Week 6

   All work and no play make Andy go crazy. There's barely been any time to play games this week, and all just to get a weekend off, well, it's that weekend now so it had better be worth it, I guess we shall see.
   I certainly was right last week saying that it's a good job Metal Gear solid V: Ground zeroes was only short because I wouldn't have that much time to play it. I think I finished the main mission in just over 2 hours (which is longer than average apparently) and the 4 side missions (excluding the one you have to scour every inch of the main game over to find every last collectible to unlock a special mission where you have to play as Raiden. Maybe if I had it on PS4 where the mission is as classic Snake, circa MGS1, then I might have done it), Normally I'd say this lack of length is a bad thing, but I needed something this short and I don't want to hear people moan on about the replayability of it all, which seems to be the stock excuse for this game, that you can keep redoing it to get all the little unlockables and get a better grade on the missions, but I'm never one for replaying the same thing over and over, it does my head in. In fact, when I died for the first time and the checkpoint was about 20 minutes back from where I was and I was only 30 minutes in to the game, I nearly turned it off permanently right there and then, so forget 'replayability' in repeating the same missions over and over. Sure, if there's an open world with loads to explore and other missions to find and mess around in ala GTA, I'll play that again, but once a mission is done for me, it's done forever, hence why I've played so very few games more than one play through in my entire life (I hope you're happy Portal, San Andreas and the Sonic the hedgehog megadrive game series).
   On to what I thought about the actual game then I suppose, well, the main story mission has you breaking in to a military camp (the same locale every mission takes place in) to rescue two of your men and extract them to safety. With it being metal gear though, there's naturally two giant cutscenes bookending it. The open locale is an interesting idea, you can walk around at your whim, see what you want, go and find side missions, like other prisoners you can rescue and hidden cassette tapes and just generally explore, so you're not forced down an entirely linear path.
   Of course, the main problem that I've had with this game, is that I'm terrible at it. I don't remember being this bad before, but I was informed by a friend while moaning about how bad I was doing, that when he saw me playing Metal gear 4, I was terrible at that as well, so maybe I'm just not good at Metal gear games, or stealth in general, I struggle to have the patience. I try to play them trough in the manner you're supposed too, but my problem is the second I'm spotted, I just bust out the guns and go at it Rambo style (after all, what's going to stop you from being spotted again more easily than wiping every stinking enemy off the face of the map).

   Then there's the side mission, which you wouldn't exactly describe as awe inspiring. In one you have to shoot some people out of a helicopter. Another is just a run and gun affair. Two are more classic Metal Gearey, except that one lets itself right down at the end, when you have to collect a cassette from a room where it turns out there's a security camera in it and you have no way of knowing that the first time you play it, meaning you have to play it more than once to do it perfectly, which annoyed me to no end. Why do something like that? It's in a place where it's nearly impossible for you to see it before it sees you, and, if you're like me (in this case anyway), you've snuck through the entire mission without being spotted (like a pro), only for some random security camera to spot you walking in to a room when there was no warning of it whatsoever. That was the second time I nearly turned it off.

   These missions aren't very long either, it probably took me less than 2 hours to do all 4 combined. Additionally, it's way too easy to run away after the mission is over. Say you've done all your tasks and you just have to escape the base, it doesn't matter if you're spotted r not at that point, just run for it, and they'll never stop you. Sure, it doesn't go well if you're trying to get high scores, but then, this isn't a 1990's bowling alley arcade, so I don't really care. Plus, Keifer Sutherland? What's wrong with David Hayter!? It's not right damn it! It seems like they just went out to get a famous actor who sounded like Snake did anyway, in order to draw more media attention, but this is the kin of thing that puts more real fans off, and how many people who don't play games but have watched The land before time X are going to jump straight in to Metal Gear because the voice of Bron is in it?

   This game was supposed to be an over the top demo for next ears Metal Gear Solid V: The phantom pain, but it's worked to put me off, rather than encourage me. I'm bad at this game, and Hideo Kojima has already said that he's worried people wont finish the Phantom Pain because it's too long, and id I'm going to be awful at it, I'm not sure I can finish a game that it's creator even thinks is too long. Still, it's a year away yet, so I wont get ahead of myself.

   No Grid 2 (or Bioshock Infiniste Burial at sea part 2 (but that will actually get played)).

