167 replies to this topic

[Jykel]

Hmm probably shoulda posted my review for Bound by Flame here but hey

Finished it on the weekend, Overall:  3.5/10  (see the BbF thread for me review)

Its only a 15 hour campaign.   I will attempt a 2nd playthrough out of curiosity just to see if the story line branching changes my opinion, though I doubt it.

[GraphicX]

BbF really does sound like an all round let down.  i'm still keen to give it a go, but ds2 has me enthralled still & i'll probably jump to a racing game inbetween them.

[Axe99]

Top stuff Graph, and well reviewed .  Enjoy the second playthrough, it sounds like a really well-put together game.  Only reason I reckon I won't go near it is the need to play online if you're dying a bit (which is what I'd be doing!)

[GraphicX]

yeah i dunno how you'd go playing offline as you'd have no chance of jumping in another game & renewing your health & equipment durability, plus getting the extra souls helping people to level up.  you'd also probably get hammered by most of the bosses.  there are some AI phantoms throughout the game for offline play, but they're few & far between i think.

[Axe99]

GraphicX, on 19 May 2014 - 06:40 AM, said:

yeah i dunno how you'd go playing offline as you'd have no chance of jumping in another game & renewing your health & equipment durability, plus getting the extra souls helping people to level up.  you'd also probably get hammered by most of the bosses.  there are some AI phantoms throughout the game for offline play, but they're few & far between i think.

Aye, appreciate the advice .  Seems like a bit poor of a design imo - kind of like an always-online RPG that could potentially have been fine in single player.  I'll always have The Witcher .

[GraphicX]

THIS IS AN EARLY IMPRESSIONS REVIEW, I'VE ONLY PLAYED 2-3 HOURS OF THE GAME.

WATCH DOGS

so fired this up last night, am playing the pc version at a tv with a 360 controller.

Gameplay 4/10
from the get go the game just doesn't feel right, kinda like when you move from playing CoD to BF or vice versa, how you just don't feel comfortable.  i think it's the fairly slow sensitivity (i have it on 90%) combined with a really narrow field of view for an open world game.

the game seems to be big, REALLY big.  the city looks beautiful & there are people & cars EVERYWHERE.  the immersion from that environment is fantastic, but is really gimped by the limited field of view which just feels totally unnatural & restricted.

you can drive cars & boats, both of which are really bad.  the variety of cars is fantastic, they look like real world models but they're not licensed so they're badged a bit differently, but that's no issue as the variety really is incredible & even the damage modelling is great.  unfortunately when you jump behind the wheel it just isn't a good experience.  maybe they'll patch something in but driving is a big part of the game & the physics, if you can even call it that, are bad.

hacking was the big innovation in this game & it gets a little repetitive & is a bit of a throwaway thing.  the puzzles mostly surround the hacking with your phone, but they're extremely basic, usually flicking between cameras until you can view a door to unlock.  there is digital lock picking/hacking with puzzles which works well though.

the game doesn't reward you at all for any creativity or innovation you may try to use in solving issues.  you need to enter certain areas to either hack a mainframe or take control of a tower (ala. far cry), but you MUST do it exactly as the game designers want or you can't do it at all.  this really hurts the game as far as it being an open world/sandbox game in my eyes & it was pretty frustrating seeing better solutions to issues but literally having invisible walls prevent you from carrying them out.

as mentioned earlier the world is really richly populated & provides a real sense of a real city with people going about their business.  when you encounter people you're able to hack their phones, but unless prompted there is no ability to interact with them beyond that.  each person you walk past can show you a profile about them with stolen personal info that you need to acquire in each region of the city.  the info is useless though.

when hacking peoples phones though you'll often receive really quick little quests.  they may have dumped stolen goods you can recover, they may be planning a crime you can foil or you may simply stumble upon their account details & be able to clean them out at the next atm you visit ... which brings us to money.

money in the game is yet to have any place from what i can tell.  you receive money as a reward for certain missions or via hacking but you can't do too much with it.  you can visit a clothing store if you don't like your attire, you can quick purchase a stolen car via your phone or you can buy guns & ammo.  but really there's no need to do any of that (remembering i'm only in an early stage of the game though).  you can steal any car, safest if it's parked & unattended & guns/ammo you retrieve from fallen enemies.  in just one hideout encounter i ended up with a massive arsenal, surely more guns than i would ever need for a play through for example.

there is also a crafting system that i haven't even looked at beyond when you're made to use it in the tutorial.  maybe it'll become vital later in the game, but at the moment i've never even thought to use it.

