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-
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
