12 weeks, 12 games, year 2

   Well, the Royal Rumble sucked. Onwards though. After the 'success' of this last year I figured I'd do it again and hell, I was off for a week last week too so I figured I could make a big dent into the number right off the back, and I did.

   So, First up the game that comes off the back of the comment I made at the end of my last post referring to a new aid to get this done. The Aid, A PS4 ('cause I had more money than I needed (amongst other things)), the game, Transistor. It had made many peoples GOTY list last year and despite it not really looking like my bag, I figured I'd give it a go and I liked it too! It's a lot like their previous game, Bastion (apparently, I never played it) where it's got an Isometric view and you have to battle an array of robots with the the help of your trusty talking sword best mate (the Transistor) and you can pause and pre plan attacks that will then be executed for you and is a lot easier than straight up fighting as this happens mega quick. There's a nice death mechanic too where you don't actually die, just lose your most powerful attack for a couple of charge stations, and then the next one and so on, so there's not a lot of annoying replaying of areas. People these days complain that games are too easy but I find nothing more annoying in gaming than having to do the same bit more than 2 or 3 times (hence why I'll never play Demon Souls, I'd break more than 1 controller on that no doubt). I'm not advocating making games really easy but this seems like a nice compromise to me and I really liked that touch.

   Now, I'm not a 100% sure what the plot was, it was pretty crazy but it had something to do with a  robotic future, where they just decided to take over a city for some reason and steal a singers voice (that's you (fun note, you can join in with the background music at any time as she will hum along to it with a spotlight shining down on her from the heavens, that was unusual)) and there's a sword that keeps the souls of people it's killed in it. Okay, maybe not souls, more the mind but no body and inside it seems to be like a genies lantern or something where there's a world inside this soul sword. Weird plot aside, it was really good and I'm glad I gave it a try.

   From there back to the Xbone and a game that came free with games with gold in Worms: Battlegrounds, I've always liked worms as a multiplayer game, who hasn't? (also, British!) The single player has always been an excuse to let you play against the AI though, but it never really mattered because it's not what the game was about. This was different though (sort of). There was a plot (albeit a weak one about breaking in to a museum to stop some guy being able to control the minds of worms worldwide) and missions more than normal face offs. They even splashed the bucks and got Katherine Parkinson (IT Crowd's Jen) to do the VO (no shouting though thankfully). The missions were a mix between badly planned stealth, traversal, puzzle solving and classic worms fights. They were okay even though it was an odd direction to take and hell, it even had a boss at the end. It's not these things I have a problem with so much though as that it took the AI a year to make a move for some reason and the checkpoints (that you had to get lest ye have to go all the way back to the start of the level because the AI, after doing nothing all game pulls off the most audacious shot that no actual person would ever be able to make and takes out your whole team in one go) were always directly facing a group of opposition worms, who would then blast that guy to pieces. There's also different classes of worms now (1 can move quicker, 1 does more damage, there's some others) which I don't know why they changed. Apparently that happened in the previous one to this and I guess they wanted to change it up a bit as not much has changed since the short lived jump to 3D. I say if it ain't broke don't fix it, just add more fun weapons and put back in a map editor. It's still fun multiplayer though.

   Then, on to the Stand Alone DLC (so yes, I'm counting it) for Saints Row 4; Gat out of hell (haha, pun). I don't know why Saints Row 4 got so much hate. I loved it's complete change from the previous formula. GTA V was coming out not long after it and I think making it a superhero game was a great move to mix things up while still including the same old Goofy Saints Row humour that made it feel like the early GTA's were back in the first place. Gat out of hell was an interesting Idea for a plot where Johnn Gat and Kinzie have to go in to hell to rescue your protagonist from the main game after he's kidnapped playing with a Ouija board to marry Satan's daughter. The game is set in hell then (though it looks like some random city only with corpses walking the streets, a bizarre array of cars which, just like in the main game, you don't need and demons for police) and you get wings and can fly around and stuff. You get to meet up with some old deceased friends/ enemies from previous games and even Ultor plays a part. We also get Satan with a South Park style evil goatee and a Disney esque song in the middle (too early though as I new it was coming and I was looking forward to it and felt it should've come nearer to the end). Unfortunately though the game is nearly all side missions as you're just looking to build Satans Eyre towards you so he will face you off in battle, obviously winding him up by doing things like the insurance fraud mini game and flying speed runs.

