Destiny: The Taken King - Legendary Edition Review.

By Sam Coles:

If you’re familiar with my blog you’ll know that my impressions of Destiny when I reviewed it this time last year were a resounding meh. After 1 year of the game being out and the release with The Taken King with the Legendary Edition it’s the game it should have been and my opinion has completely changed. So what do you get in this Legendary Edition? Well you get Expansion 1: The Dark Below, Expansion 2: The House of Wolves and The Taken King in on package.

The story of the Taken King revolves around the antagonist called Oryx who is the son of the previous villain from the Dark Below Crota. He has started take different races such as the Fallen and the Kabal to turn them into the Taken which are a phantom like being that can teleport all over the place which are very annoying in battle. You must stop Oryx before he can take over the galaxy. The campaign for this expansion is interesting enough to keep you playing through it because it’s what the Destiny campaign should have been because the characters are interesting and it doesn’t leave you twisted in the wind with the context of the fights it actually tells you.

The gameplay hasn’t changed all that much so if you’re familiar with Halo gun play then you’ll be right at home with this game because it is very similar. You get a new sub class in my case as I am a Titan I got the Sunbreaker which is a hammer that is on fire which shoots fire balls with each swing which causes a huge amount of damage. The way I look at this game with its genre I think of it as 

Diablo but in first person, bear with me. It has the same chaotic looting system where you slowly upgrade your armour and weapons coupled with the great multiplayer co-op where you can take down harder enemies and bosses. This gameplay really hooks you because it has that just one more level factor to it because you want to discover rarer and rarer weapons and amour.

Big disclaimer though make sure that you’re a certain level before you even think about tackling The Taken King because you have to be at least level 30 because otherwise it will kick your arse and repurpose you as a paint brush with your blood. So what I would recommend is taking on the first two expansions first because they’re fairly low level expansions and make sure you’ve finished the vanilla Destiny content as well. Another thing you have to take into the mind is the raid I would recommend being level 40 before you even touch it and make sure you have 7 hours to spare because it’s longer than the House of Wolves raid.

But overall this expansion has given me a reason to give this game a second chance and I love it now, so if you’re still unsure about getting Destiny then buy the Legendary Edition because it actually feels like a complete game now.

Gears of War Ultimate Edition Review - How a Remaster is Done.

By Sam Coles:

With the sudden emergence (no pun intended) with the lazy remasters where they just slap 1080p and 60 frames a second, there are a few that aren’t lazy Gears of War Ultimate Edition is a great from the ground up remake that shows what you can do when you put in some effort. This sort of remake/remaster is great because the game visually hasn’t aged well as it is 10 years old next year, so the Collation made this to get ready for Gears of War 4.

 

So story of Gears of War is about a war between the humans and a race of creatures called Locust that live underground, which have now emerged to claim the surface for themselves. You play as Marcus Fenix a veteran from the COG, but he has been locked up in prison because he is a traitor. He is later pardoned for his crimes and his comrade Dominic Santiago comes and busts him out to once again pick up his Lancer and fight the Locust Horde.

The gameplay of Gears of War redefined how third person action games should be designed with elements such as a simple, but useful cover mechanic to a stable over the shoulder camera. It’s easy to learn the gameplay in Gears but it’s tough to master because this game requires very quick reflexes in the singleplayer and multiplayer. In order to succeed in this game you must perfect the headshot especially in multiplayer and in singleplayer on Hardcore difficulty and above. When start getting headshots you get into a rhythm almost and you get them consistently.

 

You have a variety of weapons that are unique such as your main primary weapon being the fun Lancer which has a chainsaw bayonet which it never gets old sawing enemies in half as your character roars in rage. The gnasher shotgun which if you’re smart especially in the multiplayer this will always be you’re number two weapon because it is great for those tense close quarter battles which is so satisfying when you land a headshot or blow them to pieces. Other special weapons are more exotic and you don’t get too much ammo for such as the Torque bow which is an explosive bow and arrow type weapon and the Boomshot which is a grenade launcher type weapon use them wisely because ammo is scarce for these weapons. You also get access to two side arms the snub pistol which is more or less useless so I would immediately recommend ditching it for the much better boltok pistol which is a powerful hand cannon which is good for nailing headshots or blowing enemies to smithereens.