Completed: Mark of the Ninja

                   Donkey Kong country tropical freeze

                  Crimson Dragon 

                   Toy soldiers: Cold war

                  Metro Last light

                  South Park the stick of truth

                  Titanfall

                  Brothers a tale of two sons

                  Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

... Grid 2

Week 5

   March continues to pour out big new games, and Titanfall fell on to my lap next... The basic idea here is that it's an online only FPS, although there is a story mode attached, and thus, I'll count it towards the total. On top of the usual shooting, there's added parkour and titans (basically giant mech suits, but they do have the added bonus that they can either guard or follow you without you having to be in them), but more on the gameplay later, I want to knock out the thoughts on the story first.

   It went right off to a bad start with it's 15 minute tutorial teaching you how to play an FPS, granted, it showed you how to wall run and use a titan, but when you have to spend 10 minutes being told how to move, it's quite (very) annoying. This isn't part of the campaign though, but you do have to go through it to play it at all. The campaign then, is a set of online battles with a brief story in between, but there's some interesting elements in here. Due to the fact that you need opposition, you get to play as both sides, The IMC (which is some big corporation) and the militia (you can figure that one out for yourself. What makes it most interesting is that you can sympathise with both sides, even though they hate each other, you can understand the position that they're both in, with the IMC being the biggest company in the 'verse, and doing what they feel is right, and the militia is a group of civilians that have come together to stop them, as they feel that it's what's right for all the people. Now, this seeing two sides of the story made me think of command and conquer, where you would play through the 2 opposing campaigns from each perspective (though never the same mission, as that wouldn't work given the missions that were there), but the main difference is that both sides in whichever C & C game you were playing always seemed like arseholes and you wanted everyone to die, but not so much in titanfall. It is a shame that it is just a bit attached to the game to appease people who wanted a story because it could be so much more, and the story's not over, so lets hope come titanfall 2 there will be much more of an in depth campaign, be it on or off line.

 

Parkour

   But will I be playing the sequel? It's very difficult for me to play this without comparing it to the old days of playing Call of duty for hours on end, so, I've come up with some pro's and cons vs Cod (when I gave a crap)

Pro: Parkour

Con: people online are knobs and so games that require teamwork eg. CTF are down to dumb luck rather that any good tactics.

Pro: titans make an interesting game dynamic, you can take them down alone, use them to protect yourself, and cause nuclear explosions (quite small though) as you eject out of the top to safety, but

Con: Titans are kind of boring to drive

Pro: easy to get a higher score and make yourself look good by killing 'minions' (lots of people have a problem with this, coupled with the fact that you can only have 6 v 6 games, but I don't really want massive matches where you get killed the second you step out of cover, and killing minions makes you look better on the scoreboard and ensures you level up, so for the people who are new to it or just aren't that good at it, they're not constantly getting owned and never able to advance

Con: Not enough game modes (especially as there's no free for all and the lie, sure, as I mentioned, 12 players is fine, as is 6 v 6, I don't want anymore, but sometimes it's nice to be a loner, and show everyone how good you are (or aren't in my case (sticks and stones anyone?))).

Pro: maps are quite well varied, so you can't just win by having a titan guard all the time, or sniping or etc.)

Con: I have no one to play with (granted, this isn't a con for everyone, because I'm sure lots of people have friends to play with, but my group that used to spend hours together on COD and Fifa back in the late naughties-early teens (is that right, should it be 10's?) have all split off in to other types of gaming, lack of funds, other priorities, or in my case, shift work. This won't just be a problem for me though, as we are at the beginning of a console cycle, many people will have not bought an xbox one yet (let alone if they will/have got a PS4 instead or whichever console preference floats your boat (I'm only putting it this way as Titanfall isn't on Playstation)), so it stands to reason that many people playing online will not be joined with all their old online gaming buddies (well, not yet anyway)).

(Pro: No Rich Taylor!)

Clash of the Titans? (sigh)

  

   The real question then is id you don't like Call of duty, then will you like this? I'd have to go with probably not and it is a real shame. Microsoft threw everything at titanfall to sell the xbox ones (to be fair, UK sales did increase by 96% the week it came out, so actually it did work, I'm just spouting gibberish now) but ultimately it was, for me at least, a let down. Not that it's terrible mind you.


