G'day there guys and gals!
***This review is 100% spoiler free. Some words have been removed to avoid spoilers.***
Whenever a fresh game comes into the mix of each year's latest sequel, it's always nice to - in simple
words - "give the new guy a chance". Remember Me has only recently made it's debut into the gaming world and even so, it's already making a splash.
Remember Me is set in 2084 in a futuristic Paris called (Wait for it) Neo-Paris and follows the story of Nilin. She is a Errorist (A gang of rebellious youths) who has dedicated her life fighting Memorize, a company that has harnessed the ability to record the memories of a person inside a device at the back of their necks called a Sensen. With this technology, Memorize have complete control over everything; from the media and advertisements up to the military and government.
The game begins with Nilin waking up in the Bastille Fortress, near everything forgotten except her own name. Confused, dazed and with nothing but the voice of Edge (the leader and fellow Errorist) to guide her to freedom, the game and the story begins.
Let me begin with the storyline; while it does start out rather slow, the eventuality definitely a decent payoff. While the name "Neo-Paris" is a cringe-worthy, unsettling name, it doesn't deter to the fact that world around you is one filled with story. Remember Me is one of the only games that comes to mind that fleshes out the stories of even the lowliest NPC. With Nilin's special ability to write new memories and re-write old ones, the game definitely takes you on a twisting tale that the voice cast tries to bring a more meaningful depth.
"Tries" is such a big word for the voice cast, yet the proper term would be "attempts". The voice cast, which consists of generally newer actors in this profession, I'm being extremely generous when I say half of the cast was mostly successful in their roles. Nilin (Voiced by Kezia Burrows) has mostly a flat voiced expression when it comes to a large majority of the game. Unless an extreme emotion is being expressed, her voice is flat and straight to the point. Granted, as her first video game role, it is terribly hard to express many emotions with just voice but a teeny bit more emotion would have been appreciated. Whereas her helpful partner Edge (Voiced by Nathan Nolan, NOT to be confused with Nolan North), while brings much needed lightness and definitely helps set the mood to each new Episode, can tend to be a teeny bit Melodramatic at points while the rest of the cast does help to ease into both the feel and development of the game, storyline and plot.
Gameplay is a great mix of some of the more modern games of this generation. The best way to describe it would be this; with the combat style of Arkham City, parkour and free-run of Assassin's Creed and leveling system similar to Prototype, the game is familiar to the touch of gamers, especially with controls that are simple and easy to remember. This being said, the controls can tend to do you over with the camera angle changing with each step and move, being very similar to the issues with Assassin's Creed. That being said, many of the in-game moments such as rewriting memories are something to look forward to and become more frequent as the game rolls on. This truly is an innovative type of gameplay, allowing the gamer to rewrite and replay a single moment how they choose it to happen.
The leveling system allows players to shape the way they like to play the game and I absolutely love that feature. With healing, extra damage, chain fighting and more as you fight onward against the enemies. Combat is fun and addictive but it can be quite so frustrating against the few enemies that the game presents. With the main three, two specials and the few varieties that the game presents, each are easy in their own accord or simply frustratingly overpowered, with much emphasis on "frustratingly" as there is now a permanent crack in my controller.
The only true issue was the sound effects and musical score. Running and movement was simple enough but when it came to the grander moments it seemed almost lacking. The Leaper monsters to the mechanical kind, sound effects seem to fade or distort almost as if an ending for one wasn't possible. The musical score wasn't much to shake a stick at either sadly; while staring at this beautiful and gorgeous recreation of Paris (with graphics similar to Deus Ex Human Revolution), the slow and stiff classical music was beautiful in itself but did not suit the mood, tone or severity of the game in a whole. The more meaningful and deeper moments are captured perfectly by the music but these moments are few and aren't seen until near or right at the end of the game. A clean classical music score doesn't truly suit a boss fight without heavy trombones, tuba or bass line.
With graphics to follow a story and immersive world to lose your head into, Remember Me will bring you a world where everyone's memories are just fingertips away. Despite all it's faults and failures, Remember Me is a game you will definitely remember for years to come.
Out of 10, I give Remember Me a 8/10
+ Fleshed out story and characters
+ Rewrite memories as you see fit = gameplay genius
+ Controls are simple and very similar to the touch
+ Customisation in fighting style is a massive plus
+ A believable and gorgeous looking world.
