Review: Skyrim Special Edition

G'day there guys and gals!


What can I say about Skyrim that hasn't been said a thousand times already? For those brand new to the gaming community, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim utterly destroyed the minds of gamers five years ago with its humongous world, its giant amount of lore and its gameplay. Almost anything was up for grabs; did you want to create a book selection? Collect a book, add it to your shelf in your own and read them sitting around your campfire! What about creating a home? Do a short quest and a plot of land was yours to model to how you see fit. Join some thieves, or the Dark Brotherhood, perhaps even follow a talking dog down the rabbit hole of Oblivion, your world was nearly unending in things to do.
But what does this say about the release of the remastered game?

The primary focus of this re-release was its upgraded graphics, which in comparison of the previous console titles, they are definitely an improvement. Lighting is heavily improved, and this can be seen clearly in the morning and evenings. Models have also been improved ever so slightly and textures for items look much cleaner and sharper than before. What sets this release out is its inclusion of the DLCs and now mods for the consoles, easily adding more replayability than before; the main story, a few side missions and the DLC alone will set you back easily 50 hours, but for those looking towards grabbing more from their game, there are mods to consider. The PS4 has over fifty with more on the way, and the Xbox version has over one hundred, each needing a Bethesda account to gain access to downloading them. Keep in mind however that by using them, you disable your achievements/trophies so use with your own caution.

In saying all of this, there are a tremendous amount of bugs also. I experienced six crashes (two of which being on horseback), and mostly through the Dragonborn DLC. There were plenty of graphics bugs, floating characters, dragon souls not being absorbed, unkillable skeletons and more. We can consider that the port has made the game a tad unstable, but consider the age and time spent on the game, leaving the bugs excusable because "No Bethesda game released has been bugless" isn't an excuse: in the gaming era that the Elder Scrolls was created in, if a game was released that was buggy, it was ridiculed and slammed. There were no patches, there were no fixes, there was no excuse. Today, we can be lenient, but for a five year old game to experience the same issues as the game had at the original launch is ridiculous.

The game itself is just as terrific as it was before; the gameplay still holds up, the musical score and sound effects are just as as good and the game is still worthy of its awards and praise, of that I have no doubt. But I am a reviewer, and I review games by a code, judging a game at the state its in at release. To give a game a free pass because of its legacy is being biased, and the day that I am biased is the day that six years writing reviews means nothing. 

For its many crashes and bugs, I cannot in good conscience give it a high score to be fair, but that doesn't mean the game isn't worth it. The game can be patched, and the DLC/mods are a added plus.
PC users can get Special Edition for free if they have the game and DLC, which I highly recommend. But for those who have played on the previous generation console version, it may be best to return to Tamriel and relearn all your Dovah. The game is buggy, but it is still brilliant.

Skyrim Special Edition - C-

Review: Titanfall 2

G'day there guys and gals!

Titanfall was open to much scrutiny when it was first released a few years ago, most noticeably the lack of a proper campaign for players to escape the multiplayer onslaught. In the world today where games are patched on release day, it takes a lot of courage for a developer to stand up and admit to flaws and issues within their work, and Respawn Entertainment have listened to their fans and responded with Titanfall 2, and I'm happy to say their changes absolutely refresh the series.

First and foremost, the gameplay; While it hasn't been reworked, it has definitely been polished finely. Moving from walking to a sprint has been improved (and the option to remove it completely is there), and maneuvering is arguably even smoother than before. Firing each weapon has a different feel and sound, which really helps with the immersion of the game as well.
This brings me to the campaign itself, which is surprisingly good for what's there. Players take control of Rifleman Jack Cooper, a Pilot in Training, who is injured in the midst of an invasion and who is given control of a titan named BT-7274, and together they must uphold the mission and travel together to stop a great evil the IMC is cooking up. The story itself is well paced out, but I will admit it is much shorter than expected; the story itself is great, and what's there does absolutely open the lore of the series up more than before. We see different climates and planets, fauna, life, weather and a ton of different varitables that weren't seen in the Titanfall world before (which I will not spoil). But the campaign does total out at around 5-6 hours, even shorter if you're playing on a lower set level.
Voice acting is very well done, especially by the supporting staff. Matthew Mercer (Jack Cooper) was great at times as well, but for a veteran voice actor, his work did seem a tad off at times, even sounding a little bored while doing some of the puns in the dialogue, but BT does make up for this, as he will be talking for a large majority of the gameplay other than the character you are playing as. 
Musical score and sound effects were very well done as well, with a great sound from each weapon and ability. The original score does make its mark here and there, but the large strings of the orchestra add a great dynamic to the incredibly powerful moments in both the campaign and the multiplayer. There are moments when the music swells and missions in the campaign where you feel powerful and strong, and these moments do shine tremendously.

Onto multiplayer, where the game was originally focused on in the previous title, and I'm happy to report the addictiveness of the game has returned. Private modes has become available, and the classic modes of Last Titan Standing and PilotVPilot make a return, which bring in plenty of hours on their own. Customisation is also a huge plus this time around, as players can actively customise their pilot and titan to their suiting, but they haven't taken it far enough. Titans are limited to classes, and players will be unable to mix and match to their playing ability. This may be due to balancing, but if you wish to use the Lazer core, you'll have to stick with the weapon and abilities assigned. The same goes for Pilots as well; choosing an ability locks your character model; if you want to play as a Spectre with invisibility perk, you won't be able to unless you choose that class. The customisation options, while expansive, can also produce duplicates of the same picture or colour with incredibly small details (zig-zags instead of lines, colour swap from blue to green etc), which is a tad disappointing. Burn Cards have also been replaced for the Core abilities; players can choose their main core ability (which is tied to one class), and model their secondary abilities to unlocks (Ticks - robotic creatures, Arc grenades, etc), which you can unlock via coins you gain by gameplay. While I do wish Titan bodies can be customised and players could choose their character model, the amount of customisation here is still incredible (although the Titan voice option is surprisingly missing).

In saying all of this, I haven't experienced a single glitch or crash in two playthroughs of the campaign or all my time in the multiplayer, which goes to show the high amount of love and time Respawn has spent working on the game, and the fact that it has been overshadowed in the last few weeks is shocking. This review took a lot longer than expected because I've been playing it, over and over, to see both how the game holds up and if its worth multiple playthroughs. For its asking price, Titanfall 2 is absolutely worth your time and money.
If you're on the fence about this game, let me be the convincing argument; Titanfall 2 has a lot of heart and soul this time around, and you cannot do any wrong by adding it into your library, and I cannot wait to see how big Respawn can go next time around.

Titanfall 2 - 8/10

Review: Battlefield 1

G’day there guys and gals!

I have always considered myself a history buff, and a nerd for facts, and Battlefield 1 immediately left an impression on me as soon as the announcement was made. Rare is the title set in World War 1, even more so in a AAA developed title, and thus it has captured the attention of many gamers worldwide. While its campaign is a slight stretch of the actual events of the First World War, the accuracy in places, its setting and tone are masterfully done and executed.
Battlefield 1 features multiple stories set across years and borders of the conflict in the early 20^th century, and is intended to prepare players for the multiplayer, while also shedding light on the horrors, tragedies and cost of human life in such an event. From the Alps to the shores of Gallipoli, each character has their own exclusive story to be told. 

To put it bluntly, from its campaign to its multiplayer, Battlefield 1 is a title any gamer should try.

First and foremost, the gameplay itself is by far the best in the series, and stands apart from other shooters currently at release. The shooting mechanic is smooth and clean, with controls in the game just as so. Mantling and manoeuvring throughout the maps and world is simple, yet easily done nearly across the board of every map. Each weapon has an adequately different recoil, sound and look, all the way down to even the smallest of animations on the weapon including bullets and reloading. Sound effects and musical score is incredibly well done, the return of a classical score is beautifully done and suits the tone and setting in both modes. Finally, the graphics; in a word – magnificent. Cutscenes move fluently and add much needed backstory in the campaign. While the gameplay sadly isn’t as detailed, it is still just as impressive, with just the right amount make gamers stop mid fight and enjoy the view.

