Everyone has their own favourites, and there will be many picks for game of the year 2013 from everyone, but he's my 2 cents. I would like to point out first that I have not played every big scoring game that came out this year, as I just don't have the time, also, I don't have a 3ds and my laptop is too old to play anything complicated.
For me, 4 games stand head and shoulders over everything else that has come out this year, which are in no order, GTA 5, The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider. Let's discuss in that order then.
GTA 5
Ever since the first gta I've loved this series (well, gta 2 aside), for me, gta 3 at the time was the greatest game that i had ever played, and San Andreas may still be one of, if not my favourite game of all time, i found 4 a let down though, but then 5 bought back what i loved. The location was fantastic, a perfect mix of city and rural, of all types with lots to see and do. They bought back the ability to buy businesses like in San Andreas as a way to make money and add missions as well as add in a stock market which i thought was a great touch. The game play was great and I really enjoyed the story despite what some others think.
Then there's GTA online as well, which, despite a rocky start ended up being a great online experience, everything that gta 4 online should have been, and what's better rockstar are adding free content and not charging! Hallelujah!.
However, 2 main problems I see with GTA are that 1. it came out too close to next gen, by the time I'd finished it i only had a couple of weeks to play the online till my xbone arrived and now I've played it once since. And 2. Too much hype. Everyone kept saying how great it was going to be, the pinnacle of video games and so on, i don't want to say it disappointed in this respect, not at all, it would just be impossible for any game to live up to the hype that GTA 5 had been getting in the months before it's reelease. I didn;t want to get myself over excited for it, but i did, and i paid the price in that aspect.
THE LAST OF US
Now i for one am not the biggest Uncharted fan. I never played the first, enjoyed the second, but got bored during the third and didn't finish it. But how could i resist the last of us? All the race reviews, the post apocalyptic ending, stealth, action, the lot, i had to play it. I did still have some trepidation based on my thoughts on uncharted though, (but I did love the original crash trilogy, so...) but they were cleared almost immediately.
One of the best stories in games ever told, with great game play to boot, simple yet difficult, you were never really rushed and had time to look at one of the most beautiful game worlds of all time too. Character development was fantastic, and although I wasn't keen on the ending, it didn't matter that much because it was so good up until then, and it seemed to fit Joel's character anyway. I wasn't that keen on the online though, but to be fair, I only played 3 or 4 matches. I'm not sure I can think of any major negatives, but this doesn't automatically make it my game of the year. Plus, there's still story dlc to come!
BIOSHOCK INFINITE
Before this year, I had only played the first bioshock for about 30 minutes and couldn't get in to it. With this second sequel on the horizon and with such hype, combined with the original (and 2) going on some xbox marketplace sale, I felt the time was right to get the first one. I Can't believe I couldn't get in to it the first time, what was I thinking!? Anyway, I'm not trying to talk about how great the first bioshock was, but about how it's 3rd release was.
Another beautiful world and another of the greatest gaming stories ever told, bioshock infinite (out before the last of us) really showed what a game could do with storytelling. Perhaps the greatest video game ending ever, certainly as far as I can recall ad it had the nice little touches added in too. A return to rapture, a barbershop quartet beach boys number, there were lovely touches everywhere. There is a negative for this game though, in that the game play hasn't really advanced since the first one, and did feel a little dated.
There are also character similarities between tlou and infinite of course, playing as a male protagonist protecting ans young woman. Both have their uses, especially as the game moves on, and it certainly can't be said that by the end of either game there are many similarities left between Ellie and Elizabeth but on paper, they could look similar from the outset. Of course, Bioshock also has dlc coming, with some out already, and it's been good so far.
TOMB RAIDER
I was never a big fan of any of the old tomb raider games. Back when the first came out, they weren't really my type of game at the time, so I let them pass, and had never completed a single one of Lara's adventures before this, but I sure am glad I did now.
The game play here was exactly what it needed to be, again, just like every other game on this list, it was a beauty (not that I'm judging anything solely on graphics, but it is nice to have) and told a compelling story (not as compelling as tlou of infinite mind you). This game may be a case of had i played it last out of these 4, it may not be on this list, but I didn't, it was out first, so I played it first and loved it. It also cleared up the fears it was going to be full of QTE's that many of the trailers had me worried about going in, but of course, the big negative of this is that the multiplayer was horrible, not that it bothers me that much, except for the fact that they kept releasing multiplayer dlc for something no one was enjoying when they could have done something with single player. Oh well, them's the breaks.