 

Graphics have been given a fresh coat of paint and completely overshadows the original game, they have redone the cutscenes by reshooting the mocap and the redoing the faces on the characters so they actually look as if they’re reacting to the situation rather them looking like they have too much Botox in the face so they can’t move their mouth. The singleplayer runs at 1080p and 30 frames per second, but the multiplayer runs at 60 fps which does baffle me because it feels so good at 60 and it’s just a bit bizarre and jarring when you switch between the two because of the frame rate difference and I don’t know why they made it 30 fps with the singleplayer.

 

 

The multiplayer has been fine-tuned and is acutally playable because it runs on dedicated servers and not the painfully laggy peer to peer servers from 2006 and remember the internet was still somewhat slow in the year 2006. You have a variety of modes such as Team Deathmatch I don’t need to explain, King of the Hill where you have to capture and hold annexes, 2v2 gnashers where two teams of two fight it out with shotguns, Warzone where you only have one life and you have to eliminate all the players in the space of four rounds and execution where you have to kill players with executions only.

Gears of War Ultimate Edition is a great remake and is a great way to get ready for Gears of War 4 and it also comes with access to the Gears of War 4 beta. If you haven’t played Gears before this a great place to start and if you play from now to 31 of December you get the other Gears games for free when the backwards compatibility launches. If you own an Xbox One pick this game up if you want some good old fashion hardcore violence.

The Elder Scrolls Online Xbox One Review - Tamriel is Yours To Explore (Sort of)

By Sam Coles:

 

When The Elder Scrolls Online first launched on PC back in 2014 it was far from stellar as the mechanics weren’t great with things such as you only getting 1 gold from killing each enemy and micro transactions that you would expect in a free to play and on top of that they were expecting a monthly subscription fee. Now it has come to consoles where they have fixed some of the problems from the original release but it’s not perfect so let’s dive in shall we.

 

Usually the story isn’t hugely important in MMO’s but this is The Elder Scrolls and they try to make it important and after the prologue you’ll swiftly forget about it. The story takes place 1000 years before the events of Skyrim which is odd because technology hasn’t changed in that space of time, anyway the Daedric lord Molag Bal has invaded the world of Tamriel, but at the same time there is a civil war happening between three factions which you will play a role in.

 

 

Before you set off in the world you must first create your character and choose from a vast collection of races and also you must choose your class and what faction you will fight for. The four classes that you have are:

Dragon Knight:

The Dragon Knight is a class that is very powerful dealing huge amounts of damage and are well suited to close quarters battles so you would want a player like this when you’re raiding tight dungeons. The weapons that they specialise in are two handed weapons such as great swords, battle axes and war hammers.

Sorcerer:

Well if you’re a veteran of any RPG you would know what this class does and specialises in, they are the class that uses magic by using magical staffs and which can conjure up many different elemental spells or you can use summoning spells to have creatures fight for you it’s the more creative class.

Templar:

This class can have multiple roles as they can use magic where they can wield staffs as healers, but at the same time they can also use a sword shield this is great if you’re not sure what class to pick as it is a middling role in my opinion because the one I picked.

Nightblade:

This class is basically what other games would call a rogue who use duel weapons such as daggers and most of their special attacks are stealth based so if you want to be a dirty thief then this class is the class for you.

 

 

You’ll have most of Tamriel to explore from the Cyrodiil to the southern rain forests of Elsweyr but you can’t explore all of it because I expect they’ll add them in at a later date. However this isn’t a traditional Elder Scrolls game where you can explore anything to hearts content, no this is an MMO so areas will have certain level enemies, such as the starting area you’ll encounter mobs that will be between level 1-16 and the further you explore the higher the levels get so make you sure you’re at the right level before exploring a certain area because otherwise you’ll die a lot.

