Review - Call of Duty: WW2

History has forever been a fascinating subject for me: even to this day, it still boggles my mind to think of just how many tales have been passed down through time, people both heroic and horrifying who we still recall hundreds to thousands of years later, and even the stories we know next to nothing about. World War 2 is still a very recent thing, in the grand lifespan of humanity, and its affects are still very well present in our lives today and will most likely stand the test of time beyond our years.

From die-hard fan to nervous parent, "Call of Duty" are three simple words that afflict many different emotions and responses. For me in particular, it's one of fondness. I have had highs and lows with the series, but I have always remained neutral on the new games before I can try them out myself. 

WW2 isn't the best the series has offered, but it certainly did very well at lest.

As a change of pace, I want to expose the similarities the game shares with its predecessors, as almost every gamer has played at least one game in this long-running series. Gameplay is incredibly similar to previous titles and can be picked up within a few minutes, if you're common to gaming. Controls feel weighty, especially with the difference of weaponry, but work very well with different play types. Campaign through zombies works well and I have yet to find any game-breaking glitches.

Speaking of, the campaign is well structured for its story and gameplay, but does bend the reality of the war here and there, which I was honestly a bit disappointed with. There are sections (even specific missions) that directly conflicted with historical moments of the war and seemed directly inspired by other pieces of war media (Considering D-Day, take one guess what movie they parody), but in the grand scheme of the story itself only helped it along, so I was quite conflicted with it. The campaign does very well to try and mix up how they present the story aside from your standard Run-And-Gun strategy of the past. Stealth missions are frequent in the main storyline, as well as an excellently crafted infiltration mission that has you correctly answering questions to bypass security. The plot overall was fairly predictable for the protagonist and the characters around him, but was held up by good and effective acting by the cast, especially in the final mission.

Sound effects are excellent when it comes to the weaponry in game. I wish there were more, with at least half a dozen in each class, but what is there is serviceable and feels excellent to use. Musical score is well done and brings back the good nostalgia from the old World War games of the past.
Although I prefer to not make them too high of a point, the graphics in the game are phenomenal, especially on the Xbox One X. Water effects look downright stunning and the level of detail put into character faces looks realistic. Characters based off their real life actors are uncanny alike. Visuals and backgrounds are also just as beautiful and should be commended.

I try to focus a lot of my time on the Campaign as I believe nothing beats a good story compared to the multiplayer of that game. But considering Call of Duty has built an empire of a series around it, I have to at least mention its highs and lows.

First off, the multiplayer maps present are somewhat disappointing, but at least work well. All favour the one extreme of gameplay types (Long range, short range, corridor). There are key spots where the other factors come into play, but the one trope tends to dominate their own map. Weapons in MP are also underwhelming as Rifles take center stage, especially with the help of the correct class. The game offers five different Divisions from the War with their own unlockable skills, but unless you choose to play Infantry or Mountain, chances are you will not exceed fairly well in the Multiplayer, as those two Divisions have unlocks much more useful in the current maps released.

Standard modes for Multiplayer make a return, with the exception of one new mode in the multiplayer that has the community buzzing: War.

War sees two teams of six fight against each other Ala Verdun style in trench warfare: players must defend or attack specific targets. If the targets are destroyed, the advancing team moves onto the next target while the enemy team retreats. If they fail, it's game over. Specific maps do seem to favour the Defense, especially with the Bridge mission, but otherwise the mode is fairly balanced and a great distraction from your standard KOTH or Team Deathmatch.

Finally, Nazi Zombies makes a return, and this time with a proper story. To spare you the details to let you discover this on your own, the story follows four people on a task to retrieve a specific object from the Nazis that they believe will be used against the allies when their train is attacked and derailed from beast they have never seen. The voice acting from the cast (featuring David Tennant, Udo Kier, Ving Rhames, etc) are incredibly well done and helps progress the story more-so than the zombies and plot at times! I have been quite zombie-d out for some time, but I can appreciate the amount of care that went into this mode.

To finish with the elephant in the room, microtransations have of course made an appearance in this game and have caused a small amount of controversy, but I'm happy to report that at least they aren't Pay-To-Win. Some of the choices behind it (Like 5 mins of Double XP) seem a little off but I have always kept a "To Each Their Own" mentality stance on the subject.
Overall, I at least enjoyed this return to form for the series. Perhaps its my love of history that holds this game up, maybe its how impressed I am at the campaign, but otherwise it has been quite some time since I've enjoyed a Call of Duty game two years in a row. While I hope more multiplayer maps are made free to the public at a later stage (Although I highly doubt it), what is here is well worth a trip or two in all the modes, and I hope this is a theme the people behind COD stick with. 

WW1, the Russian Revolution, Vietnam, maybe even take a page from Battlefield's book and follow the battles of the Allies. I look forward to the next battle.

Call of Duty: WW2 - 7/10

Review Delays

G'day all!

I'm just writing a quick note on here letting you know that reviews are still on the way! With the holidays right around the corner, work and a whole bunch of waves crashing around, I'm finding very little time to write reviews. However, I'm still working hard to get them done asap and share my thoughts on what to buy this holiday season. 

Keep an eye out on Twitter for any in the works, and any updates on streams.

And as always, have fun and game on!