So what is my game of the year? I can't decide, sorry, I probably would put Tomb Raider 4th, but after that, I can't choose between the other 3. 2013 was a great year for gaming, there were loads of other great games this year that didn't quite make the cut for me, and no doubt hundreds more I haven't even played, and now with next gen out, a tidal wave of creativity in the indie gaming scene and a vita in my hands, 2014 can only be better!
Edit four years later, it's totally the last of us.
Sunday 29 December 2013
Thursday 19 December 2013
The continuing Dead
The Walking dead (a Telltale game) season 2 started this week. Much was made of the first season and could the second season's beginning live up to the ending of season 1? Spoilers ahead
Firstly, lets cover 400 days. This was a between seasons episode set to tie together season 1 and 2. It is yet to be seen what kind of impact this will have on the coming season and besides, I can't really remember much of 400 days and I was a little disappointed it wasn't touched upon in the 'previously in walking dead' at the start of the new season.
Okay, that's out of the way, on with the game. The stroy continues to be engrossing and heart wrenching. Clem can no longer seem to get a steady relationship going with anyone, or anything (be back to that later) like she did with Lee because something always goes wrong. It is true that this happened in the first season though with every other character you met apart from Lee and Clementine but it just makes it seems so much worse when you're just a little girl, going from one disaster to another.
This episode starts with a bang, literally, as Omid is shot, and it doesn't take long for you (being as Clem) to lose Christa too and wind up alone. Then there's a dog, and this for me is one of the shortest times I've had to get attached to something and be so upset when you had to put it down. Why can't the dog share, the greedy so and so. It should be mentioned that the dog bites you, which is why you have to kill him, because this is important.
Naturally, a bite when zombies are around doesn't look good, who wouldn't think a zombie would have done it? (apart from someone with eyes when it's apparent that a humans bite and a dog bite look totally different, but I'll let this pass). So, when you get rescued from facing certain death from a group of walkers as you're nearly fainting from the bite, it doesn't take long for said rescuers to get freaked out, and lock you in a shed. To be fair, they promise to try to make you better in the morning if you're not a) a walker or, b) actually dead.
My description there seems a little harsh, because as I was playing this I was think 'yeah, fair enough, makes sense', but that's not Clem's idea. So off you go, to break into the house, listen in on private conversations, steal from the people that are trying to, sort of, help you, and manipulate a little girl. All in a night's work.
So off you go back to the shed for another sad scene where Clem stitches up her own arm in complete agony, which naturally, you control. But silly old Clem didn't put the panel back that she had to remove to get out and a walker, ironically, crawls in. The house empties though to saves you, and on doctors orders says you're probably not going to turn now (i thought you had to wait overnight?) so it's fine to come in. It's made clear you have friends and enemies in the house, and another sad moment arrives when you're explaining Lee's death to new buddy Luke.
The next morning, you go out fishing, (by which they seem to mean, empty fish traps, so not really fishing then) with angry uncle/nephew duo Pete and nick. Nick is a guy who almost accidentally killed you when he first met you, and Pete is a friendly older man man who seems to want to put Nick down at every opportunity, though playing through it makes you feel like he deserves it. However, they come across some scene where a group of walkers have mowed down, probably by a guy named Carver, though they won't really talk much about him, or them as the case may be (and probably is). More walkers soon come though, and friendly old pete gets bit, while Nick somehow doesn't. Then the big ending comes, who do you help save? The friendly, useful guy who has been bit. Or the useless ingrate who hasn't? I'll leave that to you.
So, it's pretty great, despite the fact that the same technical bugs still exist from the first season. It's too early to tell what's going to happen and if it will be as good as season one, which I am concerned about as before the walking dead, Telltale had made mostly mediocre games, and now they've got 4 IP's to work on, so maybe they're stretching themselves to thin and will end up letting themselves down. I'm sure everyone would hope not, but how can we know? let's just cross our fingers and hope.
Firstly, lets cover 400 days. This was a between seasons episode set to tie together season 1 and 2. It is yet to be seen what kind of impact this will have on the coming season and besides, I can't really remember much of 400 days and I was a little disappointed it wasn't touched upon in the 'previously in walking dead' at the start of the new season.