   The other game I played this week was brothers, a tale of two sons. This is kind of a fairy tale adventure to a magic tree in order to get some magic tree stuff (there's no speaking, hence no real name, so 'magic tree stuff'' will suffice) that will cure your dying father (who is ginger, so the real question, does he even saving, or does he just want to be put out of his misery?).
   There is an interesting control scheme here too, where you are in control of both of the brothers simultaneously, one with each thumb stick, which gets very confusing when they're standing the other way round on screen (you keep thinking that you'll get used to it, but you don't (stupid hand eye coordination)). That also leaves each pair of shoulder buttons to each of the brothers, and it's unique, and not necessarily in a bad way as it opens up new ideas to puzzles that you couldn't do otherwise (it's a puzzle game). Sadly though, the puzzles never really get too adventurous or difficult (not that I want to be stuck for hours on end looking at the same small area, but when you can still tell what to do instantly by the end of a game, then maybe they should have banged the difficulty up a bit).
   The game doesn't really have combat, sure, there's a bit where a rabid (I assume) dog chases you around a farm, and some glow in the dark eyed wolves try to get you in one level, and there's some plants that try to eat you, and there's this spider thing and a troll guard and some killer whales, but you never really do any of the fighting, well... there is one right at the end. My point was that it's a pretty cathartic game where you can take your time and enjoy the view (there's plenty of benches to sit down on to see said views).

   I don't want to delve in to the story too much, because it would spoil it, and it's a fantastic example of how to tell a story without any language, but I'll touch on a few bits (gotta make 'dem jokes). It's the story of a journey to get to this tree, even though you don't know it's a tree your headed, just somewhere a doctor has sent you to find a cure (what kind of irresponsible doctor sends two young children through dangerous terrain to save their dad?). The interaction you can have with the world is great too, mainly in the difference in the way the two brothers interact differently, where the older one wants to get things moving along, but the younger wants to have fun. There are some great moments throughout hidden off in side paths too that you wouldn't notice that add nice touches to the game, like helping some giant turtles get back to their mother. You travel through different locations, all within a fantasy style world, and meet different races like giants, trolls, big bird things and more (I was wondering if you're supposed to be some kind f dwarf, but towards the end, you find another group of people your height, so I guess not). Infact, you get a lot of help from a pair of trolls (one can only assume lovers) as you get passed on to higher surfaces, while he (there's only one at this point) navigates the area and passes you around the world, but, why doesn't he just carry you (maybe I was being trolled...)? There's other help later, from the other troll I just referred too, that bird thing, an inventor and ghost of your dead mother (I assume, it was a female adult ghost, and you don't see your mum at any other point, so it was the logical conclusion). Along the way there are many sad moments, and the ending is a heart wrencher, which definitely makes it worth a play, it's not too long so there's no excuse. Just keep your eyes open for the Lord of the rings style moment at the end (you'll know what I mean).

   No Grid 2 was played. March however, keeps the big games coming thick and fast with Metal Gear Solid 5 Ground zeroes right in front of me, and Bioshock infinite's final piece of DLC is out Tuesday too (it better be good for all them people to have lost their jobs now) but this time I really have no days off in the week, so it's a good job then that ground Zeroes has been panned for being too short, might work out well for me.

Finished: Mark of the Ninja
               Donkey Kong country tropical freeze
               Crimson Dragon
               Toy soldiers: Cold war
               Metro last light
               South park the stick of truth
               Titanfall
               Brothers a Tale of two sons

One day, maybe: Grid 2

Week 4

   I've only played one game this week (well, to completion, as last week, I also played a fair amount of FIFA (the UEFA cup is mine to lose!)), but it was a good one, South Park: The stick of Truth.
   I've been waiting for this game for over a year, from when it was first announced, to then, when nearly on the verge of being released, when THQ collapsed, then panic, would anyone pick it up or would it disappear? Thank god no, Ubisoft saved the day and handed the reigns to Obsidian, even though Matt and Trey basically wrote the thing, the just turned it in to a game. Here we are then, over a year since THQ's close down, and it finally arrived, and after all my waiting, I finished it in 5 days (oh well).
   That's not to say I'm criticising it's length, I liked that it was short, like a boiled down JRPG, where you don't have to spends hours upon hours grinding (although it's probably better to do the side quests to level yourself up a bit, that's what I did, and the bosses weren't too hard (as long as you're tactically astute), but I imagine without it, you'd be there for hours). The story is, I wouldn't say concise, because it's South Park and inevitably goes mental, but it doesn't drag the craziness on for too long that it gets totally convoluted and you lose interest, so, the length is fine, I suppose what I really want is some kind of after game (because once you've finished the story, tere isn't really much to do), or some re playability. But that really is the only criticism I have about the game (actually, it lags a little bit from time to time when walking around too, but it's infrequent, so doesn't really matter).
   Okay, so it's an RPG, with turn based combat (infact I heard it's like costume quest, but I've never played it so I don't have a clue (but now I want to)), and an open world to explore. It's full of references to episodes in the past, from certain side quests, looking in other kids closets (play it to see why that's the most apt word), finding junk around the world, music played in the shops and basically everywhere. So, is it worth playing if you're not a South Park fan. It wont be as good, that's for sure, and the more South Park you've seen, the more jokes you'll get (I've seen every ep, so got them all (what a weird thing to boast about)), but I'd say yes, if you're somewhat of a South Park fan, but if you've never seen it, I'd find it hard to recommend. Sure, maybe playing the game could lead you to watching the show, but I wouldn't think in most circumstances that there's enough for none fans to get through it all (sorry Ubisoft/Obsidian/Matt and Trey).
 