  There is plenty to do though, you don't have to do anywhere near all the side missions to finish the game (though I did anyway) and there's the '7 deadly sin' weapons to collect (I got 1) and there's the classic collectibles to hunt for everywhere which, to be fair, do help you improve your special powers. Still, I didn't even get half of them and after about half way through I was already too overpowered for any enemy so it's not like you really need them unless your a completionist (I'm not). Also, for a game that has been released on next gen systems, it doesn't look very good, which is a shame because it had a cool style.

   Then I hit a roadblock. After sitting in my drawer fir 6 months or so I figured it was time to give Wolfenstein: The new order a go. Obviously this is a franchise with a big history in videogames but I'd never played one before. I'd heard good things (can't have been that good though or it wouldn't have been sitting there for so long) so it seemed only right to give it a go. Frankly it reminds me a lot of Metro: Last light which I played for this same 12 weeks 12 games last year in that it has a good plot and continual story, but the the gameplay is passable. There's not a big problem with it but it's one of those where once I've put it down I wont think about it again, and, just Like Metro it's too long. How long to beat says it takes about 12 hours but based on how long I was playing it for and apparently am not through a third of the missions it seems like it'll take longer (I do keep dying a lot mind). Now I'm getting older and time is more precious I really struggle to play mediocre games, it's okay if they're short because I'll just get on with it, but when it's long it seems like such a daunting task of having to sit there for hours being at best mildly entertained. There's plenty of TV shows I could be watching of other games to play, but I know what I'm like, I've started so I'll finish. Before I end here for today I'd be re missed if I didn't make reference to the fact that even in a game set in the 60's it has Polish people leaving their country for another. I'll speak more what the game is like next week when I've (hopefully) finished it, but I know I can't be bothered tonight.

Completed

Transistor
Worms Battlegrounds
Saints Row: Gat out of hell

Underway

Wolfenstein: The new order.


   BTW, if there's even more spelling mistakes than usual my new Laptops keyboard seems to be trash.

Game of the Year 2014

   Last year I had GTA V, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider and the eventual winner, The Last of Us on the list. 2014, as I previously mentioned, Wasn't anywhere near as good and there is no way any of these upcoming games would've won last year, let alone even be on the list. Nevertheless, there's got to be a winner (well, there hasn't, but there's gonna be), so here we go...

FORZA HORIZON 2

   It's been many years since I have enjoyed a racing game so much, you're probably talking GT2, released a mere 15 years previously (a time when I was in to cars (despite being 12), little did I know I'd be epileptic and thus unable to drive), which says a lot about how much I care really. Anyway, this was a gorgeous open world racer with a good mix of race types and cars, a nice environment and some fun side quests (are they quests in racing games?). 'Driveatars' meant that the opposition was more human and, unlike in GT2, the cars didn't just follow a pre set path, many of them took their own routes and went at the race differently. Of course, the unfortunate truth of it is that it's just a racing game, that may seem harsh but it's always going to be hard for it to stand alongside the greats. Still, give the game it's due, as far as I'm concerned it's the pinnacle of racing games.