This brings me to the campaign itself; despite being short, it is an incredibly well done campaign. While it does stand as a preparation for the online portion of the title (introducing the multiple classes you can play as), the short stories of each person are unique to their own and are well planned out. I must mention now the addition of playing as an Australian in Gallipoli as an incredible moment for me as a gamer; few are WW1 title games, and I can name only one that even mentions our contribution to the war, let alone view it from their eyes. The jokes, the references, the accuracy (when applicable) were all incredibly written and performed. This goes across the board for all the campaign moments: a British tank driver, an American plane operator, multiple named KIA soldiers and so on, each story ties around their journeys in the war. In saying this, their shortness was something to be noted, with the entirety of the campaign easily completed in six hours, it did leave more to be desired, which is where the multiplayer comes in.

In a simpler word, the multiplayer is flawed, but gallant. Players have the option from multiple modes, most of which revolving around holding ground ala King of the Hill style, with the exception of two modes; Team Deathmatch and Carrier Pidgeon. Team Deathmatch has teams of ten fighting in restricted parts of each map, allowing a decent amount of both long range and short range opportunities. Carrier Pidgeon has two teams fighting over a Pidgeon coop containing coordinates to fire upon the enemy’s position. One team fights to release the pidgeon, the other to stop it.

The multiplayer does have its fair share of bugs, many of which are screen tears, but the biggest issue is the weaponry and the menu options. While weapons aren’t nerfed, they are all brought up to mostly the same damage. Single shot rifles will take three hits to kill, snipers two, machine rifles fifteen, etc. This does create a lot of unbalance in the classes, with the easiest weapon to score kills off of being the pistol; all are at the same damage, with the exclusion of one. Obtain that one, and your K/D ratio will skyrocket.
However, your ratio does not determine how well you can level up. Playing well in your class can aid much faster than killing many people from the opposite team. For example, choosing the medic, you can kill three people and revive 30 allies and earn more than the top five players. Of course, killing multiple enemies and reviving more would be preferable, but is incredibly hard to pull off, in Medic or any class.
The only real true complaint is the menus in the multiplayer being incredibly hard to navigate. Beginning matches is simple enough, but it is exiting them that becomes the hassle; players will only have the option to leave a match a few seconds after the ending of each match, and navigating away from the ending menu to see the scores or waiting for the unlocks to appear will render this option useless.

It’s rare that a game comes out where I can only nitpick the smaller things, such as these complaints and small issues. There are those in the community that are experiencing issues with their game, such as freezing menus, multiplayer never loading and so on, but as I have never experienced them, I cannot attest to them nor add them to my final verdict on this title.
It’s hard to place a game such as this in a spot that it deserves. As an Australian, I want to rate it for its graceful use of the ANZAC legend. As a gamer, I want to praise its gameplay. As a reviewing journalist, I want to point out its flaws and make sure my audience knows what to expect. Finding that balance between objectivism and being partisan.

So I must be both; Battlefield 1 is a brilliant first person shooter with the right elements for one of the best multiplayer experiences yet this year. Its short campaign leaves you wanting more, its microtransations and locked skins will discourage many, but the content available now – its large maps with terrific gameplay – is definitely something any gamer should try, whether they’re a history fan or simply enjoy first person shooters. Battlefield 1 has enough character for all.

Battlefield 1 - 8/10

Review: Gears of War 4

G’day there guys and gals!

It’s well known among many gamers that the Gears of War franchise improved and popularised two

great mechanics, known now as Cover and Wave mechanic. Every Third Person controlled game has followed in their footsteps, and every game to feature wave-based fighting has been inspired by the series. Gears of War 4 is a continuation from the ending of the main series five years ago; set twenty five years after the end of the Locust war, humanity struggles to survive as the elements and incredibly low population has forced them to live together in shelter. And while groups of Outsiders still remain, a new threat has reared its head from the depths of nightmares, with only a group of deserters to uncover this latest atrocity.

Players control James Dominic “JD” Fenix, the son of previous protagonist Marcus Fenix, who travels with childhood friend Del Walker and Outsider Kait Diaz, planning a raid on a new home for humanity, Settlement 5. These events set in motion the rest of the game, focusing on the conflict around Kait and her journey to save her mother from humanity’s new enemy, the Swarm.
While the former Epic employees at Coalition had developed Gears of War Judgment, this is the first sequel game in the series; while fans and newcomers can nitpick where they please, I cannot deny this new addition to the series is one hell of a return.

First and foremost, the gameplay; while the gameplay itself doesn’t offer anything terribly new, what is does offer is an improved version of the previous game’s mechanics. This goes double for the enemies, as their movements are quite similar to previous renditions, but more about that later. The gameplay is smooth and easily handled, especially for anyone who has played a Third Person title. Newcomers may have some issues with full controls, but the tutorials there definitely do come in handy from time to time. The addition of new enemies and weapons definitely do help and the huge sandbox areas for each mission are fairly well crafted.
While certain Swarm do act similar to previous enemies (Juvies react like Lambent Humans, Drones act like Locust, etc), the addition of DB robots, Pouncer, Snatcher and Carriers add a breath of fresh air into the newer enemies types, especially with the new weaponry the DBs provide. The campaign also features Windflares; wild tornado-like spouts of swirling wind, carrying thick dusted air and lightening, killing anything that comes close to its strikes. These moments in game are incredibly fun, but repeat in a same pattern; fight through two waves of enemies against the wind, race to a building to escape the lightening. It is a shame that these don't show much variation (the exception being midway through), but they are both terrifying and exhilarating.
This brings me to the storyline itself, and it is fairly well crafted. Kait's personal mission of redemption and JD's tasks do add a lot of meaning into the story itself, but the ending itself lacks the heaviness of the upcoming conflicts the world will face. In place of this is a gigantic reveal (one that I won't reveal) that is truly a jaw-dropping moment, and mostly resembles the ending to the original game. In saying this, the story is well thought out, executed efficiently and adds a good mix of both light hearted and devastating moments.
Voice acting in game was incredibly well done, especially by the newer members to the cast. Special mention to Liam McIntyre, who completely drops his Australian accent and performs fantastically. The original cast also return to their roles where needed, and do so in heart-warming nostalgia, bringing both familiarity to returning veterans and insight to newcomers. 

Sound effects are well ranged and clear, with the noises of the Swarm incredible; Snatchers and Pouncers are equally terrifying and fascinating, their screams definitely attributing well to the atmosphere. Musical score is satisfactory to this, creating harsh and strong melodies in the storms and the strings in respect to the original scores of the series where necessary. Finally, graphics have been improved immensely and while the cutscenes do have significantly better touches to lighting and textures, in game is still impressively well done.

For those interested, Multiplayer also makes a triumphant return as players are absolutely flocking to the new Horde 3.0. For the uninformed, Horde is a team based multiplayer system where players fight against waves of enemies and attempt to survive for as long as possible. They aren't stuck with weapons and simple items this time, as Horde 3.0 offers the Fabricator; a new device in the Gears universe that creates objects. By collecting power from killed enemies, players can charge the Fabricator and set up barriers, turrets and more in order to survive the waves and their bosses.
Playing in separate classes (Engineer, Heavy, Scout, etc) creates the need for teamwork more than ever, as players' roles come into effectiveness the better their teamwork handles, and this holds up in gameplay too. Aside from Horde, we also have the Multiplayer modes that ease out the Horde onslaught. Team Deathmatch makes an appearance, with standard 5v5 fight. Dodgeball and King of the Hill also return, with Arms Race, Guardian and Warzone following, each having their separate modes to compete on. Sadly speaking, these final three modes are hard to find a match in, but I cannot hold that against the game itself, as players tend to prefer the latter.

