me in some segments.

Presentation looks amazing; it has the 2D sprite art of old shooters which look fantastic, with a good use of voxels with pick-ups and certain interactive objects throughout the world. The game runs at 60 frames per second mostly, I did notice it stutter in a few places on my Xbox One which is amazing that an engine this old can give modern hardware a run for its money. Only issues I had that at one point it crashed on me twice in a row, but that has only happened to me once within a week so not a deal breaker.

Overall Ion Fury was an exciting thrill ride of action; it gave just the right amount of challenge which put me through a wide spectrum of emotions from irritated, angry and relieved when I would conquer a level. It gets a huge thumbs up from me and is one of the best old school inspired FPS games I have played!

Editorial | Far Cry 2: Examining its narrative and detail.

By Sam Coles:

The Far Cry series is in a comfort zone these days since the release of Far Cry 3, although 5 did shake things up but they tend to follow a similar structure. Not a bad thing by any means, but playing them makes me feel that I’m going down a check list instead of being on an exotic adventure. Far Cry 2 is probably the most contentious game in the series, while others love it there a lot who dislike or dare I say it hate it. I fall in the camp that loves it, because after 12 years since its release it has aged like a fine wine, with its atmosphere and narrative. I want to go other what makes it special with its narrative and atmosphere.

Now when you mention Far Cry 2 you don’t often think of the story due to it not being exposition heavy like other games, however it is there you just have to pay attention. The game doesn’t insult the player’s intelligence as they could have had drawn out cutscenes, but they chose the Half-Life route of choosing your own immersion. You could take at face value with the civil war between two factions in a fictional region of central Africa, or you could look at the finer details and find out there is more than meets the eye especially with the villain The Jackal.

The Jackal is often sighted as a forgettable villain in the series; however I would have to disagree because he serves his purpose as this ominous entity where you don’t find him, he finds you. He is a very erudite and intelligent man, I mean the first time you meet at the start of the game he is quoting from Friedrich Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil he often quotes classical literature such as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness throughout the game as it is relevant about looking at humans in this scenario as vile creatures who want nothing more than money in exchange for blood. The Jackal is feared because people don’t really know who he is, you find tapes where he is being interviewed and he has a very cynical way of looking at life with what he does and to quote “Weapons are not bio degradable, but humans are”. He sees humans as nothing more than expendable cogs in the machine, which makes for lucrative business for him.

Even the brief descriptions of each of the mercenaries when you start the game are vague, but also give this underline context that these people are not necessarily bad as most are trying to make money for their families back home. However it also shows they are willing to kill and destroy anything that gets in their way, all for a payment at the end of the day. It’s a subtle yet powerful message as one has to ask what would you do to support the people you love? Would you pick up a gun and jump from faction to faction, playing off one another. This is all done with very little dialogue and conveys it through your actions, as well as seeing the destruction of previous mercenaries in the environments, speaking of environments let’s move onto the details.

Considering this game (at time of writing) is 12 years old it still stands up to most modern games in terms of environments and details. The world shows a beautiful yet destroyed world, where once there was a thriving community but now there are corpses of society both figuratively and literally. Abandoned villages with discarded and rotting food and animals litter the environments, coupled with burnt out buildings that were pillaged for a “great cause” from which ever faction invaded that homestead that day. Blood lines the sand when you walk through the baron deserts as you can hear echoes of gunfire in the distance, as you examine their previous work as you piece together why they would do this.

It’s not all deserts and wastelands Far Cry 2 does indulge its previous lineage by including some rich jungles in the mainland, lush with flora and fauna with a thick atmosphere of humidity. These environments tend to have more inhabitants compared to the outer areas, but not by much as they tend greet you with hostility and chase you down as soon as they see you.

The details don’t just stem from the environment to create this hostile world, it’s the animations too. Now I know the weapon degradation was a contentious feature to say the least, but if you really take a good look at the themes and world of the game it is thematically appropriate. The game is set in a third world country so you would expect weapons to be in different conditions, they are not always going to be reliable and they are passed around from corpse to corpse. It adds a layer of tension as you don’t know when your handgun is going to blow up in your hand due it jamming, it makes being out in the middle of nowhere extra tense.

Coupled with that are the injury animations that will be different depending on where you have taken damage, this can range from popping a dislocated thumb back into place, pulling bullets out with your teeth from your wrist, pushing bolts through your legs and many more as I would be here all day describing them. It is hard to watch some of them due to how graphic they are, but again it adds to the immersion.

Far Cry 2 even 12 years later after its release is still a highly detailed game; its subtle narrative that encourages the player to figure things out for themselves is a dark tale of what humanity would do at their lowest. The beautiful and destroyed world makes for a captivating experience, if you haven’t played it I would highly recommend it.