 

 

Gameplay wise well if you’ve played Skyrim it’s very similar even down to the user interface with the compass and the menu. Combat happens in real time so you’re not just sat there watching an animation play out while you let the game calculate if you’ve hit them or not. Your earn XP from combat, finding lore books and the obvious one completing quest, which will allow to increase health, stamina and mana but you’ll get a chance to unlock a slot for different attacks, defences and distractions and you can evolve them so they can become more powerful or turn into something completely different.

 

 

Graphics aren’t anything to ride home about and to be honest it looks like something from the Xbox 360 but the 7^th generation couldn’t of handled such a large game with the player count and the size of the map, so I understand why the graphics aren’t anything mind blowing and plus it is a multiplayer game so you do have sacrifice graphics sometimes. Not to say that game looks bland each area is different which keeps it fresh and you see the surprising amount of effort that has gone into the architecture in the cities, towns and small villages you come across on your adventure.

 

The negatives I really have with this game is that it is very repetitive because some of the quests just seem to blur together by the end of it, so I would highly recommend getting a group of friends together to get full enjoyment out of this game because on your own it is fairly boring. Also the gold rewards can be a tad pitiful and the best way to get around in this game is by horse and the starting cost of a horse is about 14,000 gold and you generally only get about 100-400 gold in each quest.

 

Overall though Elder Scrolls Online is competent but nothing that is going to blow your mind, if you’re looking for a game to burn some time or just need an Elder Scrolls fix then I would say give it a go.

Infamous Second Son Review - Shows what open worlds are capable on PS4.

By Sam Coles:

Infamous Second Son is a game that I’ve been a bit hesitant with buying because of the mixed reception with gamers, in one camp you have people saying that it’s the worst Infamous game and in the other people are saying it’s great so you can understand my cautious nature. So what do I think? Well…. I’m in the middle I think it’s good but not great by any stretch.

In Infamous Second Son you play as Delsin Rowe who is a young anarchist who goes around causing trouble by doing graffiti for the most part who also has an older brother who happens to be a police officer. On their travels after his old brother catches him as he’s doing his thing they stumble upon a prison transport with not your usual convicts, these convicts have super powers and are called Conduits. Delsin gets into an altercation with one of them and finds out that he can absorb their powers, Delsin thinks that this is fantastic but however does not know the repercussions of being a Conduit. Delsin’s older brother explains that Conduits are branded as “Bio terrorist” so he must hide his power or find a cure for him. So you then set out for Seattle looking for a cure and take down the leader of the DUP and gain more powers in the process.

The story isn’t inspiring by any means but it does its job to keep you motivated to push you through it as the game is well voice acted coupled with fantastic facial animation and sometimes funny quips in the dialogue.

The gameplay in this game is a super hero type sandbox game and what I mean by this is that you traverse the city by non-traditional means by gliding with your neon powers or running up walls, which is great fun once you get a rhythm of gliding and running up walls to then get into combat. You have a selection from four power types that you gradually get through game Smoke, Neon, Video and Concrete. Here is a breakdown on the powers:

Smoke:

Smoke has attacks if you didn’t guess it already around smoke and some fire based attacks, so you’ll be able to shoot fireballs out of your and turn into smoke to dodge or go through air vents. You can draw more energy from smoking chimes or burnt out cars.

Neon:

Probably the most visually intense of the powers as it is colourful and bright. This allows you to shoot neon lasers out of your hands as well as the ability to run up walls in a stream of bright purply pink stream as you dodge enemy gun fire.

Video:

This one is a very bizarre one because Infamous has always been about elements when it came down to powers and the last time I checked video isn’t an element but none less it doesn’t mean that this power is not cool. You have the ability to fly for a short amount of time with the digital wings you can spawn when you press circle. You have a rapid fire primary attack that is very effective against ground troops coupled with a homing attack that shoots swords.