The Gears series has had a special place in my heart for quite some time, with Gears of War 2 still one of my favourite all time games. The fight against the Locust has been well transformed into a new fight against the new COG. I did not experience any technical issues during my playthrough, which does account greatly in Microsoft and the Coalition's name. There are some upset by the usage of microtransations, but of course, these are all optional and can be earned in game with a crafting system that allows you to burn multiples and take back the Scrap needed to craft new cards for each match. My only real critique is in the Multiplayer, where you must return to the main menu in order to find new matches, forcing you to quit after each match, whereas this lacks in Horde after multiple failed rounds. This becomes tedious after the first few hours, but I digress.
While the campaign itself is slightly shorter than the rest in the series, it is by far an improvement into the series. I wouldn't go as far as to say the game is perfect; like many titles before it, it does have its flaws, but The Coalition has listened to its fanbase and has responded greatly to criticism. I await eagerly to see what happens next in this new battle for Sera.

Gears of War 4: 9/10

Review: Mafia 3

G'day there guys and gals!

Mafia 3 is one of the rare titles released that are solely based on single player, as multiplayer titles grow more and more common with each passing year. In that, a single player game needs to have a strong story, terrific gameplay and interesting characters in order to keep players around in the long run or to return for replays over time. While Mafia 3 does have its fair share of bugs, this is a title that many utterly need to experience.

In the fictional place of New Bourdeux in 1968 lives a young man named Lincoln Clay, a returning veteran of the Vietnam War. Reuniting with his adopted family, an event sets his life back down that dark and narrow path, with bloodlust leading his rampant drive through his home, desperately trying to restore something lost that cannot ever be returned.
As far as the gameplay goes, it is definitely well made. Anyone familiar with Shooters in general will be able to pick this game up from the get-go and manage well. The mechanics are also impressive; every gun, car and boat have a distinct difference from one another, and balance out recoil with deadliness very well. I have heard of those criticising the car controls of the game, but as a millenial who has driven vehicles from the 1960s, I can absolutely attest to their accuracy. I will admit that the boats leave something to be desired, while driving trucks with caddies and flipping cars does bend the realism of the game. Regardless, they are all done well. The world is beautifully crafted, the graphics look incredible (especially the character models, and definitely in the cutscenes) and help bring to light the horrors of the 1960s of America’s South.
There is more to be said about the core mechanics of the gameplay themselves, but we’ll get to that later.

The storyline itself is masterfully written, and while it does have its clichés from time to time, the way the story pans out from the beginning is well structured, written and executed. The final scene with Lincoln’s family, while expected by promos, was brilliantly done and still managed to shock me, with magnificent acting from the cast, and this trend does continue throughout the game. While the endings do have their issues (the “alone” choice is incredibly quick and almost a throwaway choice), the cutscenes in the present day definitely aid tie the endings together.
This brings me to the voice cast, which was no less than sublime. Despite featuring a main cast of relative unknowns in the VA world (the exception being a few with minor roles), all of whom performed excellently, particularly scenes regarding Lincoln Clay (Alex Hernandez) and John Donovan (Lane Compton). Their scenes were both golden and hilarious, especially the back and forth banter, which added some much needed light to the situation, with Lincoln slowly descending into darkness while Donovan keeping his humanity in check. The Marcano family were also was voiced just as well and added the right amount of sincerity, brutality and kindness when needed.

Filled with both strings and hits from the era, the musical score kept the balance of forgotten, well known and new titles mixed in the radios. I particularly liked how songs also started appearing the further in game you went!

As mentioned earlier, while I love the fact that this game is irrefutably well done, it’s not without its fair share of bugs. I experienced random ejection from the game, all in mid-gameplay, four times. While the first happened in the opening cutscene, the rest happened during gameplay (generally with explosions of cars), while the few other moments caused temporary freezes, occurring seven times, due to unknown reasons. There was also issues with draw distances and failure to load items, especially in the beginning when entering new areas for the first time: objects such as benches and cars on the road would appear as invisible and cause many collisions.
Putting these aside, probably the biggest issue is the slight repetitiveness for some players. For fans of the previous Mafia games or fans of Saints Row (Particularly 1 and 2), you’ll find no fault in these tasks. However, after the first few missions, taking over an area tends to repeat itself: Find the informant, perform a mini-task (interrogation, kill target, destroy object) several times, take over racket, kill boss, repeat. The main boss fights themselves are incredibly fun and each is unique in their own way, and they will be your driving force to complete each section. I will admit, these do tend to change in the middle of the campaign, each new area only adds one new task. There is also the internal struggle with your lieutenants that you must balance, so I’d suggest definitely slugging through all of it. In saying this, the Leutenants also have scratches that have need of itching, which helps to break apart the slog, but as mentioned earlier, their objectives do tend to repeat. The repetitiveness wouldn't be as obvious or as tedious if not for the lack of a quick travel in game. If a side mission starts on one side of the map and asks you to travel to the other side, the travelling must be done ever time. 

It hurts me greatly when I have to report on these types of things for a game or a series that I enjoy, because I did thoroughly enjoy Mafia 3. There were moments I teared up and moments where I fell out of my chair laughing. There were moments that I enjoyed immensely and moments where I wanted to rage quit. Mafia 3 does have faults, and while I would love to give this game a perfect score, it would go against everything I've been building for six years as a reviewer. In saying this, I still believe due to its strong story and emotional attachment
If you enjoy period games with a lot of lore and personal backstory, games with heartfelt scenes backed by raw emotion, or games where you can just gun down a lot of racist jerkwads, I would absolutely recommend Mafia 3 to you.

Despite its flaws, it is a beautifully made game.

Mafia 3 - 8/10

Checkpoint - October 2016

G'day there guys and gals!

In the past I have been known to write the odd review update now and again, with no catchy title. Now I come to you with "Checkpoint", a quick summary of the goings-on behind the reviews.

With the holiday season upon us and the onslaught of video game titles now pouring their way into our ready hands, it's time for me to begin planning upcoming reviews.
As such, unfortunately, Verdun and Firewatch for the Xbox One have been removed from the lineup.
It has been explained by both developers that delays are mostly with their code or production issues, and while I am a massive fan of Verdun and Firewatch, due to this time frame and their delays, I cannot put time towards them.

As for the months of October and November, I currently have added Mafia 3 to the list, which has a release date of tomorrow. I quite enjoyed Mafia 2 and finally removed it from my List of Shame a few years ago, so I'm quite looking forward to seeing where the series goes from there.

Also, I'm announcing two upcoming Drink videos; back in 2014, I released an unboxing video of Destiny Ghost Edition with the small extra video for an alcoholic drink of my concoction for the game called The Pink Ghost.
With Dishonored 2 and Titanfall 2 on their way, I have created more and plan to release them on YT and here, with instructions and ingredients.

I'm coming up six years reviewing games and that...that is insane. I know a lot of people who still come up to me and tell me they read these reviews and that kind of support is truly appreciated. Maybe one day soon I'll move this to a website of my own!
Either way, I'll see you all in the Mafia 3 review, and as always, have fun and game on!

Review: Bioshock The Collection

G’day there guys and gals!

In the early days of the original Xbox 360, I was introduced to E3, with the following year being my first. To the veterans that would remember, the original 360 came with several trailers for particular titles on them. One of them, for my console, was the Bioshock reveal trailer. It was the first real taste of a gory, in-your-face game for me. Many had gore, sure, but none to the level of drill-drilling-through-a-guy’s-hand level before.
Ever since, I have been a fan of Bioshock, and to this day, own the titles on several platforms and even have a Bioshock flask with one of the original game’s quotes on there. Nearly a decade later, we have Bioshock The Collection, a remaster of the three titles in one single package. As with many other titles that are released as ports to the new consoles, this does not live up to the hype of the remake for the original Bioshock, but it is well worth it for a returning fan or a newcomer into the series. To avoid spoilers for newcomers, all games will be briefly described.