Saints Row: The Third Remastered Review - Absurd! (in a good way)

By Sam Coles:

You know when you are in drought of game releases when I have to review are remasters, so here I am again with Saints Row: The Third Remastered. Now you would think that this is a shallow cash grab which when it was first announced I had that same outlook, however the developers put actual effort into this remaster. So much so that it bridges into remake territory. Is any good?  Is it worth picking up? In short yes, let’s get into it.

Saints Row: The Third takes place after the events of the second game, where The Third Street Saints have become celebrities and media moguls. They are so popular that they are signing autographs at a bank they are robbing, it is completely absurd but that is part of the story in the older Saints Row games as they balance goofy with a serious tone in parts. During this daring bank heist things escalate and the bank staff are armed and open fire, where The Saints are then arrested where you get to customise your character and you find out that the bank belonged to a rival crew called “The Syndicate”. They find themselves in Steelport with no money or influence, so the purple clad gang must rebuild one piece at a time. The story is really fun, but you can really tell this game was released in 2011 originally because some of the jokes don’t quite land now, and the music screams of that era with the overuse of Dub-Step (yeah remember that genre of “music”).

Gameplay has been left unchanged where you have a mix of shooting, driving, fist fighting or obliterating someone with a phallic shaped bat (yes really) which adds more to the over top nature. Gunplay feels serviceable not bad by all means, but it just comes across as a bit floaty as I sometimes struggle to keep on target. It is mitigated when you unlock upgrades such as increase bullet damage, as well as accuracy upgrades but the shooting does feel like a bit of a chore when you start the game off. However the hand to hand and melee combat is really fun, I can’t help but suplex every pedestrian that gets in my way or as I said before deck someone with a dildo baseball bat.

Driving took me  a while to get use to as I have just came off of playing Mafia II which has a more realistic approach, but Saints Row tells you to go nuts and throw your cars around corners collateral damage be damned and it is supremely fun. Not only that impact feedback feels great when you hit other cars and pedestrians as they rocket into the sky Team Rocket style, plus the sound design is top notch when pedestrians thud as they collide with your bonnet.

Like the past games Saints Row: The Third has a bevy of side activities to partake in, these can range from pimping, rampages and my favourite insurance fraud where you character acts as if he or she has no bones in their bodies and can fly around like a newspaper in New York. These are mostly for more money and XP for upgrades, which unlike Saints Row 2 you don’t have to do them to earn respect to continue the story which is a good thing.

Now to get to the meat and potatoes of the remaster, the presentation and I was very surprised how much effort went into changing and enhancing old assets. The lighting has been given a huge boost sunrises and sunsets look incredible, with the orange glow filling the streets of Steelport, coupled with the excellent neon lights that reflect in the rain soaked nights illuminating the darkness.

Character models look much better and look less like plastic action figures, they have visible pours and blemishes and clothe stitching have been given extra details too. Cars have more of a shine to them, with extra reflects especially during rain storms and it looks glorious. Now the framerate, if you have played the game on Xbox 360 and PS3 originally you would know the game does not run that well it stutters like crazy. I can say that this remaster runs absolutely fine if you lock the framerate on the base consoles at 30 fps, if you unlock the framerate it can jump all over the place so I would suggesting locking it if you are playing base machines.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised with Saints Row: The Third Remastered, it took the base game and enhanced every inch of the game which was completely unexpected. If you haven’t played it before this is the best way to play, and hell it is great for those who have already played it. It is a fantastic game, despite certain jokes not quite landing due to their dated nature but great game overall and I highly recommend it.

Mafia II: Definitive Edition Review - An offer you could probably refuse.

By Sam Coles:

With the trying times at the moment we all like to reside in our comfort zone, the games industry knows this by producing a good amount of remasters and remakes recently. Mafia II is one of my favourite story driven games from the Xbox 360 and PS3 era, where it wears its influences on its sleeves with storytelling ideas taken from The Godfather and Godfellas. Now 10 years have passed since its original release, 2K Games have produced a remaster for current gen consoles. Does this remaster do it justice? Yes and no.

Mafia II takes place in a fictional city within the US called Empire Bay, between the years of 1945 and 1951. You play as Vito Scaletta a young trouble maker trying to make it in the world of organised crime, one night he is robbing a jewellery story with his friend Joe where he is then arrested and sent to fight in the war during the invasion of Sicily. After he is shot in the war he is sent home, where his friend Joe has connections to get him out of the army where he then embroils himself in the world of organised crime. He ends up working for the Clementi Family where he is then thrown in jail for 10 years, and comes out in the new world of the 1950’s, where he ends up in a world of betrayal and murder. The story even 10 years later has aged well, with its storytelling with the dialogue and visual presentation.