SOUTH PARK: THE STICK OF TRUTH

 
   A game years in the making and eagerly anticipated by myself (and many others, but this is about me damn it) for a long time. It's very rare for a game, but it was hilarious, the combat was simple enough to not take you out of the light hearted nature of the game but had enough depth to keep it from being repetitive. It had a lot of nice references to old episodes so South Park fans like myself had some nice bonuses too. It looked just like the show too (though, you would expect that due to the power of the console and the crappy look of the show). It was written by Matt and Trey (one of the main reasons it took so long (also, THQ went under)) so you knew it would be good going in and it has a cohesive story (as cohesive s a South Park story ever can be anyway). The only thing I can say against it really is that it was too Short. I like a lot of meat in my RPG's, but this clocked in short of what I'd like, especially given how long it was in development.

MIDDLE EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR

    As I mentioned before, where did this game come from? Who brands a game after The Lord of the Rings now. I know there's the Hobbit films but there's just nowhere near the excitement around those as there was in the original trilogy. Anyway, this was a game that took the best things from Assassin's Creed and the Arkham series and melded them together fantastically. Great Combat, good stealth and of course the mind control and nemesis systems. You could get control of the enemy armies by controlling the minds of their leaders, which could turn in to great advantage on the battlefield. There was the nemesis system too where an enemy might kill you, get promoted and you'll see him again later, stronger. Alternatively they may escape, and the next time you see them they'll be damaged, and come a half dozen times he'll be horribly deformed. There were some problems though, the story was forgettable and it had Golem in it, who always annoyed me in the films. Additionally, in the first half of the game the area was all mud and looked awfully bland.

So, what's the winner. Ultimately they were all good games, but there is only one that would have made it on to the aformentioned  list, and that is... South Park, The Stick of Truth. It had to win inevitably, as I'd been looking forward to it for years, and anticipation always makes me feel like games are better, but to be fair, it definitely lived up to my hope (though that didn't work for GTA V last year).

Now, on to 12 weeks 12 weeks, 12 games year two (starting from tommorow (19/1/15)), and I've got a new aid to do it

2014: year in review (gaming)

   Let's start with the most (over)hyped game of the year; Destiny. Plenty of people love Halo to a ludicrous extent, so when Bungie announced they were handing over the reigns of Halo to go and pursue their own new ideas, people were buzzing with anticipation. Finally it's coming to PS4, it's an MMO, it's an... FPS. Shocker. All jokes aside though people were amped because we all knew Bungie were good at them, so let's give them the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately it wasn't all that exciting. It didn't really have a story and was all about doing an array of side missions to level up to get to the later added 'raids' which you could only do with 5 friends online anyway. I suppose that is the idea of an MMO really but I was hopeful that there would be more to it (for more go: http://andy8472.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/games-season-destiny.html )It could have been worse though, because as it turned out i would be one of few AAA late year releases that wasn't plagued with bugs. Driveclub embarrassingly didn't work for months, NBA2K15's create a player faces melted, EA servers crashed, Call of duty had it problems connecting, but of course the best one was