First and foremost; Bioshock. Players take control of Jack, a young man who is innocently enough flying over the Atlantic Ocean when his plane crash lands in the middle of the ocean. Finding refuge in a lighthouse, he notices that there are many hidden things under the sea and without option, dives head first into the city of Rapture.
The marketing for the Collection was mostly focused on the remaking of the original Bioshock, and admittedly, I wasn’t as impressed as I expected to be. Don’t get me wrong, the people at Blind Squirrel Games have gone to a lot of work to polishing the title, but it’s nothing more than that: a polish. The textures look much better, the lighting and themes are much more balanced, but the game itself isn’t without faults. As I have said in the past, when a player begins to count how many times a fault occurs in a title, something is definitely wrong. I experienced twelve audio glitches, where the audio doubled itself or more in an audio file or mid-conversation, and several times in the game did I find unrendered textures stuck in normal mapping mode. By far the most annoying was an issue with the Big Daddy’s movements, where standing too close would cause vibrations in the screen. This is a normal event, due to their large size, but these vibrations would often break textures during this vibration and show the bright red objects underneath the render.
All that set aside, the audio and sound effects are incredible good, character models look impressive, especially Andrew Ryan, but majorly stay the same, and of course, the legendary story and gameplay still remains intact. The game also features a Museum, where players can walk around an open area and explore the more unknown facts about the game, its development and the character’s trial phases. This couples alongside Documentary films you can unlock by finding at pivotal moments in the game, such as your first Big Daddy sighting up close, the fate of Ryan and so on.
If you’re looking for a Gears of War Ultimate Edition level of remaster, I warn you now, you will be disappointed. Graphics and tone is improved greatly, no doubt, but nothing on the level of games releasing in the new few weeks.

On to Bioshock 2. Set ten years after the events of the first title, players take control of Subject Delta, one of the first Big Daddies of Rapture. Mysteriously reawakening after his death, he discovers Rapture as truly become a ruin, and firmly under the ruling thumb of Sofia Lamb. Dying slowly, Delta must find a way to find his now adult Little Sister, Eleanor, before their distance takes its toll.
Admittedly, Bioshock 2 has, and will always be, my personal favourite in the series. And while being the more unpopular in the franchise, it seems that this is where the least amount of attention is spent, due to its bugs galore.
Lip syncing in the first level is completely off, especially with the first conversation with Lamb after reawakening, game freezes in loading screens occurred around five times during my playthrough, and many more during overriding save slots, where many crashed the game itself, or froze for almost twenty seconds. Once again, the vibrations from Big Daddies corrupts the game, but in a worse way, as each step from every Big Daddy in Pauper’s Drop and Inner Persephone overrode my controls and caused idle drift with my character. However, this is not where the glitches end, and in the sake of time, I shall limit my own.
Houdini Splicers reappearing near mines causes them to disappear, in few airlocks I received random damage from the water, Eleanor glitched while following me in Inner Persephone (and this happened with NPCs running up stairs particularly), and usually when these were fixed, the game froze indefinitely, with most ironically being linked to using the Fire plasmid. This short list doesn’t also mention the many subtitle glitches, the lack of audio glitches where they’re meant to be there (especially in Minerva’s Den) and so on. But I digress.
Bioshock 2 does offer a little more of new music to the background, which sounds fantastic, not to mention the minor details like the incredibly fast load times in between levels, vending machines’ audio glitching out due to age, and so on.
The game itself still plays fantastically, with the same sound effects, musical score and look of the original, but it is truly a shame that the bugs take centre stage.

Finally, we come to the beloved Bioshock Infinite. Set in 1912 (forty six years before Bioshock 1), players take control of Booker DeWitt and his drive for a single task; bring us the girl and wipe away the debt. He discovers Columbia, a floating world fifteen thousand feet high in the sky, and discovers the air may not be as clean as it looks.
Luckily for Infinite, there weren’t that many bugs to report, with the only mentionables being music in the level overlapping the loading screen on every occasion, screen tears in evelators loading, unrendered lens flares in Lady Comstock’s memorial, and items thrown by Elizabeth having no flying animation heading towards Booker, except the health packs. Coins and Salts will spin, but will noticeably stay in mid air and suddenly warp into Booker’s hand. Due to its more recent place in the series (the game only being barely three years old), there haven’t been any graphical improvements in the titles, or any improvements that I can see, although the game itself still sounds, looks and plays incredibly well, truly holding up against time much like its predecessors.

In the short of it, even as I write these words now, I find it hard to properly score this title due to how much I love this series. If this were a brand new title, for a series I had never played before, it would be well worth a 6/10, or perhaps even a 5, but due to my past knowledge, I cannot fairly give it a fresh score.

In writing my notes for this review, the idea came to me; much like in the first two Bioshock games, the idea of a “Great Chain” is mentioned, where all must pull together.

And it got me thinking. If a loop breaks in a chain, do you blame the loop? No, you break the chain. The chain is broken, not just that single loop. So in my eyes, Bioshock 1, 2 and Infinite are not broken. Their stories, their gameplay, they are not at fault. The chain is, and the chain sadly is Bioshock The Collection.
At the asking price, I must say to fans and newcomers alike; be warned, these ports are still incredibly buggy. If you can muster through the asking price and all the bugs for three terrific games and all their story based DLC, then I would absolutely recommend this game to you.
It has its faults, but the games are well worth your time.

Bioshock The Collection: C-

This game is out now for the standard price of $99

Review: Aot Wings of Freedom

G’day there guys and gals!

It has never been a secret that I am a huge anime fan, and I will admit, that this release has been the  hardest to review from a neutral standpoint. Attack On Titan: Wings of Freedom follows the first season (one OVA and the smallest of hints at near current events manga wise) of the anime throughout the Attack Mode of the game. Players can expect to play as Eren, Mikasa, Armin and Levi primarily during this campaign mode, while your character choice becomes optional in the Expedition Mode; a near freeroam mode where players can undertake optional tasks and objectives throughout the world.

As any fan of the series can tell you, the record of AoT titled games has been incredibly lax and disappointing. Many buggish, unfinished or simply disappointing. Wings of Freedom is a refreshing new look on the series, and it certainly blows the previous titles out of the water.

Story wise is told mostly directly from the anime; while large sections of scenes are missing (Most notably the training/court hearing scenes and other long exposition parts of the anime) or replaced with narration and text, fans should have no problem picking up where the game leaves off, while newcomers may get lost in the world and its lore. To that, I would highly encourage you to read the manga or watch the series beforehand. To those unfamiliar with the lore, Attack on Titan is based in a world where humanity is on the brink of extinction, hiding behind three large, circular walls keeping their greatest threat at bay – the Titans. However, out of nowhere, a Titan larger than any other suddenly appears and destroys the wall’s gate, allowing them to flood in, as another Titan destroys the inner gate, forcing humanity to flee behind the second wall. The story primarily follows Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert as they join the military with three varying goals in mind, to only discover human has got more skeletons in the closet.
The two newer parts (a hint towards Ilse’s Journal OVA and the epilogue) add more background to the Scout Legion and their journey beyond the wall both during and after the events of the first season. By now, the story has been told to death, but is still enjoyable in its different forms and comes off at least revamped and fresh, showing both remade scenes directly inspired by the anime and new, more in depth scenes.