Okay, that's out of the way, on with the game. The stroy continues to be engrossing and heart wrenching. Clem can no longer seem to get a steady relationship going with anyone, or anything (be back to that later) like she did with Lee because something always goes wrong. It is true that this happened in the first season though with every other character you met apart from Lee and Clementine but it just makes it seems so much worse when you're just a little girl, going from one disaster to another.
This episode starts with a bang, literally, as Omid is shot, and it doesn't take long for you (being as Clem) to lose Christa too and wind up alone. Then there's a dog, and this for me is one of the shortest times I've had to get attached to something and be so upset when you had to put it down. Why can't the dog share, the greedy so and so. It should be mentioned that the dog bites you, which is why you have to kill him, because this is important.
Naturally, a bite when zombies are around doesn't look good, who wouldn't think a zombie would have done it? (apart from someone with eyes when it's apparent that a humans bite and a dog bite look totally different, but I'll let this pass). So, when you get rescued from facing certain death from a group of walkers as you're nearly fainting from the bite, it doesn't take long for said rescuers to get freaked out, and lock you in a shed. To be fair, they promise to try to make you better in the morning if you're not a) a walker or, b) actually dead.
My description there seems a little harsh, because as I was playing this I was think 'yeah, fair enough, makes sense', but that's not Clem's idea. So off you go, to break into the house, listen in on private conversations, steal from the people that are trying to, sort of, help you, and manipulate a little girl. All in a night's work.
So off you go back to the shed for another sad scene where Clem stitches up her own arm in complete agony, which naturally, you control. But silly old Clem didn't put the panel back that she had to remove to get out and a walker, ironically, crawls in. The house empties though to saves you, and on doctors orders says you're probably not going to turn now (i thought you had to wait overnight?) so it's fine to come in. It's made clear you have friends and enemies in the house, and another sad moment arrives when you're explaining Lee's death to new buddy Luke.
The next morning, you go out fishing, (by which they seem to mean, empty fish traps, so not really fishing then) with angry uncle/nephew duo Pete and nick. Nick is a guy who almost accidentally killed you when he first met you, and Pete is a friendly older man man who seems to want to put Nick down at every opportunity, though playing through it makes you feel like he deserves it. However, they come across some scene where a group of walkers have mowed down, probably by a guy named Carver, though they won't really talk much about him, or them as the case may be (and probably is). More walkers soon come though, and friendly old pete gets bit, while Nick somehow doesn't. Then the big ending comes, who do you help save? The friendly, useful guy who has been bit. Or the useless ingrate who hasn't? I'll leave that to you.
So, it's pretty great, despite the fact that the same technical bugs still exist from the first season. It's too early to tell what's going to happen and if it will be as good as season one, which I am concerned about as before the walking dead, Telltale had made mostly mediocre games, and now they've got 4 IP's to work on, so maybe they're stretching themselves to thin and will end up letting themselves down. I'm sure everyone would hope not, but how can we know? let's just cross our fingers and hope.
Tuesday 17 December 2013
The brilliance of Fifa online
I've never been one for spending a lot of time playing online multiplayer, for me, multiplayer should be sitting round a room with friends passing around a controller and knocking a few tinnies back. I miss this from my childhood (except for the beer). Times have changed however, at least, in most cases, and playing multiplayer with friends means you have to all connect online whilst all owning the same system and game(s). Everyone already knows this of course, so lets move on.
I got Fifa 14 free with my day one Xbox one, and having been a Pro Evo fan for the past couple of years, the difference is very noticeable. I tend to switch between pro evo and Fifa, depending which is better at the time, and in years past, about 09-11 it's what a lot of my friends were playing, so that was my choice so we could play together online, but since the interest fell away for most others, i made the jump to Pro.
Pro Evo is not a good game online, it encourages pace above skill, and no team level matching. meaning you have to be the same 10-15 top teams in the world over and over to even compete, because that's what everyone else does. The modes are very limited also, just friendlies, a knockout tournament and a poor ultimate teams copy. This is very dissapointing to me, because one of the first games I ever invested serious online multiplayer time in was Pro Evo 6 (the first one on 360) and I loved it at the time. Online was new and exciting, and there was just one games mode, a list of everyone playing it in the world, an a ranking, win and you would go up, lose and you would go down. Yes, it seems so simple now, but at the time i thought it was a great idea, and that method sort of exists in Fifa today.