- Acting was lacking in place
- Sound effects weren't too great
- Musical score even less so
- Some enemies are harder than boss fights
- Forever a crack in my controller = Not happy Jan.
Remember Me is out now for the standard price of $70
Howdy folks, prepare for a rant.
If you'd like to follow along, here's the link I'll be talking about.
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2013/06/microsoft-is-removing-xbox-one-drm/
For the people who have yet to hear, Microsoft have released a statement that, simply put, they are removing the DRM in their upcoming console, Xbox One. In their statement, they've also announced that game can be resold, traded and borrowed. 24 hour log in has been removed and the console now allows offline gameplay, even on downloaded titles. Mainstream games can also be downloaded on day of release and regional restrictions are removed. And with all of this the internet is celebrating like the Ewok party at the ending of Star Wars VI. And while I see this as a positive thing, there are certainly negatives when it comes to this.
Microsoft is pretty much saying "Okay Internet, you win." While I support this change, it's just disappointing that it took hundreds of anger filled Youtube, Tumblr, Twitter, Blog, Forums, Petitions and other forms of online media content to reach this easy and simple decision. While they made the right move, the company has definitely caved, making them look even more weak than they already appear now.
Personally, I didn't care about the 24 hours thing, I'm on my Xbox once a day anyway to check messages or to play. I didn't mind about the Kinect issues, there's an off switch on the side you can use when your Xbox is off. I didn't even care about the DRM, I only have one second hand game anyway out of the 105+ hard covers that I own. To be perfectly honest, to me the internet was complaining for the sake of complaining; even if they kept the DRM in, most people were going to buy an Xbox One anyway. It's... almost like the gamers who complain about COD's unoriginality yet still buy the newer game every year. As a user commented after reading the Kotaku post: "We're not getting the Xbox One, we're getting the Xbox 360 V2". Microsoft, the internet will never be happy. You now appear weaker and more susceptible to caving in to change. Even if you were the losing horse of this next-gen console race, you have to back your horse, no matter how much criticism or hatred comes your way. Even though you've changed the Xbox One for the better, the views of history will forever see the Xbox One as the horse the company simply shot in the back of the head for the sake of profit.
As my dear friend Mr. James Mills once said to me: "You can't question how something is made in the eyes of the developers. It's almost as if you buy a CD, not like some of the songs and then throw it back to the band, demanding them to remake those songs."
Internet, whether you're a fan of Xbox, Playstation, Wii, PC or whatever else is out there, simply put - we're all gamers. Playing games is what brought our community together and this console war is tearing us apart. The average age of a gamer worldwide is 28 and yet we're fighting like nine year olds over the favourite toy in the playground. It's time we got back to doing what we love the most: Play games for the good times with our friends, family and simply to escape reality into a great story.
Whether or not you play games for a campaign or multiplayer, to have fun doing silly things or wanting to have a meaningful playthrough, we're all gamers looking for a great time, it's time that we band together for our love for gaming then tear into each other.
Long live gamers!
G'day there folks!
***WARNING: Some minor plotlines are revealed. Read at your own caution!***
With the world being in crisis, heroes will step forward to save the damsel in distress and defeat the bad guy once more. With Army Of Two, the story has always followed the tale of Rios and Salem, one of the best T.W.O. teams the company has to offer. But in time, all men age and grow weary of the fight, with this it leads to the next and possibly last game in the series. The Devil's Cartel follows the story of T.W.O. recruits Alpha and Bravo who are under the guidance of Rios and Salem. After the tutorial, the game begins with the four men heading off on a hostage mission, and of course as cliché as it is, the plan eventually goes horribly wrong. With only one hostage still alive, Salem abandons the mission as near hundreds of enemies surround them. After fleeing in a car he dies in a fiery crash, the other men and hostage Fiona barely escaping themselves after a failed attempt to save Salem from his burning wreck. Five years later, T.W.O. agents are hired by Mayor Cordova, a Mexican politian who wants to rid his town of La Guadana (The Scythe) and their leader, to which you find out his reasons for this later. As the convoy rolls on and the sharp commentary continues, Alpha and Bravo (quite like Rios and Salem), continue the witty banter about how nothing can go wrong. As if just like out of a cliché Shoot-Em-Up Hollywood movie, the convoy is thoroughly attacked, leaving many T.W.O. agents dead and Alpha and Bravo stranded in the heart of Mexico.