Concrete:

This is the last power that you gain and it’s probably the most powerful ability you get with its rock dash which makes you invulnerable to all incoming attacks for a short while and you can also smash cars out of the way with it. You also get a three burst shooting attack for taking down enemies and of course an attack that shoots four massive rocks out at the same time to take down tougher and bigger soldiers.

Graphics are beautiful especially during the night time segments when it’s raining, seeing the bright neon signs reflect off the puddles as you see each rain drop hit the ground. The visual effects on the powers are bright and colourful which really helps differentiate each power so none look the same. The facial animation as I discussed briefly above is top notch and as it should as it’s the new generation of consoles really capturing the emotion of each character as they’re locked in conversation.

Now the negatives that I have is that the sandbox in my opinion is really, really small which would have been fine for the 7^th or 6^th generation, but not in the 8^th generation. Another thing that I had trouble with as the bizarre dimming effect with the powers every time I used a power and it makes the game seem very dark even when I turned the brightness up it just annoys me. The final negative is that the game is far too short, just when I was really getting into the campaign it was over and I know you’re meant to play it twice, but I’m not going to play it twice because some characters may have different hats on or jackets with no major difference in story.

Overall though Infamous Second Son isn’t a bad game, but it does fall short with its open world and campaign length, but if you have a PS4 I would say pick this up as it’s fairly cheap now and is a blast with gameplay.

Assassin's Creed IV Blag Flag Review - Ahoy mateys!

By Sam Coles:

Assassin’s Creed these days has the credibility of stale bread due to the lack of innovation and the disastrous launch of Unity, but here is a game where they flexed their creative muscles after the bore fest that was Assassin’s Creed III so they went screw it! Let’s make a pirate game where you’re not even an Assassin’s for most of the game.

So in Assassin’s Creed IV you take control of Edward Kenway who is a Welsh pirate who happens to seek what the Assassin’s and Templars are seeking not because of destiny, but because he is a bastard who wants to make money. That’s what I like about this game is the fact that you’re not an Assassin for most of the game you’re just a pirate out to make money and flip the finger at the King’s Navy and it’s brilliant. It’s a good Pirate’s of the Caribbean game! So you’ll be sailing through the West Indies getting into naval skirmishes, getting into drunken fist fights, raiding plantations and part taking in breath taking sword fights.

The gameplay takes the good parts of Assassin’s Creed III with the naval combat but they’ve made it the main focus of the game so you’ll be getting into battles with the Spanish and British navy and plundering their goods to help upgrade your ship such as armour and weapons.

The sword fighting is fast and fluid and I think that helps the fact that you can carry two swords and four flintlock pistols on you, so you can set a rhythm to the fights so if there are enemies that are far away you can cap them and then get back into the sword fighting with no delay. It does feel that you need to be aggressive by actually fighting instead of just standing there like a twat waiting for them to take turns to hit you before you stab them up and their ears pop off like champagne corks.

As you sail the West Indies you’ll find loot and people in the ocean that you can save to be part of your crew and bolster your supplies such as rum or new materials to help you craft new holsters and other parts to help upgrade your ship the Jackdaw. You can also steal supplies from other ships where it has you engage in thrilling naval battles to weaken their defences where you then board them and get your swords dirty.

Visually this game looks beautiful from the subtle touches with the serine emerald see to the smoke settling from the cannons after you’ve unleashed a barrage for death and pain. The character models do look a bit strange, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt because it was a cross gen game and the start of the 8^th generation of consoles, so it’s excusable.

Overall this game is the best Assassin’s Creed in the series and I’m glad that I downloaded it when it was free on Xbox Live with the games with gold program. Although it’s no longer free on the Xbox Live you can pick up for a really cheap price on all platforms which can range from £10-£15 so grab it and set sail.  