Fifa is very diverse online, despite the fact that all you're ever doing is playing football. The thing I was referring to online relates to seasons mode, that is a 10 league system, get a certain amount of points and you get promoted and move on to face higher ranked (and therefore theoretically tougher) human opponents. Down and easier too of course. This also comes with the ranking system mentioned above, and a knockout cup tournament that pits you against players from a similar level to you. As much as I enjoy all of this, the best feature has to be the team level matching. If you want to play as a 3 star team, you will get pitched against another player who is also playing as a 3 star team, give or take half a star. This means that unlike Pro Evo, you can be whoever you want, and not just world-beaters, which is great, because I for one couldn't care less about big teams or Champions League, and would rather play as my beloved Aston villa, or Southampton, Crystal Palace, Barnsley, Sydney F.C. or Athletico Hulla (etc.). There is also a Co op mode available in this, but I haven't got around to trying it yet as none of my friends have Xbox Ones.
Moving on from that, there's the trading card style Ultimate teams, which is a nice change from seasons, whereby you have to buy packs to build a team, you can trade players, contracts, kits stadiums and all manner of other things with other players around the world. There is still the seasons mode available within U.T as well as tournaments and leagues with restrictions on which types of players you can play (e.g. one nationality, only 4 leagues represented.) against both human and AI opponents.
Then there is the last mode, Pro clubs. This is another mode which I haven't been able to try yet due to the aforementioned problem of being the sole owner of and xbox on amongst everyone I know. I will assume that the core experience is the same though. You make an avatar, create a club with friends, and you each play as your own player trying to pull off certain moves to increase their stats. (note, without 11 people on your team, someone should choose to control the rest of the team). I used to play this for hours with friends just a few years back and never got bored, annoyed? Yes, lots, but I get that all the time playing alone anyway.
Of course on top of this, the beauty of any sports game is that it remains a good game to play at home with a friend, or friends passing a controller around due to the nature of competitive sports and competing teams. And of course, all the single player modes you would expect are also available such as career mode, both as a manager, or just your avatar.
Compare this to the other game that I used to go between with friends online, Call of Duty (whichever one at the time) and Fifa is so much better. Granted, I haven't played a COD game for 2 or 3 years, nor have any desire to, but my outstanding memories of playing this, without my friends at least, was being taken down by campers, people who knew glitches they could exploit, people with such a high level that you wondered if they even had time to eat and of course, children insulting my mother (always a pleasant experience). I understand that people enjoy COD online, and that's fine, play whatever you want, playing with friends online I used to have a great time, until I was left alone, and if you turn down the sound and put some music on or just mute everyone, at least you won't have to be constantly insulted.
I know COD has some level matching too and varying game modes, i remember loving 'sticks and stones on whichever that was on. But just taking it out on COD seems unfair, but that is the juggernaut of console online gaming, so it is an easy comparison to make, these are the 2 series i have played the most with online, whilst having dabbled in many others, it's always nice to come back to play something familiar, especially when your friends are there.
I got Fifa 14 free with my day one Xbox one, and having been a Pro Evo fan for the past couple of years, the difference is very noticeable. I tend to switch between pro evo and Fifa, depending which is better at the time, and in years past, about 09-11 it's what a lot of my friends were playing, so that was my choice so we could play together online, but since the interest fell away for most others, i made the jump to Pro.
Pro Evo is not a good game online, it encourages pace above skill, and no team level matching. meaning you have to be the same 10-15 top teams in the world over and over to even compete, because that's what everyone else does. The modes are very limited also, just friendlies, a knockout tournament and a poor ultimate teams copy. This is very dissapointing to me, because one of the first games I ever invested serious online multiplayer time in was Pro Evo 6 (the first one on 360) and I loved it at the time. Online was new and exciting, and there was just one games mode, a list of everyone playing it in the world, an a ranking, win and you would go up, lose and you would go down. Yes, it seems so simple now, but at the time i thought it was a great idea, and that method sort of exists in Fifa today.