It's no secret that the game has always supported Co-Op and The Devil's Cartel is no different. What is different is the gameplay even in single player mode. The predecessor, The 40th Day, was hounded by critics about it's buggy AI system during single player but DC has greatly improved from this with a more smooth system. Speaking of which, Gameplay is still as fun as ever, even more so with the more diverse and different enemies to fight. While Shield-Hogs (As I like to think of them) and Heavys make a reappearance, Melee fighters, snipers and other variants make an appearance and can truly spice up a more dull area in the game. What truly makes it more as fun is the customisation.
EA has truly gone all out on customisation; in the predecessor, players were able to customise masks through their website. DC allows in-game mask creation, changing a characters clothes and even tattoos. Weapon customisation also returns to a greater degree, with more options and colour pigments and even down to shading. Speaking of shading, the game's graphics were of top notch quality; the mission placement was truly clever and enjoyable to look at. From missions in dark and damp basements to night time skies with flames all around you, this add truly needed atmosphere to the game.
The storyline itself is a decent and amusing one, but doesn't carry much other than that. While there are a few jaw dropping moments in the game, there isn't much there to keep you glued to your seat the entire time as the storyline drops harshly often, especially so when you'd like to customise your gear (Which forced you back to the main menu) or do anything in that regard. Other than personal choices however, that can be avoided.
Sound effects and musical score are of decent quality but don't add much into the storyline. While the music swells around large fights, bosses and cutscenes, the game is generally quiet when travelling even down to the sound effects. If Alpha and Bravo are not creating some witty banter, this can be extremely dull and downright boring.
Joe Flanagan and David Sobolov bring in new light with Salem and Rios while Zack Ward (Alpha) who makes his first video game role here and Emerson Brooks (Bravo) joins along side him do create quite a good duo during the gameplay. It's hard to warm up to the pair until late into the game - as the characters seem cold and uncaring during most of the gameplay. Until they truly start opening up to each other about their fears and dreams, it's hard to form a bond with these two like Rios and Salem.
The Devil's Cartel is a game with fun gameplay, decent acting and a bearable storyline and even without the game's glitches (such as the Ending glitch with told me over and over that Bravo had died midway during the ending cutscene), it's still a decent game with customising your character to your heart's content, playing together with a friend and so much more. While the game is a decent addition to the Army Of Two world, there are just too many places it lacks to ignore them.
Out of 10, I give Army Of Two: The Devil's Cartel a 6/10
+ Fun Gameplay/Enchanting graphic-work
+ Storyline was decent
+ Customisation = LOVE
+ Waaaay better AI and NPC characters/movements
- Sound Effects too standard/lacking musical score
- Solo/Co-op gameplay tends to glitch
- Loading screens are frustratingly long
- Many points in the storyline are too cliché
- Not a lot of replay value...
- Ending, while meaningfuly, is rushed and forced
Army Of Two The Devil's Cartel is out now for the standard price of $60
G'day there guys and gals!
This is a little late due to my internet being down all last night and me being generally busy all day but...THANK YOU SO MUCH!
12'000 views? That's incredible! All my work over nearly three years has definitely been worth it and I have you to thank you for it!
So many people have helped me on my way, close friends (You know who you are) to people I've formed friendships with such as LittleVMills and RickkMurray. Not only have you and these people helped me develop my YT content but also my content here for you folks.
To show gratitude to you folks, I started my Competition a few days ago but it was over within two and a half hours! That's how dedicated you folks are towards me and I really do appreciate all the help you willingly give.
So just for you, I'm gonna work on my reviews as quickly as I possibly can and I have a bit of news for you folks!
1: Gaming Tales is a new Youtube content I'm going to be bringing onto here also, where I retell some of my memorable gaming moments in my life and also feature some of yours.
2: FIVE EASY ACHIEVEMENTS IS MOVING TO YT! I'm going to be bringing back a fan favourite, now in YT form! It'll be a little less scripted than usual but hopefully it can be a bit more informative.
Well, other than that, things have been normal here in the ol' Fatman stead. Enjoy this random doodle I drew of myself when I was bored during the internet downage.
Thank you all so very much, and as always, have fun and game on!