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Supremacy DLC Review (PS4) - "This is my Boomstick"

By Sam Coles:

 

So Sledgehammer games finally release their third piece of DLC for Call of Duty Advanced Warfare for PS4 which continues the Exo Zombie mode and gives you 4 new maps to play around in multiplayer which seem revolve around governmental building as well as a remake of the Modern Warfare 2 map Highrise.

The new map Carrier adds a new character to the mix who is played by none other than Bruce Campbell who brings his fantastic B-movie cheese to the Zombie mode. It is what the mode needed because up to until this point the mode was somewhat serious and Bruce mixed with the over the top violence is a perfect match.

Here are the 4 maps that you’ll get with the multiplayer:

 

Kremlin:

 

 

This map takes place in the parliament of Russia also known as the Kremlin so you’ll be battling through the halls of this governmental building which is a mix of close quarters and medium range fights as there is an outside bridge where there are mounted Miniguns in windows either side of the bridge. It can get very dicey in game modes such as Hardpoint as you can have people at either end on the miniguns laying down covering fire on the area.

 

Parliament:

 

 

This is a close quarter’s map set on a boat in the river Thames just by the Houses of Parliament so recommended loadout would be SMG’s and Shotguns to get the best out of this map, but do watch out there are a lot of out of the way places where snipers can get set up and aren’t that noticeable sometimes.

 

Skyrise:

 

Skyrise if the title didn’t give it away or if you have not been a Call of Duty player in the past 7 years is a reimagining of the map Highrise from Modern Warfare 2 which with the added boost jumps makes the map more interesting because you can reach parts of the map that you couldn’t before, so you can get great vantage points. This a medium to long range map so keep an assault rifle or sniper handy to deal with resistance.

 

Compound:

Compound is a very close quarters map which apparently if you use spectator mode it looks very similar to the map Rust from Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, but has been remade into an Atlas training facility. The main problem I have with this map is in the game mode Uplink that the game doesn’t go anywhere most of the time because the ball gets stuck in the middle because people just camp and gun everybody down so you can’t move the ball at all most of the time.

 

Overall the inclusion of Bruce Campbell and his funny quips make this DLC and gives the zombies mode a light hearted to touch.

Wolfenstein The New Order- One Year Later.

 

By Sam Coles:

So if you’re an avid reader of my blog you will know that I love Wolfenstein The New Order, one year later I’ve come back to game since I’ve played The Old Blood and of course I upgraded to the PS4 version which was nice. I just wanted to give my opinion on it after a year of its release and if it stills holds up, in short yes but let’s get into it shall we.

Wolfenstein before this game was on the edge that the fact that no one really talked about it and no one wanted to really play a game in the series, so the series went on hiatus for a few years. Then a third party developer took up the I.P and created a great game which would not have regenerating health and no multiplayer. The thing about Wolfenstein The New Order that gamers and critics loved was the fact there was a human touch added to the series that all the characters felt worn down by the situation and don’t want to fight anymore, even down to B.J questioning what he is doing by killing all these Nazis. The villains are brilliant who instantly hateable and not just the fact that they are Nazis which yes is a big part, but also their characters are well written.

 

 

Let’s talk about the gameplay; has it aged well in a year? Of course it has it’s fast paced and over the top with its hardcore violence where enemies heads pop like cherries and that you can duel weld weapons that you wouldn’t be able to in real life. You have a vast array of weapons from your standard pistol, shotgun, machine and stuff and then you have the sci-fi weapons such as the laser that will make your enemies explode if you do a well-placed headshot. As I said this game has no multiplayer and the thing is it doesn’t need a multiplayer mode as it has a long campaign that will keep you invested with the characters and story.

Overall the game still holds after a year and will hold up as one of the best games of the 8^th generation in my opinion and you can pick up this game and the stand alone expansion The Old Blood for £30 together these days so go and get it if you haven’t played it.