I remember at the time gameplay was rather contentious as a lot of people were wondering what it was trying to be, a linear action game or open world GTA clone with a Mafioso skin. Well it kind of falls in between the two, while you can explore the world of Empire Bay it’s like and to quote Geralt from The Witcher Netflix series “It’s like ordering a pie and finding it has no filling”. While the open world aspect is very beautiful, it is about a hollow as my stomach in the morning where there is not much to do in it but that is not the main focus.

The main focus are the narrative missions, which have serviceable combat with guns having weight and a good punch to them which I cannot say for the hand to hand. The hand to hand is functional but not particularly engaging especially when you unlock the counter attack, where you can hold the block then use the counter move, rinse and repeat. I got most of my enjoyment out of the firefights and car chases, as the engine is still really impressive with bits of walls falling off in chunks as bullets rip through and cars turning into a burning shrapnel heap as you crash. Still very impressive and amplified with this remaster.

So does this remaster do the game justice? Yes and no, while from a console gamer’s perspective the game looks objectively better than the Xbox 360 and PS3 version. With character models (mostly the main characters) have more details on their face, hair and clothes. The environments look cleaner with extra details, such as improved textures with snow and various interior surfaces. Cars look sharper and look amazing, especially in the sunshine as it reflects beautifully.

I can hear you now, “Sam what is wrong with the game”? Well let’s start off with the big issue, it doesn’t run particularly well, I played this on a standard Xbox One and it stuttered a fair bit. The game targets 30 frames per second, but unfortunately struggles to maintain said framerate in busy environments, interior sections of the game as well as certain cutscenes. There were a few bugs that were not present in the original too, such textures on some character’s faces stretching all over the place which never happened in the original game or cars just spawning out of nowhere. The last issue is the audio mixing, this was an issue in the original but it is somehow worse in this version where it is either too loud or too quite. What is also very baffling, during most cutscenes audio for the dialogue will play out of one channel, the last I checked this is 2020 and mono audio is not a thing anymore.

Overall Mafia II: Definitive Edition is fine, but unfortunately is hampered by technical issues that were not present in the original. I would say grab this if you haven’t played it before, but I hope they fix these issues as this is one of the best narratives in video games from last decade.

Mortal Kombat: Aftermath Review - "Your move creep".

By Sam Coles:

Mortal Kombat has come a long way, from its edgy inception back in the early 1990’s to the more story driven experience we got in Mortal Kombat 9 onwards. So if you were to tell me that a fighting game was getting a story expansion I probably would have laughed at the absurdity, but here we are with Mortal Kombat: Aftermath for MK 11. Is it a worthy addition to the base game? Yes to a certain extent.

Mortal Kombat: Aftermath continues straight away after the ending of Mortal Kombat 11, where Liu Kang who is now a fire god and protector of Earthrealm has defeated Shinnok’s mother Kronika. Time itself is now in the hands of Liu Kang under the guidance of Raiden who is now a mortal after transferring his power to him; however Shang Tsung alongside with Nightwolf and Fujin turn up to stop Liu Kang as he may doom time itself. Shang Tsung explains that Liu Kang cannot reset time properly without Kronika’s crown, which was destroyed in the fight between the two. What transpires is a DC Comics style multiverse tale, where Shang Tsung goes back in time before Kronika has the crown. However the story makes more sense compared to DC’s multiverse plot and is straight forward and well written, well written for Mortal Kombat.

The story is well paced and yes it clocks in just over 2 hours, but it is as long as it needs to be if were any longer it would feel dragged out. I know this may be a pain due to the expansion’s price which even I think is pushing it a bit, but the extra work to produce the extra cutscenes is astonishing with the facial animations yet again producing a high amount of detail from subtle grins to the twitches in cheeks. Netherrealm have shown they are a force to be reckoned with when pushing technology and this is within the fighting genre.

What else do you get with this expansion? Well if you get the collection oh I’m sorry I mean “Kollection”, you get access to three new playable characters as well as the previous downloadable fighters. The three new characters are Fujin, Sheeva and Robocop and no you did not misread that I indeed did say Robocop. Now you can live out the R-Rated fantasy of The Terminator and Robocop smashing seven shades of shrapnel out of each other.

How does each character handle? Well let’s start off with the unstoppable law enforcing cyborg Robocop, as you would expect is extremely slow. He is a powerful character but I will be honest he is not fun to control or play with, his move set relies mostly on powerful strikes which I understand given his character but he is not that useful against most of the roster of Mortal Kombat 11. Sheeva is a nice addition she is and always has been a more faster and less powerful version of Goro, but like in the older games her air stomp move is easily spammed and is a cause of constant frustration. Finally Fujin is a great all-rounder similar to his godly brother Raiden, with the exception of that he wields the power of wind and not thunder and lighting.