Fifa is very diverse online, despite the fact that all you're ever doing is playing football. The thing I was referring to online relates to seasons mode, that is a 10 league system, get a certain amount of points and you get promoted and move on to face higher ranked (and therefore theoretically tougher) human opponents. Down and easier too of course. This also comes with the ranking system mentioned above, and a knockout cup tournament that pits you against players from a similar level to you. As much as I enjoy all of this, the best feature has to be the team level matching. If you want to play as a 3 star team, you will get pitched against another player who is also playing as a 3 star team, give or take half a star. This means that unlike Pro Evo, you can be whoever you want, and not just world-beaters, which is great, because I for one couldn't care less about big teams or Champions League, and would rather play as my beloved Aston villa, or Southampton, Crystal Palace, Barnsley, Sydney F.C. or Athletico Hulla (etc.). There is also a Co op mode available in this, but I haven't got around to trying it yet as none of my friends have Xbox Ones.
Moving on from that, there's the trading card style Ultimate teams, which is a nice change from seasons, whereby you have to buy packs to build a team, you can trade players, contracts, kits stadiums and all manner of other things with other players around the world. There is still the seasons mode available within U.T as well as tournaments and leagues with restrictions on which types of players you can play (e.g. one nationality, only 4 leagues represented.) against both human and AI opponents.
Then there is the last mode, Pro clubs. This is another mode which I haven't been able to try yet due to the aforementioned problem of being the sole owner of and xbox on amongst everyone I know. I will assume that the core experience is the same though. You make an avatar, create a club with friends, and you each play as your own player trying to pull off certain moves to increase their stats. (note, without 11 people on your team, someone should choose to control the rest of the team). I used to play this for hours with friends just a few years back and never got bored, annoyed? Yes, lots, but I get that all the time playing alone anyway.
Of course on top of this, the beauty of any sports game is that it remains a good game to play at home with a friend, or friends passing a controller around due to the nature of competitive sports and competing teams. And of course, all the single player modes you would expect are also available such as career mode, both as a manager, or just your avatar.
Compare this to the other game that I used to go between with friends online, Call of Duty (whichever one at the time) and Fifa is so much better. Granted, I haven't played a COD game for 2 or 3 years, nor have any desire to, but my outstanding memories of playing this, without my friends at least, was being taken down by campers, people who knew glitches they could exploit, people with such a high level that you wondered if they even had time to eat and of course, children insulting my mother (always a pleasant experience). I understand that people enjoy COD online, and that's fine, play whatever you want, playing with friends online I used to have a great time, until I was left alone, and if you turn down the sound and put some music on or just mute everyone, at least you won't have to be constantly insulted.
I know COD has some level matching too and varying game modes, i remember loving 'sticks and stones on whichever that was on. But just taking it out on COD seems unfair, but that is the juggernaut of console online gaming, so it is an easy comparison to make, these are the 2 series i have played the most with online, whilst having dabbled in many others, it's always nice to come back to play something familiar, especially when your friends are there.
Thursday 12 December 2013
The New Generation
Next Gen is here!
and has been for a month or so, at least in my house in the form of an Xbox one. There has already been lots of discussion worldwide about which you should or shouldn't buy, so to add a slightly different one i thought I would see if i believe I have the correct purchase, let's begin.
The most important thing for me when buying a new console is the games, primarily the exclusives, and this is what made me choose the Xbox over the PlayStation. There was no ps4 exclusives i was interested in, and doesn't look like there will be until late 2014 with 'The Order', whereas Xbox was shipping with Dead Rising 3. Not that i claim this is a system seller, sure, i enjoyed the first 2, a whole lot more than i did any Killzone game, but i knew i was going to be buying one of them anyway, and this swayed me.
But did this game warrant me choosing this console? Well, firstly, the game got lost in the mail, so i had to wait nearly 2 weeks to actually get my copy of Dead Rising, by which time the excitement of everything being new had worn off anyway, which has probably made it more of a trudge than it should be to play through it. I still have not finished it, and about half way in have lost the motivation to do so, At first it was great, going round, Crafting dildo launchers, slicing zombies into pieces, hunting down the collectibles an all dressed in a tux with one of those fake glasses with nose, moustache and eyebrow's attached (you know what i mean, right?). But after a short time, i realised that I'd had enough of this, and just wanted to get on with the story and get through it, but this game doesn't make it easy to do. It's full of road blocks and too many zombies at times, when you just want to get from point a to point b, it can be infuriating. This wasn't supposed to be a review of Dead Rising, so I'll leave it there with the one word summary, "S'okay"
I also played through Ryse, which i was thoroughly against playing and looked like i would hate it given all of it's reviews, but seeing as it was supposedly so short, an a great tech demo for the system, i thought I'd give it a go while i waited for the postmen to sort themselves out. And i actually enjoyed it, certainly not the most challenging game by any stretch of the imagination, but it looked great (if you ignore the very small amount of enemy characters). It was quick, fun and no fuss, just pick it up and go with no problems, but they're the kind of games you tend to play when you're waiting for something to come out and are passing time in between, everyone has done it, but on the release of a new system, that shouldn't be that day.