Graphics 7/10
the graphics are good, but incredibly inconsistent.  the biggest two standouts for me at this point is going to the house of my sister.  it was raining, the road was shiny & lined with puddles & it just looked incredible.  but the picket fence of the house looked like clipart & was in the same scenery.  upon entering the house it was very sparsely furnished, very little detail or attention had been given & it looked like a house from the sims or something.  the boy's room had near no furniture or toys & the whole house was like this, kinda just like a 3D model an architect would create.  compared to something like last of us it just appeared unfinished or they didn't bother fleshing out the detail.

Sound 6/10
audio on the pc version is very quiet, just turn up the speakers/tv/whatever & that's fine, but next game you play will be loud as.  there's also no way to increase the in game volume to rectify it.

voice acting is just 'ok', but the movement of facial features when speaking is quite poor & waxy.

Controls Interface 7/10
the controls function well, there is a cover system, you can draw your weapon at any point & start gunning people down or whatever.  you can vault over objects etc & it all feels fairly natural to a degree.  issues arise when you try to view inventories, change weapons etc as you need to hold a button down, move the analogue stick & move the dpad all at the same time & it's very cumbersome.

Story Presentation -/10
not giving this a rating at present but i will say i'm playing through the story but it hasn't engaged me at all.  i can recall the name of his dead daughter but nothing more.  the story has been told in little slithers & it's just not working.  it's trying to reveal events that have lead to the distant life your character leads, but since it's in pieces it's not really sinking in or being told very well.

Multiplayer -/10
i can't really rate this at the moment.  i've been invaded & i've invaded someone else but at this point appears pointless & not something i'm looking to repeat.  i might be missing something though.

Overall 6-7/10
early impression obviously but it's nothing special & if the game is more than say 15 hours i probably will never finish it, & i'm pretty obsessive in clocking games.

[GasClown]

GraphicX, on 29 May 2014 - 04:46 AM, said:

THIS IS AN EARLY IMPRESSIONS REVIEW, I'VE ONLY PLAYED 2-3 HOURS OF THE GAME.

Of what game?

[GraphicX]

ROFL, will edit in now, wrote that over the last several hours in spits & spats :/

[Axe99]

Shame to hear it's not grabbin' ya Graph - I'm also critical of arbitrary approaches to doing stuff in a game world when it feels like you should be able to take other approaches (especially in open-world games!)  It's odd as well, as in AC4 you can get fairly creative in how you go about things (although it took a while for the series to get deep enough for this to work well).  I hope it gets better .

[GraphicX]

with engaging enemies you have choices in how you approach that (stealth, guns blazing or even trying to hack around them), but in solving puzzles that should really have other ways in doing them you simply can't.  it's not accidental that you can't either as invisible walls are literally erected in places they wouldn't usually be (ie. if there's a wall you could jump on the bonnet, then roof of a car or truck & then over it, but if it's in a certain area it'll just stop you doing it).

[Aromaci]

The size of the map and it being developed on old hardware was always going to hold this game back.

[straussy240]

Finally finished Tom Raider Clowny will be happy, but I am still tossing up whether to play Dishonored first or Half Life 1 and 2

It was good, but I enjoy Uncharted a bit more for the style of gameplay and the characters. Regardless still a very solid game - the only thing that bugged me was the ending:

Spoiler

I wanted to learn more about the mysterious power of the sun god and how she controlled the weather to her will. Instead we simply kill her to prevent the transferring of her soul into young Sam's body who I didn't feel connected to at all. Take her! I want some interesting lore Furthermore, how did WW2 Japanese/German scientists and military fit into this game? I didn't find all the journals so I am probably missing something here, but more context within the main story would have been nice. Maybe they were just setting it up for the next game? Or were they not important at all and just simply more poor souls who died on the island?

[Axe99]

Nice one Straussy .  I suspect that you'll get the Clowny stamp of approval for either of your next gaming options .

[GasClown]

straussy240, on 12 June 2014 - 08:33 AM, said:

Finally finished Tom Raider Clowny will be happy, but I am still tossing up whether to play Dishonored first or Half Life 1 and 2

Awesome mate. Couple of questions - are you going to play Black Mesa? I'd play that rather than the original HL1. Secondly, if you're going HL2, you should go Ep1 and Ep2 as well and do the full marathon. Thirdly, have you played any of the HL games? If you haven't OMFG!! Either way, if you choose HL or Dishonored, they are all legendary games - Dishonored obviously being the more modern choice, HL being the classic choice.

[straussy240]

Yeah I will be playing Black mesa Also bought ep 1 and 2 for HL2 during steam sales so I am covered!

Still gotta decide though!