   No faces on Assassin's creed Unity. Now, as someone who didn't play it, I found it hilarious but for the guys at Ubisoft who had done so much to get a beautiful looking world on the next gen systems, they must have been well miffed to say the least.
   It wasn't all bad for Ubisoft though, as they released the much anticipated (by me) South Park: The stick of truth, the JRPG style comedy game that was incredible and is on my list for game of the year (so I won't talk much about it here). They also cranked out 2 good smaller games in Valiant Hearts and Child of Light that were fun little adventures and both worth a play. Also not forgetting the second most (over)hyped game of the year in Watchdogs, which I thought was alright despite what some others may say. Not forgetting Far Cry 4 (which incidentally came out in that late 2014 period but didn't have any horrific bugs (seem like that and Destiny book ended the 'problem period')) and a few more, so I'd say it was good for them in 2014 (ACU aside).
   Who remembers Titanfall? The big online only shooter on Xbox one. That game was marketed like crazy and pushed down out throats with all it's armoured mechs and Parkour. It was fun for a while, but as I find with anything if I'm playing a team online game by myself (which I'm always forced to now) then I quickly lose interest. Seems like most of the rest of the world did too and Call of Duty came in and stripped it for parts.
  While on multiplayer games lets talk Nintendo with Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros. As I have mentioned a billion times before I was a Sega kid so none of these franchises meant anything to me before the Wii (the only Nintendo console I'd had before that was a Gameboy ('cause, Pokemon)) so when I jumped in to both on the Wii after I was told how great they would be although my inner child wouldn't let me believe a game about a bunch (shudder) Nintendo characters could come together and have a good game. Of course it tuned out they could and they were great. Fast forward 8 years. I'm not at university anymore and now there aren't a bunch of people with nothing better to do several days a week, nor does the Wii U have an Ethernet port. This led me to playing both of these games briefly very briefly and moving on because they're just not something you play alone and the time of my life for gathering people together to drink and play videogames for hours has long gone (unfortunately, still sounds like an awesome night to me)).
   Speaking of multiplayer being ruined it looks like I wasted £40 on FIFA. After my perhaps harsh review of  this years instalment ( http://andy8472.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/games-season-fifa-15.html ) I played it some more and got more used to it to where I was ready to go back in and change the score  (not that anyone would've noticed), but then I couldn't play online. I'd connect to the EA servers, but when trying to get in to a match after about 20 failed attempts and eventully joining one I'd get kicked off the EA servers. I've tried several times since but only one time did it work. It looks like I'm not the only one experiencing this problem, but it is a small minority of people so EA probably don't care (after all they don't seem to be doing anything about it) but I'd probably lower my score now as that's the only real reason I play it. Oh well, Looks like it's back to pro Evo for me this year (a Small joke there for you but you have to work for it).
   Ports, what's all that about? I know really, money, yeah. It just annoys me that so many games are getting ported over from the last consoles to the new ones, especially Tomb Raider and The Last of Us which only came out last year anyway. I've heard arguments that it lets developers get used to the new consoles, but I'm sure they could do that while making a new game. Come on guys.
   There was definitely some games that snuck up on me last year, especially Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Here was me not caring about anything Lord of the Ringsy since 2003, and here this came. Anyway, that's in my game of the year nominees so no more on that. The same can be said for the aforementioned Child of light though, which despite scepticism from me going in turned out to be pretty damned good. It's another small JRPG style game, like South Park, but more heartwarming than funny and definitely worth a go. Super Time Force was pretty great too if you like 2D platformers (which I do), because it looked like there was too much going on to me as I went in but it turned out to be awesome. As did Lego Marvel Superheroes. I'd got sick of Lego games a long time ago, and even though the main story missions were of a similar ilk to the stuff I'd played many years ago on Lego Star wars there was just so much to do in the open world and it was bulging with collectibles/ unlockables and it made it more than it had the right be.
   Sneaking wasn't all great this year, 'cause you know who else sneaked? Snake. A very much glorified demo tat you had the privilege to pay for, that was a tiny chunk of what the main game will be, and frankly I didn't like it either. As I spoke about before.
( http://andy8472.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/week-6.html ) The AI seems ridiculously good and they could spot you from miles away, even in the pitch black. I don't think this is criticism that I found it too hard, it was just ridiculous. Plus, Kiefer Sutherland replaced David Hayter? I was Just hearing Jack Bauer the whole time and repeating the joke 'huh, what was that noise' in my own head every time he spoke. It makes me Long for PS 1 demo disc that had the first couple of levels from the original on MGS on it (and Total soccer!).

   Frankly, It's been a disappointing year after a great 2013 with devs squeezing the last they could out of the PS3/ 360 an now they're getting used to the new ones and frankly with so many standout games that year, 2014 was always going to have a hard time keeping up the pace. Still, I'll always try to look on the bright side and look forward to next year and the games coming out, like the Witcher 3, Batman Arkham Knight, Tomb Raider (2?), No Mans Sky and many more. And BTW, my other GOTY (Game of the year) nominee from me is Forza Horizion 2. More to come on that in the coming days.