The game’s biggest strength is by far the gameplay. Players control their characters through their device known as an ODM, allowing them to swing and soar through the air via cables attached to solid objects in order to kill Titans by slicing at their nape. The controls, admittedly, take a LOT of time to get used to, but players will turn into Titan slayers with ease once mastering this system. Entire maps are destructible and a falling building due to a sudden-crashing Titan will force you out of the ODM animation and cause you to fall, the exact same for a failed hit on the enemy. Players will instantly start seeing familiar maps and maps with similar layouts, but this is excusable due to the sheer amount of detail, not only in the characters, but the world, its destruction capabilities and the mass amounts of titans.
In saying all this, gameplay does get stinted after a while, even to the most veteran of fans. To be blunt, the gameplay can be boiled down to a few objectives in each mission; protection route, score limitations, target takedown and movement specifics. This also applies to the side missions, where characters will require your help to give out supplies, save civilian, escort to a safezone or simply kill the titans around them. These tasks feel truly heavy handed by the time you repeat missions, secure zones and play in the Expedition Mode. And while players can also (SPOILER ALERT) play Eren in his Titan form in specific missions, past this the mode only lasts for approximately 30 seconds during freeroam, the same amount of time as the assistance option from followers. Titan Vs Titan NPC is incredible and is utterly fun to destroy buildings while slaying titans at a whim, but fighting main characters (hint hint) at the end is a huge disappointment. The final boss battle with Eren Vs *redacted* and those alike earlier on, are incredibly short, even on harder difficulties. Players will have no problem finishing off said opponent before the in-game narration is over. The best battles are human Vs Titan Boss, as the stakes get much harder; limbs are incredibly harder to dismember, all of them will fight back much more ferociously and have natural armours that need to be worked around to attack and so on. It’s here that the game does shine, but these missions only appear twice in the game.

Musical score is completely brand new and none of the original soundtrack makes a comeback. While this may sound depressing, I enjoyed the new sound to the series, although I was disappointed in being unable to scream/sing the opening lyrics. Voice acting is very well done, as the original Japanese cast makes a return to record new lines for the series. I am disappointed with Eren’s titan roar (it sounds more like a dad roaring like a lion to his kids with the sound of gravel rustling in the background) to be fully honest, but otherwise the cast did well, especially Romi Park as Hange. Sound effects were just as good and sound crisp and clean during the gameplay and cutscenes. I gush over the shrill sounds of the blades extracting, the collapsing of buildings and the Titans themselves.

As previously stated, this title has been incredibly hard for me to personally detatch and review with an open mind and thoughts, and I have been fairly critical on this title. The gameplay is tricky to begin with and slowly does become to stale slightly, the voice acting is good but off, and the ending itself is incredibly lackluster and disappointing. While there were a few physics issues here and there, I did not experience any crashes or bugs during my playthrough.
With all this in mind, as I write these words, I must remind you all of the previous titles in this IP. Without a doubt in my mind, AoT: Wings of Freedom is by far the best title in the franchise thus far and makes some brilliant contributions. This is an absolute must-own for fans, and for those looking for a gruesome bloody game with spiderman-like manoeuvring, you may want to consider picking this up for yourself. A well-crafted and fun addition to the popular series.

Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom – 8/10

This game is out now for the standard price of $80

Review: Deus Ex Mankind Divided

G’day there guys and gals!

The Deus Ex series has been incredibly popular since the turn of the century, and has had a loyal fanbase for over a decade. Arguably, it was Deus Ex Human Revolution that truly thrusted the title forwards, with stellar gameplay and a world overloaded with lore, not to mention the many memes and jokes that came along with it thanks to a particular rugged voice. And in the now famous ending(s) for Human Revolution came the obvious fact - a sequel to the prequel was in bound. Enter Deus Ex Mankind Divided: set two years after the events of Human Revolution, Adam Jensen has become obsessed with the mysterious figures that continue to pull the strings of the globe, and as the divide between humans and the augmented continues to decline, Adam is tasked in bringing to light those responsible who are looking to destroy the last remains of a peaceful world.
Does Mankind Divided live up to its predecessor and then some? Is one of the endings for Human Revolution made canon? Do the developers acknowledge the jokes and memes of the previous title?
In short: Absolutely.

As previously mentioned, you play as Adam Jensen, as an agent of Interpol’s Task Force 29 in the heart of the Czech Republic, Prague. Working in plain sight, it’s up to you to piece together the unending clues to a conspiracy that has endless heights, casting suspicion on many around you. First and foremost, the gameplay is utterly incredible. One of the key features I have to gush about in Mankind Divided is its choice in a set of game controls, a feature many games do not offer. Players can choose the Dev’s preferred choice for the game, Human Revolution traditional controls, even a standard First Person Shooter control set. These can be changed at any time in the menus, which makes it ever more better, and much more personal to the player; console players are not forced to a set of controls they have to learn or endure to use, which in turn makes the gameplay itself fantastic from the get go. This is not even beginning to mention the smoothness of the gameplay, how it flourishes from the old style, especially with the returning abilities and the new ones. As Adam discovers a whole new skillset and learning to control them by shutting down unused augs, players have four slots to choose which primary augs (such as Tesla, Titan, Nano-Blades, silent footsteps, invisibility etc) are used in the hot key. Players are limited via Biocells for recharging their aug bar, but can be bought or crafted via crafting items.

This brings us to the new system of crafting and aug upgrades. Players can still upgrade their augs via the same system, and can earn praxis points via how they play the game (exploring closed off areas, sparing enemies, successfully pulling off CASIE conversations etc) and can apply them in the skill tree of their choice. Crafting is a new feature to the recent instalment, allowing players to pick up crafting parts and using them to create additional ammo for the Tesla fist, Nano-Blades, Biocells, the auto-hacking device the Multi-Tool, and more. Players choosing the stealth gameplay style will definitely be relying on making Biocells whenever possible.
In conclusion for the gameplay, the combat has been improved upon immensely; the majority of weapons return in upgraded version; the tranquiliser rifle, stun gun, combat rifle all make a return, and every weapon is upgradable with silencers, laser targeting and even improving the weapon with crafting items as you go. All of this and more furthers my deep admiration for the amount of detail in the gameplay.

Not only in the gameplay, but the depth of lore and story is even more impressive this time around. Many complained of the literal deus ex machina ending of a Deus Ex game (the irony dripping from that sentence alone), but in here player choices lead to different conclusions, but other than the last, will not truly affect the outcome. This in itself is a bit of a let-down, but the choice at least matters in the moment, whereas many games simply ignore it all together. The five choice ending is gone, and is down to two (although there is only one if you’re good enough!) and overall wraps up your progress with all your completed side missions as well. In the end, personally I was left with more questions than answers. Many questions about Adam’s past over the previous two years are left unanswered (unlike a lot of the big questions in Human Revolution) although the answer to which ending was canon is answered once you put the pieces together (SPOILERS – it’s the Destroy option).
In saying all of this, with the mass amount of ebooks, newspaper scripts and even more background on NPC characters and side missions galore, there is well over 17 hours of gameplay at your fingertips. To be fully personal, I was delighted to see an Australian based character (with an Aussie VA!) in a Triple A title, and to spend a huge amount of time with them: this is where the full on depth of lore can be seen because those passionate about learning it will be grateful for every eBook, newsletter (although they will only update chapter to chapter) and scrap of info. I was delighted to see an Australian flag (although technically it was hung incorrectly!), hear of Bendigo and New South Wales, and learn that there was an Australian Civil War! This does not even begin to mention the amount of detail on European countries, the history of the Czech Republic, its people, the huge areas of exploration, Golem City and so much more. But I digress.

Players can choose to stick to the main missions, and the side missions, but for the first time in Deus Ex history, players are offered a time trial online mode called Breach. You play as an unnamed hacker under the orders of Janus and his team, and your task is to hack into the privatised data bank that hosts dirty company secrets. The gameplay is the same (and even appears in the main story) with the aim to unlock glowing purple shafts. Of course, it isn’t as easy as it sounds, as you must navigate your way past or through enemies, obstacles cameras, alarms, laser grids and more, all of which on a time limit. The graphics and styles are plain here, but they are bright and easily identifiable; think of the memory cores from Assassin’s Creed Revelations with a dash of Deus Ex FPS fighting. The mode itself is quite fun and players of Mirror’s Edge will surely love beating their friends’ scores.