Lococycle was another one I've played, and most of it can be copied over from what i just said about ryse, but tale out and references to 'good graphics' and put in more about 'questionable comedy'. To be fair it wasn't bad at all, i had fun, but I'll forget that it ever existed, if i were to look back at my achievements to see what I'd been playing before in a few years time, I'd remember it about as fondly as Kameo.
Finally, this week, Peggle 2 came out. Hardly the game I'd buy this system for, but then the same would go for Resogun on PS4 and they are both the highest rated exclusives on their consoles. I loved the first Peggle, an considering from when i turned t on the first time last night, i finished all the base 60 levels before i turned it off says it all really. It's great, better than the last (but no local multiplayer, wtf? this is exactly the kind of game that local multiplayer still exists for) an I've still got plenty to go back for as Popcap has yet again done a great job of giving us challenges that can last dozens of hours alone, without even thinking of multiplayer.
Do these games make me feel i made the right choice between xbox and Ps4? yes. Do they make me feel like i needed either though? no. The problem besides just the games is that there's still a lot missing that means my 360 and ps3 are still both plugged in to my TV. For one, no i player on Xbox one. The simplest thing. On a similar note there's also no sky player of itv player (not that i know why anyone would want that). If you want to catch up on TV you've just missed and it wasn't on channel 4, then you'd better look somewhere else. While talking playback, there's also no way to play a video through an external hard drive or memory stick, which is a pretty poor effort.
But on the reverse of that lets talk about the game recording, and upload studio. What i didn't appreciate going in was that games will often just have their own set of automatic records, consequently, when i go to look through the videos to find the one i want, It's full of clips of Peggle and Fifa that i didn't care about as they happened, let alone wish to see again. If you want to record your own clips though, it is made very difficult without kinect, and navigating the menu's to find the studio and snap it to the side takes time from when you'll going to have want to have been recording. Kinect also doesn't work all that great on voice commands, sometimes it will work fine for me, others i'm just sitting here like a moron saying 'xbox on' or something like that over and over again (it could be argued that anyone using voice commands for xbox control looks like a moron anyway, and they would probably be right). The real problem here comes when playing online. For some reason, Kinect works as a microphone so the person you are playing against can here you. I don't understand this at all, if i wanted to talk to them, i would use a headset, so i just have to have Kinect unplugged whenever I'm playing online. Which means that if you want to record something you just did online, you are out of luck. Sure, you could leave it in and do voice commands whilst the person on the other end mocks you, but I'm too British for that.
To wrap it up then, yes, I'm glad i chose X1 over PS4, but I'm not sure i needed to get the new consoles straight away, it seemed exciting though because after 20+ years of gaming i could finally afford to buy myself a console on launch date, and maybe this have given me rose tinted spectacles, but i know some day, everything will come together, probably not before any price drop mind you. So, if anyone would need a recommendation I'd say wait until eveything's working smoother and more games are out, but there's plenty on it to do for now.
and has been for a month or so, at least in my house in the form of an Xbox one. There has already been lots of discussion worldwide about which you should or shouldn't buy, so to add a slightly different one i thought I would see if i believe I have the correct purchase, let's begin.
The most important thing for me when buying a new console is the games, primarily the exclusives, and this is what made me choose the Xbox over the PlayStation. There was no ps4 exclusives i was interested in, and doesn't look like there will be until late 2014 with 'The Order', whereas Xbox was shipping with Dead Rising 3. Not that i claim this is a system seller, sure, i enjoyed the first 2, a whole lot more than i did any Killzone game, but i knew i was going to be buying one of them anyway, and this swayed me.