[GraphicX]

The Bureau - XCOM Declassified

Gameplay 7/10
so going from enemy unknown to this was something of a bit of a treat.  i personally really liked enemy unknown, but i'm also really partial to turn based strategy games, which the bureau isn't.

the game stays quite true to enemy unknown by way of abilities, weapons & enemies which is great, but it plays totally differently being in 3rd person.  since it's in 3rd person & in real time, using abilities & commanding your squad could be a potential disaster, fortunately though you're able to slow time while giving instructions & even queue them to rain death down on the 'asylum seeking' aliens.

combat is broken up by time in your base which is pretty well pointless beyond building the story (if you're not interested in the storyline though everything in the base is pretty well a waste of time beyond equipping your soldiers & some must complete quests) & exploring areas to complete objectives.

the world doesn't become repetitive or dull, everything is quite varied & the 1950's setting is really nice (particularly with everyone standing around smoking & the entire building being full of smoke lol).

Graphics 7/10
the graphics are solid but nothing spectacular, that being said though they more than meet any requirements for a game like this as the storyline & game play are where the game shines.

Sound 7/10
all the usual gun sounds all sound fine, along with grunts & groans of dying allies & enemies.  the voice acting is really quite good too, but all the dialogue is pretty boring :/

Controls Interface 7/10
playing with the xbox controller worked perfectly.  was a lot of commands etc available but it never really got overwhelming, just a matter of more remembering to use abilities than not knowing what to press.

Story Presentation 6/10
i love the whole x-files thing so the UFO baddies story i liked, but as i said it was a bit lacking with the dialogue etc, in fact you could pretty much skip most dialogue & it wouldn't affect the game one bit which is a shame.

Multiplayer -/10
none.

Overall 6-7/10
worth the money for sure, was a 17 hour run through with completing everything (side missions & leveling everyone up etc).  not a game i'd replay so it's not worth $50 or more, but when on sale it's a true bargain.

[Axe99]

Cheers Graph .  Reckon I'll give it a whirl at some stage .

Just wrapped up a playthrough of Steamworld Dig here, it's a relaxing indie 2D platformer/digging game .  A bit tired to do the formal review thing, but you're basically digging down through three worlds, collecting minerals and going back up to the surface to sell them and upgrade your gear, then dig further down and so on.  It starts off pretty straightforward, but by the end of it there are plenty of enemies and dangers, and it even finishes up with a pretty well balanced boss battle (you have to work for it a little, but it's not out of step with the generally relaxing and laid-back nature of the game).  When you die, you just re-start at the top with a percentage of your money gone, and can go back and pick up what you dropped behind you (and unlike the Souls games, the enemies you've killed stay dead and aren't magically resurrected with you, so getting back down is usually fairly straightforward).

That brings me to a thought - if, in the souls games, the creatures you die stay dead when the player is dead, wouldn't the ethical thing to do be to kill as many as you can, die and stay dead?  Note - this is not a serious thought .

/ random tangent

All in all, I enjoyed it a lot.  It's not a long game, probably played it for seven hours or so and seen most of what there is to see, but it only cost about $10 when I picked it up, so it's decent value for what it is .

[Axe99]

Wrapped up Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor last night, and can happily report I enjoyed it from start to finish, 30-odd hours later (although it could probably be finished in half that - I enjoyed the open-world emergent gameplay, so did more of that than I needed, plus all the side missions and collectibles and whatnot).  The nemesis system is the extra element that brings what could otherwise be 'another open world game' in the Assassin's Creed/Batman: Arkham City' template (so a good but not a stand-out game) up that extra level, by working the emergent gameplay into the core of the story progression.

The only thing I could think might be a black mark is that it might be a tad easy for people looking for a challenge, although you can up the challenge by choosing to use less powerful runes on your weapons, or choosing strategies that are harder (ie, not 'thinning out' packs of orcs with your bow before wading into battle, or not branding people other than those required for moving the game forward).  Even with this, there were difficult moments all the way through, but like many open-world games, the toughest bits were generally in the first third or so.

Oh, and the voice work by Troy Baker, Nolan North and everyone else is excellent as well.  We've come a long way from the cheesy PS1 voice acting .  The script is also very good, and even when they re-use lines from the movie it's in context, it just grates with me .

Overall, I can comfortably recommend it to fans of the AC or Batman games in terms of mechanics, and fans of Middle-earth in terms of atmosphere .

[GraphicX]

how can you not mention the chanting as you engage a warchief/captain ?  one of the best bits of the game imo (where the orcs are chanting the name of the guy you're about to face).

[Axe99]

GraphicX, on 28 November 2014 - 12:15 AM, said:

how can you not mention the chanting as you engage a warchief/captain ?  one of the best bits of the game imo (where the orcs are chanting the name of the guy you're about to face).

That is pretty damn cool - I love the close-ups with the captains/war-chiefs when you cross swords as well .  Lots of little things about the game they did very well .