The voice acting is greatly done, especially by Mr Jensen himself Elias Toufexis; his cold and still voice has come to life and shows much more humanisation this time around. The harsh and hating Adam is still there, but there is plenty of flirting and light-heartedness to experience. There were a few off times with the cast, specifically with NPCs losing their accent, but overall their performance was immersive and very well done. Sound effects were perfectly done, as was the musical score. Very rarely did music repeat (except the Interpol HQ and surrounding nightclubs), and each in-game movement was executed incredibly well. Lastly, I must mention the graphics, which are utterly phenomenal. Cutscenes are absolutely beautiful and incredibly lifelike, with a LOT of small detail on Adam – from rain to his eyes – there is a lot of minor details people may see with a good amount of diligence. Cutscenes and gameplay cutscenes are unfortunately noticeable, but only due to the lighting, camera angles and the return of the limited animation (the Shoulder-Roll-And-Karate-Chop animation has been replaced with Shoulder-Lift-And-Arm-Flick), which is slightly immersion breaking, but still enjoyable. 

Finally, I must unfortunately report the bugs I’ve presently found in the game build at release, and there are quite a few, with the majority being reloading auto/manual saves. Reloading a save inside toxic gas will allow the player to travel through the gas without harm or depletion of the Aug energy bar. Reloading saves before CASIE arguments will also randomly disappear, but the flashing lights and prompts will still appear. The same is also said about Infolink; text and the black background will become transparent (a look I weirdly like) and will not reappear until completing an objective, leaving an area or reloading a checkpoint. I also experienced two Kick To Dashboards; once when finishing the Breach cutscene and a second during the final boss fight when a frag grenade exploded a turret.
I would be remiss in not mentioning the small issues I experienced with the game: first and foremost, the ending boss. The boss was built up to be this incredible, difficult challenge, and indeed he was. The hype for him being your enemy was somewhat lacklustre and short, but effective enough to reduce me to rubble when fighting him over and over, and Stealth players will struggle with him a LOT. However, it is very very easy to cheese the final boss fight if necessary, and to that I will keep my silence for you, the player, to experience the fight in your own way. Rare was the side mission that was boring, but a few were incredibly short, but these being mostly related to the secret Augs and Dvali storylines.
To sum up my experience with Deus Ex Mankind Divided is almost impossible; the ending is shocking and quite surprising, and the story building up to has more questions than answers. It was slightly disappointing to see no one from Human Revolution make a return except Sarif and Megan (Sarif’s voice actor being different and Megan limited to three lines didn’t help either) with Pritchett returning only in text form, but in my eyes, the developers wanted to live up to and go beyond the expectations of the game. It has its faults; the topic of prejudice against the different is mentioned and talked about, but never fully addressed until the last two hours of the game, although the game does incredibly well to bring it up in-game, as Aug and “Naturals” are separated during specific areas. As an Aug, if you ride the Naturals train, you will be stared at by those aboard. If you go through a Naturals checkpoint, people will comment on it. And doing these things, and even at random, the police will check your papers and registration. Some are nice, and some are barely containing themselves. NPCs, especially barterers, will often repeat their conversations over and over, even after only leaving the building, and will complain whether or not you buy or sell from them. In saying that, the special Jensen Memories DLC was also a small disappointment, barely adding an additional half an hour of gameplay, a new area with no new lore to the story and answering a question that won’t be resolved. Once more, I digress.

Mankind Divided is flawed, to that I will happily and readily admit, but the massive amount of content there makes up for it. This is a game you will replay, if only for the missed achievements, or discovering more of the story. When it comes down to it, we as reviewers must ask ourselves ‘What is most important to me when buying a game?’, and that answer for me is the gameplay, the story and the immersion, and no once can resist the lure of a good story. You can do no wrong in purchasing Deus Ex Mankind Divided, even with its flaws, for it excels in these areas like very few titles in 2016 have so far.

Deus Ex Mankind Divided: 9/10

Out now for the standard price of $99

Review: UNO (Xbox One)

G’day there guys and gals!

So many of us grew up with siblings either too old or too young for us to play the standard games that all children play. It is here where friends, or distant family, comes into play; the greats that have withstood the test of every generation’s time and order, the legends that are still here, and may very well still be here, long after we are gone as well. UNO has always been one of the rarities that join the likes of Monopoly, Battleship, Chess, and so many others. The Ubisoft team have definitely put in a lot of effort in recreating this classic on the heels of the fabled Carbonated Games and Gameloft developers who were there on the previous generation of consoles. The game will definitely allow you play with friends and family alike, but there are plenty of issues that plague this new addition to the genre.

UNO, in a sense, is simplistic and plain but effective in its addiction to the gameplay, but the game isn’t without its flaws. For the young or the older looking for a refresher, UNO is a simple card dealing game, where the aim is to dispense your selected amount of cards into the colour that is present in the middle. Players can also use special cards to flip the turn ratio, add more cards, skip the next players turn, or change the colour that is currently present.
Players can choose single player mode and challenge four AI characters, who are surprisingly hard at times. The secondary modes also offer two verses two, and both modes allow the player to control the set of rules for each match and the score limit. Most players, much like myself, would be more interested in the multiplayer aspect; players can choose to create their own match, or join a lobby/in progress match, whether being in the Classic mode (Four people) or two verses two team mode (the goal being to aid your team to win Uno first). While it can be frustrating to join a match with rules that you do not enjoy (mine being Draw-To-Match), finding matches are mostly fairly quick and easy to get into.
Gameplay wise, the controls are limited to your left joystick and A and B, so there isn’t much depth to add to this review with this. The animations in the effects are well done and look fluid, especially in the background animation. Graphics are plain, but bright and shiny, sound effects and musical score are incredibly well done and take up at least 75% of your main focus while playing incredibly long round. And to those waiting for this piece of information, yes, chatting via mic and video makes a glorious return. To all those aware of the “reputation” the previous UNO game had, I would warn parents that this trend of adult themed gameplays may make a return, although luckily I have yet to run into any adulteresses yet.

In saying all this, I must unfortunately report the abundance of bugs that have been plaguing the game since its launch last week.
Games can unexpectedly freeze and KTD players for the following reasons: waiting on the main menu too long, joining a multiplayer game, waiting to join a multiplayer game too long, changing your settings and updating the game with Ubisoft Club items.
I’ve also experienced audio glitches and the red cards oddly disappearing into the background, but I digress.

Could we have expected a card game turned video game to be breaking boundaries and making splashes worldwide? Of course not, nor can we expect every single game to be released without bugs. But a lot of these bugs present, especially the elongated pause bugs, are (in the lack of a better word) Game Design 101, and are among the very first things I was taught during QA testing. 

For its price, the incredibly easy achievements and the fun moments, the bugs can be excusable but not forgettable. Cautious optimism will work the best for you.

Out of 10, I give UNO a 6/10

UNO is out now for the standard price of $15

Review: Fallout 4 Vault Tec Workshop DLC

G’day there guys and gals!

In my experience of being a part of the Fallout Community for the last few years, it has been widely known that many of the Fallout DLCs are purely opinion based. The good are regarded as well done by most, if not all, and the rest are generally hit and miss depending on your playstyle. So far with Fallout 4, each new DLC has brought about brand new environments, tactics, followers and information in regards to the size and the lore of the Commonwealth. However, when it comes to the Vault Tec Workshop, in this reviewer’s opinion, the content offered for us to play with is all well and good, but if you've played for days on end, don't expect to remain in the Commonwealth for long.