   So, what can I say without spoiling the game? It's amazing (but I think I covered that). Okay, so the basic plot is that the kids of South park are playing a game, fighting over the stick of truth (as the title suggests), for whoever controls the stick, controls the universe. You're the new kid in town and you join in. Cartman, Kyle and Butters are part of the human side, whilst Stan, Kyle and Jimmy are the main make up of the elves team I list these characters in particular as they are possible companions, as in, they walk around with you, and join in battles (though only one at a time), and you only unlock the characters as you go along (I'd recommend Kenny early on due to his swarm attack). I can't really go beyond that too much, just recommend that you keep your eyes peeled for chinpokomon all the time, because, as I found out after I had finished the game, I missed 1 mission specific one, and could never go back to get it (man, I was pissed off). I also missed 1 time specific side quest, so I couldn't get all the friends either! Just make sure you investigate every corner, or you'll probably miss something. If you've ever liked South Park, play it! Play it now!

   I haven't played Grid 2 again, and this week Titanfall is out, I'm still not sure whether there is a finishable campaign, I know it's an online only shooter, but there are apparently some story elements to it, so I'm not sure you can ever say you've really 'finished' the campaign, but I guess I'll let you know next week. Also, sorry I can't make my mind up on picture sizes, I'll set myself a final choice eventually.

Finished: Mark of the ninja

              Donkey Kong country, tropical freeze

              Crimson dragon

              Toy soldiers: Cold war

              Metro: Last light

              South Park the stick of truth

Underway (sigh): Grid 2

Week 3

   So, I actually had 2 days off, not the 1 I had anticipated, however, it will be just 1 this coming week. Sorry this is a day late.

   I got Metro: Last Light completed then. It's a game I touched upon last week, and just finished 5 minutes ago. I wont go into the setting again, because, as mentioned, I covered last week. There's plenty to it though, with varying game styles, and it's a good job I got it off PS Plus, because otherwise I would have never played it, which would have been a shame. If you do have a ps3, ps4 and/or ps vita and don't have PS Plus, you need to sort your life out.
   Carrying on from where I got to last week then, it's got a journey feel to it, like Half Life 2 (not THAT good though) where you are making your way through different environments (sort of, there's only so much you can do in an underground rail way system, but there is some stuff on the surface, but it's all been nuked so it all looks pretty F'd up) and going through the different game styles. The getting captured really sets the scene for the game, as this is what starts you on your Journey to find the dark one an get back to Polis to warn them of what's to come.
   Early on through your travels, you get to see a sort of variety show, which is a pretty poor standard (I kept expecting to see Tracey Jordan walk on stage (but as it's in Russia, he'd have to somehow be white). Speaking of things you encounter that are unusual, you also get the opportunity to get a lap dance at a strip club, and I'll tell you this much, GTA V's was better (though they both make you feel pretty sad inside that you're looking at video game boobs (also, there's more boob later in Metro)).

I think we can all agree, that sure is a variety show.

   Not Long after this, there is a massive plot twist, which I wont ruin, but it leaves you on a race to get back to Polis (the capital of the metro) and warn the rest of the rangers (your guys) what's going on. There are some tricky bits to come from there though, an exceedingly difficult and infuriating wave defence (I hate these, why do people like horde mode and such so much?) twice in fairly quick succession (there was nearly a broken controller). But there are also some scary bits when you're running around underneath the city, being attacked by massive spiders, and plenty of stealth action when you get near a station, inevitably get captured and have to escape (this may have only happened once, but it seemed like it happened way more times). From there, the story goes a bit weird when you are reunited with the dark one, and mutually hep each other out, and you find out some things you didn't know about yourself, which makes you feel bad for what your character had done in the first game (not that I played it, also, if you did, you had 2 choices anyway, but Last Light decided which ending is canon for you). You get led to a boss fight (urgh) that seems to go on forever, but from there you're led to what promises to be an epic final battle (I was thinking like going in to the final Oblivion gate in Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion) but it turns out, it lasts about 5 minutes, and is really easy. Also, I found out after I had completed it and was reading a synopsis of the plot so I could remember then names of things to write here, that there was a hidden morality system that the game never told you about and I got the bad ending! Thanks 4A games.