But did this game warrant me choosing this console? Well, firstly, the game got lost in the mail, so i had to wait nearly 2 weeks to actually get my copy of Dead Rising, by which time the excitement of everything being new had worn off anyway, which has probably made it more of a trudge than it should be to play through it. I still have not finished it, and about half way in have lost the motivation to do so, At first it was great, going round, Crafting dildo launchers, slicing zombies into pieces, hunting down the collectibles an all dressed in a tux with one of those fake glasses with nose, moustache and eyebrow's attached (you know what i mean, right?). But after a short time, i realised that I'd had enough of this, and just wanted to get on with the story and get through it, but this game doesn't make it easy to do. It's full of road blocks and too many zombies at times, when you just want to get from point a to point b, it can be infuriating. This wasn't supposed to be a review of Dead Rising, so I'll leave it there with the one word summary, "S'okay"
I also played through Ryse, which i was thoroughly against playing and looked like i would hate it given all of it's reviews, but seeing as it was supposedly so short, an a great tech demo for the system, i thought I'd give it a go while i waited for the postmen to sort themselves out. And i actually enjoyed it, certainly not the most challenging game by any stretch of the imagination, but it looked great (if you ignore the very small amount of enemy characters). It was quick, fun and no fuss, just pick it up and go with no problems, but they're the kind of games you tend to play when you're waiting for something to come out and are passing time in between, everyone has done it, but on the release of a new system, that shouldn't be that day.
Lococycle was another one I've played, and most of it can be copied over from what i just said about ryse, but tale out and references to 'good graphics' and put in more about 'questionable comedy'. To be fair it wasn't bad at all, i had fun, but I'll forget that it ever existed, if i were to look back at my achievements to see what I'd been playing before in a few years time, I'd remember it about as fondly as Kameo.
Finally, this week, Peggle 2 came out. Hardly the game I'd buy this system for, but then the same would go for Resogun on PS4 and they are both the highest rated exclusives on their consoles. I loved the first Peggle, an considering from when i turned t on the first time last night, i finished all the base 60 levels before i turned it off says it all really. It's great, better than the last (but no local multiplayer, wtf? this is exactly the kind of game that local multiplayer still exists for) an I've still got plenty to go back for as Popcap has yet again done a great job of giving us challenges that can last dozens of hours alone, without even thinking of multiplayer.
Do these games make me feel i made the right choice between xbox and Ps4? yes. Do they make me feel like i needed either though? no. The problem besides just the games is that there's still a lot missing that means my 360 and ps3 are still both plugged in to my TV. For one, no i player on Xbox one. The simplest thing. On a similar note there's also no sky player of itv player (not that i know why anyone would want that). If you want to catch up on TV you've just missed and it wasn't on channel 4, then you'd better look somewhere else. While talking playback, there's also no way to play a video through an external hard drive or memory stick, which is a pretty poor effort.
But on the reverse of that lets talk about the game recording, and upload studio. What i didn't appreciate going in was that games will often just have their own set of automatic records, consequently, when i go to look through the videos to find the one i want, It's full of clips of Peggle and Fifa that i didn't care about as they happened, let alone wish to see again. If you want to record your own clips though, it is made very difficult without kinect, and navigating the menu's to find the studio and snap it to the side takes time from when you'll going to have want to have been recording. Kinect also doesn't work all that great on voice commands, sometimes it will work fine for me, others i'm just sitting here like a moron saying 'xbox on' or something like that over and over again (it could be argued that anyone using voice commands for xbox control looks like a moron anyway, and they would probably be right). The real problem here comes when playing online. For some reason, Kinect works as a microphone so the person you are playing against can here you. I don't understand this at all, if i wanted to talk to them, i would use a headset, so i just have to have Kinect unplugged whenever I'm playing online. Which means that if you want to record something you just did online, you are out of luck. Sure, you could leave it in and do voice commands whilst the person on the other end mocks you, but I'm too British for that.
To wrap it up then, yes, I'm glad i chose X1 over PS4, but I'm not sure i needed to get the new consoles straight away, it seemed exciting though because after 20+ years of gaming i could finally afford to buy myself a console on launch date, and maybe this have given me rose tinted spectacles, but i know some day, everything will come together, probably not before any price drop mind you. So, if anyone would need a recommendation I'd say wait until eveything's working smoother and more games are out, but there's plenty on it to do for now.
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