To cover the story, the Sole Survivor receives an emergency transmission from Vault 88, desperately asking for anyone from Vault Tec to come and aid them in their hour of need. After quickly dispatching the Raiders, you find Overseer Barstow, a ghoul who has been trapped down inside their Vault since the first bombs fell. Distraught at the prospect of a lost opportunity, she asks for your aid in reopening the Vault to the public so that she may commence her experiments for a better future.
Overall, the missions themselves, while slightly interesting (especially the resurgence of Doctor Braun from Fallout 3 and his involvement with Vault Tec), don’t offer very much at all. Despite a single fetch quest, the majority of the remaining missions can be boiled down to three actions: build “Experiment Name”, attach a terminal and wait an hour to see the affects. Players do also get the optional mission to fully explore the cave in which the Vault is in (which for achievement/trophy hunters, you’ll want to do this), which requires you to find nearby workshop components and clear out rubble and uranium ore. This is where Bethesda’s warning for being a higher level comes into place, as by opening new areas, you will find legendary creatures ready to tear you apart. People under level 40 will definitely struggle, if not upgraded correctly.
In the end, you’re offered the keys to the Vault, in which you can accept or perform a charisma check to turn it down and voila: the story is over. Overall, completing the optional missions, the DLC will set you back 2-3 hours, even less so if you don’t explore the caves.
Voice acting in the DLC is fairly done, especially by the returning Sole Survivor (the sarcastic responses are particularly good) and the challenge is definitely there hiding in those caves, for those who wish to explore it.

However, in saying all of this, keep in mind that this is a Workshop DLC and unlike Far Harbor, the focus is on the settlement and building aspects. Personally speaking, I have become a tad tired of fixing settlement after settlement and as soon as I could, abandoned Vault 88 to return to my glorious treehouse home in Sanctuary. But in returning, the new building aspects have greatly improved my home immensely. Settlers can now perform gymnastic manoeuvres on gym bars, or lift weights to gain happiness, while players can use these to gain temporary boosts. Players can also take their experiments home with them and influence their followers how they see fit. If your settlement is overflowing with generators, the Vault Tec Reactor will definitely be your goal, as it dishes out 500 watts of power, but requires a LOT of nuclear material, so remember to harvest all you can from Vault 88 before you go! Not only that, but the Workshop includes new lights, decorations, cleaner objects (such as pre-war couches, jukeboxes, seats, etc) for your aesthetic needs, giant Vault-Boy/Girl statues, glowing signs, and of course, Vault Tec approved buildings. All of this and more is at your fingertips.

Initially, I was a bit disappointed with the DLC; taken back with the short storyline and the little lore that was offered, but that wasn’t the focus of this content – it was and is the Workshop. The massive amount of décor and building options for players was astounding, and I actually became excited to race back to my mega-home and build these new contraptions. If you’re inspired, you have an absolute behemoth sized playing ground to build your own Vault underground and control it how you see fit, and I encourage you to do so. For such a low cost, Vault Tec Workshop may offer little extra story, but its content for your settlements is more than enough to make up for it.

Fallout 4 Vault Tec Workshop DLC – B-

The Vault Tec Workshop DLC is out now for the standard price of $6

Review: INSIDE

G’day there guys and gals!

As little as six years ago, Indie Game Developers were mostly limited to the PC and free releases, very few making their way through to the consoles of the day. The successes of Braid, The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai and so many more open the doors to the developer world. One of the earliest big hits was LIMBO: a black and white sidescroll, puzzle platform title, where a young boy must traverse challenging and deadly obstacles to get back home. It was simple, but incredibly hard, focused and very well made.
Today, we have INSIDE, the spiritual successor of LIMBO from the same creators, Playdead. There is so much to say about this title, but I will summarise it as best I can.
INSIDE is a contrasted version of LIMBO, but ironically, so much more incredibly darker.

Players take control of a boy who, once more, ends up in a forest, running away from shadowy figures. Eventually, these turn out to be other humans, desperate to capture him. From here the boy must stay out of enemy hands and uncover the disturbing secrets of his dystopian society, from the forest to the depths of the buildings and corporation.
First and foremost, to those who are familiar to LIMBO will immediately feel welcomed by the quick and simple controls of the game, with most of it being controlled by your joystick and A. Players also interact with many objects in the world, such as torches, mind control helmets and balls, steam boxes, and submarines, as well as the standard destroyable objects. A quick glance at the control settings will aid those of you too nervous to continue, but trial by error is definitely the best way to learn, as are most platforming games.

Simply put, the gameplay is incredible, as INSIDE takes all the inspirations from the previous game and transforms them into new, refreshing ideas. Objects can now be handled from the middle or side, enemies are much more numerous and tactical and deaths are much, MUCH more brutal and elaborate. The game also shows much more, as the camera angles show off the background, depth of field and height differences more often. I must also give a special mention to the various enemies and NPCs of the game, as each was unique and terrifying. Dogs and wolves make an appearance and (due to my past experience of running from dogs) left me white knuckled. At one point I fell off my chair leaning, trying to get away, to watch this young boy have his throat ripped out and blood splashed my screen. I was horrified! Players can expect to be shot, strangled, drown and be drowned, electrocuted, captured and so on, all of which from humans, to electrocuting robots and water creatures. However, for the first time, we also experience the help of NPC characters, who I dub “Husks”, as they’re pale disfigured humans who will aid players reach new areas and survive death falls. Normal humans are almost a rarity outside your enemies, but they do appear now and then. But it does not stop there; stealth is also a new feature, as you must learn from your environment and act accordingly or hide from sight as best you can. Hiding from search lights, trying to escape a fast swimmer, desperately keeping wolves at bay, each enemy has their own tactic and downfall, so exploring and being observant will be your best friends.

It feels wrong to say this game is simple and effective, but does that make it bad? Absolutely not! The gameplay is highly interactive, as weathering affects your character (rain and water will wet you from the body part down, you’ll appear from swimming drenched and mud and flecks of sand will stick to you!), not to mention the brilliance in the setting and tone.
That brings me to the sound effects and musical score. The sounds are utterly divine, with each sound crisp, clear and sounding almost like it was against your ear, while the musical score will come and go, but it in itself is just as brilliant. The swell of escaping a devilish enemy, the slow, quiet plucks as the camera shows the city before you, every moment is literally breath-taking.
There isn’t any voice acting present in the game, although you do hear the odd groan or yell, but other than those few moments from NPCs, the game is absolutely silent aside from the sounds of the world and the musical score. The graphics too are faded and contrasted, but very beautiful in an odd way. The trees filled with green stand out from the greys, creams and dark shades of the buildings in the city. Ocean water and the sky almost sparkle after experiencing so much grey and white. LIMBO was simply a cast of the shades black and white, here the boy’s bright red shirt stands out among the faded colours of the world. And yet, what we see and discover, is so much darker.

Finally, I reach the storyline. Granted, I will admit, there is very, very little here. But what is there is almost like a 1000 puzzle piece board: all the pieces are there, but it’s up to you to put them together and figure out by the games’ end how the world works, what has happened to it and what your actions truly mean. To be perfectly honest, some of the endings’ clues left me confused, as to why some events occurred and yet didn’t to others, or how the ending left me with more questions than answers. But thinking back onto everything I had done, everything that happened to that poor boy, each piece of the puzzle slowly came together for me for the story, especially so after completing the secret ending; answering my queries, giving us horrifying clues to the world and creating so many more questions by its end.
And as I solved my questions, I was horrified, disgusted and appalled at this world. I was fully immersed its secrets, its lore and how it came to be.

The only real criticism I can give this title is the puzzles themselves. I found no glitches or issues while playing: load times were nothing after the initial game load (and loading chapters were very quick) and the game itself handled well. But the puzzles were sadly much too easy.

Often walking into a puzzle I found myself knowing exactly what I needed to do. Personally, I am terrible at platformer games – the original LIMBO took me a long time to complete – and anyone who has played a co-op game with me can agree. So when a level has a puzzle where I know exactly what I need to do and where to go was a huge shame. Admittedly, it was only my first interactions with new enemies or obstacles that stumped me for a while: steam boxes took me a while to master, reaching mind control helmets was my only obstacle most of the time and dogs and wolves, while terrifying me to fail plenty of times, were quick to outmaneuver. Overall this game took me only 5 hours to complete: 1000 gamerscore, all secrets unlocked and the secret ending seen. LIMBO’s challenges became complex as they went along; the physics puzzles were especially cruel and the timed ones will forever haunt me, especially the final few puzzles, and not to mention the much more difficult-to-find secrets. And although the ending in LIMBO takes a page from the Sopranos, the last few ending puzzles in INSIDE were…simple. Easier than the beginning ones. I didn’t die once during the ending, when I died over and over trying to fling myself through the other side in LIMBO. The ending and the game itself is tragic and leaves you on a “Wait, what happened?!” moment. But as the credits roll, the undeniable lack of satisfaction is there; I felt…weak. Powerless. We, as gamers, complete games for that sense of accomplishment, yet in INSIDE, like very few others, is bitter. The ending is great, do not get me wrong, but that initial feel is hard to shake, even days later.