Review - Assassin's Creed Origins

Writing for this series has continuously been a struggle, as it's well known that I'm a fan of this series, and with each review, I do my utmost to look at each addition to this series of games with clear, unadulterated eyes. Assassin's Creed Origins is the game fans have waited for since the series was put on standby two years ago after the release of Syndicate, and gamers have been anticipating its arrival for a while, especially since its setting was officially announced.
Origins takes place in the last few decades of the BC era, following a Medjay most commonly called Bayek of Siwa. After the death of his son at the hands of men known only as the Order of Ancients, Bayek swears revenge for his son and seeks these people out to put his son's soul to rest and discover why his son had to die.

The gameplay is one of the betters in the series, setting itself out with a new combat systems. Enemies no longer wait in turns to die and will attack you at random, or at once, which forces you into much more tactical means of fighting rather than the tried and true "Hidden-Blade-Pwnage" method. Players can use Overcharge abilities with a set of different weapon types (Two blades, spear, heavy weapons, swords of different types etc), each with their own ability to wear down enemy health. Quick and heavy attacks also play center stage alongside bows, which also range (no pun intended) with different stats to your liking. Gone is the ability to fight solely with the Hidden Blade, although it does make an appearance and helps immensely with hidden attacks. Enemies are all different levels and pose a much bigger threat if you travel beyond your region's max level. Fighting from horse/carriage back, flaming weaponry, poison/bleeding effects on weapons and shields, Ubisoft has gone all out in changing the combat in the series, even as far as to reinvent the ship fights! This is all I will say here, as I want you to explore it for yourself! I'll talk about the customisation at a later point.

The story is satisfactory, but does lack in somewhat as you progress. The first hour is just upright confusing (the use of jumpcuts in time and no explanation will confuse you - especially Bayek's reasoning), while the ending tends to have too many climaxes that experiencing so much action feels like the final boss, but isn't. By the time you get there (which is a repeated boss fight), and the final big moment that almost anyone who knows history would see coming, it's almost a let down. BUT the middle, and what will ultimately take up most of your time, is excellent in building the world and the story around you. There are parts here and there that seem rushed or could have been missed, but are still well worth it.
I should at this point mention the modern day story; you are Layla, a contracted Abstergo employee wannabee in hiding, using an Animus you have built yourself. We discover a lot about her background (including that the events of the AC Movie are now Canon to the series), but other than a few hints here and there, it seems what little remained of the original modern day story has been pushed aside. There are a few guesses we can make with its ending, but nothing concrete.

The sound effects are fantastic and the team behind them need to be commemorated, especially in coordination with the graphics. Water effects are one of the best I've seen in modern video games, and the fact that each dive into its depths shows something interesting or new is something that still leaves me wanting more and to go back. Ubisoft has included a Camera mode inside the game and for obvious reasons, as the game (especially on the new Xbox One X) looks incredible. Animations are fluid, mouth syncs are great in game and cutscene and each flows very well.
Musical score is very well done, suiting to the game well, although I do wish there were more moments while roaming that music would play, even Fallout style, just to kill the silence while in the desert. The Ezio Family strings of course hit the nostalgia nerve very well, but I'm glad it didn't play center stage here like it has in the past where it didn't suit.
Voice acting is well done and coordinated effectively. NPCs are a little off here and there, but this boils down mostly to the children in game (Same Voice Syndrome strikes most here) and can be excusable. Abubakar Salim as Bayek was a great choice who works well to develop a much needed torn character; one who is hell bent of saving his son's soul but also kind and gentle and loving, which is quite refreshing to see.

I also want to mention that massive amount of customisation present in the game; from garments to weapons, there is a huge selection of choice to make, and upgrading your equipment allows you to keep your favourite weapons throughout the series of the game, which is rarely seen these days. To address the elephant in the room, yes there are microtransations in the game and the Time Savers do help a fair bit, but honestly it's much empty a few garrisons out of men, loot and all their weapons to get money than it is to use RWC to buy the currency in game (especially the crystals you'll need to upgrade your gear). It's moments like these as to why I mention customisation in a review, as its these moments that really help immerse a player into the game: I was obsessed with upgrading one particular sword because Bayek was attached to it. I hunted down Level 40 killers, I did plenty of side missions, all the while using this sword to upgrade it as far as I could. These are the things that keep players engaged long after the story is finished. The main story is roughly 20-30 hours long, with heaps of things to explore along the way (I haven't had a bad Side Mission yet), with plenty more to explore as you level Bayek slowly but surely.

With open world games, there are plentiful of bugs and issues, and I found quite a lot. I had two crashes, where the game paused for so long I was pushed back to the main menu. The game also froze quite a lot, and traveling across the map cause everything to pause while it loaded. Plenty of floating rocks, unloaded textures and glitches in NPCs are out there in the world, and I did experience one frozen side mission where a NPC failed to load where he needed to be at mission's end (Blood In The Water side mission). These did take me out of the experience and thus needed to be mentioned here.

Chariot racing, War Elephant attacks, Gladiator missions, the mass amount of side missions littered over the map, tracing the stars, finding the hidden tombs, exploring the Pyramids of Giza, traversing across the deserts (while I had the Prince of Egypt soundtrack blaring), Assassin's Creed Origins gives the series a new RPG-eske breath of fresh air into the series and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in it. At around 50 hours have I finally decided to take a break, as my side missions are starting to run thin. From mild to hardcore fan, I do recommend this series without a doubt. 
It does have its bugs and faults: the main story begins to drag by the time you begin to focus your energy on the final Order members, and obvious heartbreaking moments lose their punch when you've known the character for less than two cutscenes, but nevertheless, I enjoyed this game without a doubt and definitely are looking forward to replaying from the beginning soon.

RPG fans rejoice, and welcome to the Brotherhood.

Assassin's Creed Origins - 8/10