   I feel that I've just made it seem unfairly poor, but it isn't, sure, there's some issues, but it's worth ago, but there is one additional thing that's bugging me. When there are different faction, one being a Nazi group (the Reich) and one being a communist group (the Red Line), then why does the leader of the Red Lin have a Hitler moustache a not the leader of the Reich???

WTF!?

   I've played another game this week though (discounting the many hours I put in to FIFA this week as I got back in to the career mode in a big way (yay, Wolves qualified for the UEFA cup/Europa league) and that game is Toy Soldiers: Cold war, another sequel to a game I never played, and another game that I didn't pay a penny for. (This was an Xbox 360 'game with gold' (I suppose I did pay for both of these really as I have to pay for PS plus and Xbox live gold, but I'd have gold to play online anyway, and PS Plus is so cheap that you feel like you're making money from it)).

   So, it's tower defence, so not the most exciting game, except that you actually get stuck in to the action, you can jump in to the turrets and control them, as well as getting access to talk, helicopter, fighter jets and Rambo style commandos. The game came with a good degree of difficulty too, even on normal difficulty, as the further you progressed, the harder it got (obviously) but without ever feeling like you were being screwed over (which is something I tend to find a lot in games).

   Another extra treat this game came with was it's setting. The idea behind toy soldiers is that you play as toys, defending the toy box from incoming enemies. I can only assume that you're playing in the mind of a child playing with his toys, after all, there's nothing that a child enjoys more than a Soviet invasion. This leads to a special turret type, that varies as you upgrade it, and has things like a magnifying glass (to melt the plastic). As it's the cold war, it also has a very 80's feel to it, and the sound track made me think of top gun and other 80's style army films (and I don't mean like full metal jacket).

   As with most tower defence, it's all about the tactics, and earning enough cash to upgrade your turrets (earned by slaughtering enemies) and killing the bonus enemy that scores you a barrage, like a commando or nuclear strike. The environments are destructible too, so if you want to destroy the Eiffel tower (in toy form) then go for it. Plus, it has a cute moment, whenever a single soldier fires a rocket launcher, he falls over.

   I was trying to find a picture of that happening so I could put 'awwwwww....' but I couldn't, so here's a random screen shot.

      A final thing to add, is that when each level ends, the game goes stat crazy, which is something I love, but something went horribly wrong. During the first or second mission, iIwas hit with the red ring of death. Now, it's not the first time it has happened to this console, back in November when I was playing Xcom: enemy within it happened then, an I think it happened another time since, but as I barely use the 360 these days, it doesn't matter too much. It does mean that for all my remaining last gen (is it last gen now that xbone/ps4 is out? I suppose so) games, they'll have to be played on PS3. Now, I have no problem with that (except for that there's some DLC I'll have to get on 360), i re-ordered South Park the Stick of Truth to come on PS3 (it should be here when i get home from work tonight!), but the fact is that the 360 has always been my go to console for that generation, and the PS3 was just there for exclusives, so it's weird to have that big switch. Also, the dual shock sucks, but the 360 controller is great (maybe my favourite ever). Anyway, this meant I didn't want to risk spending time reading all the stats on cold war in case it happened again. But...

   Something else I played this week, on 360, was the walking dead season 2, episode 2. Now, I'm not going to count this as a game, as it's more like DLC, but it did take a few hours, but it was great, and has given me a great idea of how to store alcohol, Jam Jars (genius!). It also made me question that, whilst there's probably not enough time and resources to spend shaving your face in a Zombie apocalypse, so most of the male characters have beards, how come some of them have such finely kept moustaches? And how come there are so many people with said Moustaches, sure, it's not loads, but it's way above the normal moustache to non moustache ratio. I don't want to spoil the story, so I'll just leave it here, and just say you should go play season 1 and 2.

   Also, I never played Grid 2 This week. so...

Finished: Mark of the ninja

              Donkey Kong country, tropical freeze

              Crimson dragon

              Toy soldiers: Cold war

              Metro last light

Under way: Grid 2