Putting aside the lilliputian issues of the short gameplay time and the quick completion, I feel as if I must say this with my heart on my sleeve. Not since the Metro series have I been this invested in a game. Everything about this game clicks; the story, the setting, the music, the sound effects, the gameplay. Every. Little. Bit. Granted, there will be those who will not like this title, as the story is meant to be told, not for us to guess at, and there will be some who won’t like this. So I advise you to take this as a warning.

 In saying that, what more can I say about this title? It does not push the boundaries, it does not offer anything new. But to me, this game, this small game, isn’t a story in a sense, but a mirror; a mirror to our society, a mirror to how our world operates and what our world may very well be like in such a short amount of time.
That is why I like INSIDE, and that is why I find is so…exalted.

Even if you only play this game once, INSIDE is a definite must buy and deserves your attention. This is not just a game, it is an experience of one boy’s struggle against the only world he knows.

Out of 10, I give INSIDE a 9/10

INSIDE is out now for Xbox One and Windows for the standard price of $30

TLDR Info - Ubisoft Conference E3 2016

G'day guys and gals!

Welcome to the final TLDR Info for this year's E3. Did you miss the conference or couldn't sit still for two hours? I've got you covered!
Thanks so much for sticking with me for E3 2016. For now, being awake for nearly two days straight does a number on the ol' ticker. I'm off to bed!

GAMES:

Just Dance 2017

• PC and all platforms in October
• Nintendo NX next year

Ghost Recon – Wildlands

• Detailed graphics in cinematics
• Drones make use of scouting ahead and targeting – also features Night Vision
• Dictatorship in control of the common people
• Four player co-op campaign or solo
• Game set in Bolivia
• Ghosts need to create chaos and break up the cartel and their hold
• Various eco systems
• Largest area ever done
• You can do what missions you want when you want
• Targets can be taken alive for intel
• Third person and first person interaction in gameplay
• Players can hold up to three weapons
• HUD is very limited
• Players can also travel in helicopters and cars
• World appears to be largely open world
• Desert like, rocky and slightly shrubbish environment
• Use binoculars to target enemies for AI/fellow players to take out
• Players can shoot in first or third person
• Players can use bikes as well for fast paced transport
• Ghostrecon.com for more detail
• March 7^th 2017 release date

South Park The Fractured But Whole

• Superhero The Coon defends South Park with his friends
• Replay as The New Kid as a Superhero
• It’s only been a day since the last day
• Same, simple gameplay as before
• More comedic implements
• Create your own superhero
• Coon-stergram – Create your character class
• A dozen classes
• Douchebag has his own backstory of how you got your powers
• Much, MUCH vulgar than before with plenty of swears
• Combat space and time
• You can move during combat
• Push and pull enemies, get behind cover, knock them into other objects/characters
• Use character abilities to fight or destroy objects in fight
• Your farts can now destroy time itself
• Rearrange the turn order with your farts or use it for attacking
• Pre-purchase the game today, you get Stick of Truth for free on PC, Xbox or Playstation
• December 6^th release date
• Game based around Civil War between the superheroes

Eagle Flight

• Oculus VR
• PvP Demo – Capture the Prey
• Capture the Flag – best of three
• Gameplay takes place in Paris – overrun but trees and nature
• Simple but highly colourful
• Buildings the only creamy grey colour
• Players control the bird and fly by moving their head with the VR
• Run into the player to make them crash
• By yelling, the bird craws and you “shoot” a burst of air

Star Trek Bridge Crew

• VR
• Star Trek based interaction with your own ship in space
• Route power, up shields and fly your ship
• Co-ordinate with friends to pilot and attack
• Be tactical or the captain, but no job is diminished
• Gameplay is engaging
• Coming out on all major VR systems

Trials of the Blood Dragon

• Cheezy 80s theme
• Trials mixed with Blood Dragon
• Use guns to shoot aliens and cyborgs
• New and crazy obstacles and creations
• Out now for PC, Xbox One and PS4

Watch_Dogs 2

• Graphics look almost real – think GTA 5 with hacking
• Set in San Francisco
• Marcus Alloway (Protagonist)
• You are in the hacker group (Dedsec) and want to take back from the higher ups
• Everything around you can be hacked
• Profile and hack everyone
• HUD mostly map and hackable options
• Co-op much simpler to join
• Pick your story and explore or rush to your objective
• Discover how the mayor Truss rigged the election
• World appears large and rich
• Players can use drones to see around world and track targets and enemies
• Use drone to hack electronics like cameras
• Players have more control over mantling and moving around the world
• Electronics only have a usage limit that recharges over time, not a limited use anymore
• Stun and choke out enemies
• Melee weapons and firearms can be used against enemies
• Cross large areas on ziplines
• Playstation players will have access to DLC 30 days before any other console.
• Nearly everything can be hacked in game from other cars to forklifts
• Preorder the game and you get your own Wrench Jr – Radio controlled robot
• Nov 15^th 2016 release date PC, Xbox One, PS4

Steep

• Challenge your friends from skydiving to snowboarding
• Share stunts, crashes and challenges
• Gameplay is incredibly realistic looking
• Snowy landscape
• Mountain view – zoom out from your position and observe the world
• Drop zones – entry points for you to choose where you’d like to start
• Friends join your game and you can start racing
• Move on from wingsuit flying to skiing instantly
• Play with friends or random
• Unlock drop zones as you race or explore
• Third person or first person gameplay
• Every line you create makes a Trail – allowing you to replay what you’ve just done
• Rewind, pause, control the camera, go slo mo, follow any player and share it with the world
• Share your clips and your trails with your friends
• Some customisation possible
• Gameplay can allow you to enjoy the moments and the beautiful scenery
• Steepgame.com to register for beta
• December release date

ADDITIONAL INFO:

1

Tom Clancy’s The Division

• Underground DLC
• Your team is fighting against a threat in the depths of the city
• Every experience is unique with new and refresh rewards
• June 28^th release date Xbox One, August 4^th release for PS4
• 3 New outfits – Ghost Recon Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six for UbisoftClub

2

The Division - Survival – Expansion II

• Xbox One and PC
• Powered by Snowdrop Engine
• Brutal weather conditions
• Hunt for a cure
• Coming soon release date

For Honor

• Medieval themed, appears to be around the world
• Different combat styles from knight and Viking to samurai
• 1000 years of war – fighting for a forgotten reason
• Cinematics look well-toned
• Campaign and MP
• Three classes. Choose your allegiance and fight for glory or honor
• Cinematics and gameplay fluid
• Third person fighting
• Highly detailed characters and weather system
• Non existing HUD outside small moments in combat
• Execution kills look brutal and dynamic
• Grapple with ropes and siege buildings
• 14^th of February 2017 release date
• Forhonor.ubisoft.com to sign up for the Alpha

Grow Up

• Child fantasy-like game
• Bright and incredibly colourful
• Fly around the universe or float on bubbles
• Use mushrooms to jump
• Bud (protagonist) – child robot
• Ride plants and use seeds to travel the world
• August PC, PS4 Xbox One release

Assassin’s Creed movie

• New story, new hero, new characters
• Mixed with old and familiar with new elements
• Translated the best movements and worlds in the games to the movie
• Mythology and the story to bring in the fans
• See the world through the lives and the ancestors
• In theatres December 21st

Watch Dogs film

• Movie coming soon thanks to the help of Sony