Overall the new additions are fine; I feel Robocop is a fun yet gimmicky addition as he just doesn’t feel that useful in most fights. I like the call backs to the first film with his one liners and Fatalities, but I honestly do not seeing myself using him that often besides the novelty factor.

Mortal Kombat: Aftermath was a nice surprise as I wasn’t expecting a story expansion for a fighting game; it added more layers to the existing story with the return of Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa from the Mortal Kombat movie reprising his role as Shang Tsung. However the new characters are fine, with Robocop being a gimmick rather than a useful character, and also at the time of writing the price for the expansion is rather high considering the content oh I apologise again I mean “Kontent” you get. I recommend it, but only if you find it in a sale.

Editorial | The Last of Us, what made it stand out?

By Sam Coles:

Storytelling in the video game industry has come a long way, from rolling text, narration and fully acted scenes. In 2013 a game changed how story in games were told, where emotions within a video game narrative were genuine and you could connect to. Now I know the style of story with The Last of Us is rather standard now, but why is that the case? Let’s talk about it, which is rather fitting when the sequel is out soon (at the time of writing).

First announced at E3 of 2012 The Last of US was a radical shift in tone for Naughty Dog, at this point they were known for child friendly platformers and the bombastic Uncharted series, then they showed off The Last of Us. The brutality being shown off in the gameplay demo did not give me vibes of Naughty Dog; however one could argue that this is another step for the studio in the direction of maturity. A year goes by and The Last of Us releases on the PS3 in June of 2013, and it was the perfect swansong for the system. It garnered praise from both critics and gamers alike, and to this day people still tout it as one of the best games of last generation.

The narrative is something that instantly grabbed players from the start, the characters acted like well… human beings. This was when full body performances were being utilised properly, not the first game to do so as Halo 4 did it the year before as well as Max Payne 3 but I digress. The characters movements synced up perfectly with what they were saying, emotions had added weight and depth, and it didn’t feel like they were reading off a script but where channelling their own inner demons in the role to bring these characters to life.

Joel was a refreshing protagonist, as he wasn’t a hero or “good guy” in the traditional sense; he did what he did to survive. He comes across as a very nasty person sometimes, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t got a sensitive side as Ellie sparks the humanity within him back up again. Ellie is the other side of the coin as she fills in the daughter role that Joel hasn’t felt for 20 years at that point, she tries to make him see some form of normality and lighten up in certain situations when it is needed. On the other hand Joel eventually warms up to Ellie, becoming the father that she never had where he teaches her basic aspects of life to help survive. It’s this dynamic relationship between the two that keeps players hooked, as it is such a believable performance from Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker where you can feel the chemistry between the two works really well.

Now the gameplay can be a bit of a contentious sticking point for some, I use to think that it was somewhat unremarkable however over the years of examining this game I found that it works in the grounded setting. Everything from the combat, movement and even the user interface feels diegetic and not for a lack of better terms video gamey. Everything from switching weapons where Joel will rummage through his backpack, as well as picking up items from tables without feeling laborious (looking at you Red Dead 2), to the shaky nature when you aim weapons feels great and part of the world.

Yes when I first played this I thought the shooting was clunky, but these days I understand why you can’t hit a light switch in one shot from 100 yards away. It’s because you are a normal person, most people don’t tend to operate firearms every day and The Last of Us shows this as Joel’s aim isn’t always precise and shakes as an enemy gets closer and closer. His actions feel somewhat clumsy, but this is intentional as humans we tire over time and this game shows this through Joel’s heavy breathing in gunfights, hand to hand as well as throwing someone or something off him when he is caught off guard. It gives an immense weight to the situation, as a few shots can put you down as you are not a super soldier.

Now the presentation was something that was and still is something to behold, this could have been a launch title for the PS4 it really pushed the PS3 hardware to its limits. So much so it would stutter in parts, but it did get an eventual re-release on the PS4 as a “remaster”. The game looks beautiful, it makes a destroyed world look peaceful a world you want to live, with forest areas rich with vegetation to crumbling cities that once had a thriving community. Characters look believable as I said before animate in a convincing manner which includes combat encounters, where they clutch at certain wounds. For a game that is nearly 7 years old, it has aged extremely well.

The Last of Us is a landmark title that really set the trend for the Xbox One and PS4 generation for singleplayer games, with its well performed and written story that will have you hooked. Even 7 years later it still stands the test of time, and with this generation wrapping up once again Naughty Dog is sending off another PlayStation console with The Last of Us Part II.