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Doom review (DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM)

August 6, 2016 by GreenTeaGamer Leave a Comment

Classic Doom is rightfully considered one of the greatest games of all time.  Not only did the legendary duo of John Carmack and John Romeo create a technical masterpiece, but Doom made the FPS genre what it is today.  Now nearly a decade after the original, Id Software’s Doom reboot has put Doom back in the spotlight.

Doom and I immediately got off on the right foot.  One of my pet peeves in FPSs is all to often long wait before the game hands you a gun.  Doom hands you a gun in the first five seconds.

The player takes a very active role in Doom’s gameplay.  Whereas in Call of Duty there is lots of waiting, especially on harder difficulties, you wait for your health to regenerate, you wait for enemies to move out of cover and wait for your gun to reload, Doom demands constant mobility.  Standing still usually means death. If your health is low you have to frantically run around to find health or get close to an enemy and perform a glory kill.  Your guns don’t even need to reload.  Doom guy moves very quickly, faster than any other FPS protagonist I’ve played as.  Movement is fast and fluid and the combat areas accommodate for Doom guy’s considerable speed.  Doom even gives the player powerups, something rarely seen in a modern triple-A FPS.  Grabbing an invincibility powerup feels out of place and very retro, but  Doom puts gameplay first and doesn’t care about making sense.  

Shooting demons in the face is Doom’s bread and butter.  Doom gives the player many different guns to do the shooting and many different demons to shoot.  Enemy variety is a highlight.  Except for one enemy type, all of Doom’s demons aren’t simply cannon fodder.  Each enemy requires a different strategy. The demons are very aggressive and display some impressive AI intelligence.  Moment-to-moment gameplay is much more ad-lib than other FPSs.  The player can’t keep using the same strategy over and over.  The combat itself feels very visceral.  Doom is quite violent, you’ll find yourself ripping the arms off of demons and beating them to death in no time.  But Doom’s violence is more than just show.  It works as player feedback.  You’re never unsure if a shot killed a demon because they usually explode in a shower of blood and entrails.  Few games have made me feel like such a badass.

Exploration is usually an afterthought in otherwise linear games especially in the FPS genre;in Doom it is not.  I enjoy collecting for collection’s sake but Doom makes exploration rewarding on a gameplay level.  Each of Doom’s levels has tons of upgrade tokens hidden throughout the level.  An entire upgrade path is focused on making collectable-hunting easier.  These tokens are used to upgrade your passive abilities, weapons, health and ammo.  Also hidden in most levels are rune challenges.  When completed they award you with a new passive ability which can themselves be upgraded.  Almost like an RPG Doom has multiple secondary challenges.  There is always a weapon to upgrade, a challenge to complete and a secret to find.  After my initial playthrough I immediately started again and searched every level for all the secrets and challenges I missed.  Doom’s detailed 3D map for each level keeps the hunt from being frustrating.  From the very beginning Doom incentivises exploration, a task few linear games take seriously.

Graphically Doom is pretty in it’s own hellish kind of way.  Consisting mostly of reds and browns, Doom’s art design isn’t vibrant but many of the environments, especially the hell levels, are visually interesting to look at.  If you are a classic Doom player you will be pleased with the enemy design.  Id Software clearly spent a lot of time making sure these modern demons look like their classic sprites.  All of the classic Doom enemies are easily recognizable even if you aren’t that familiar with the original Doom.

There is a story in Doom, if you want it.  Despite Doom being infamously scarce on story details, Id Software did take the time to build a considerable amount of lore.  Most of it consists of data logs picked up through the game.  The campaign’s plot is mildly interesting but never gets in the way of the action.  Doom guy, the protagonist of the Doom series, is what keeps the story from being a boring cliche.  He is a silent protagonist, but far from the Links and the Gordon Freemans of the world, he still communicates emotion.  Doom Guy shows his dislike for demons from the very beginning.  He doesn’t just shoot demons, he snaps their necks and tears their heads in half.  When asked to remove a power core slowly, any other video game protagonist would have complied.  Not Doom guy. He punches the power core until it explodes, showing his disdain for the person giving orders and communicating that Doom guy dislikes whatever the power cores were powering.  Doom guy understands he is a one dimensional character.  You know Doom guy dislikes demons because you feel it during gameplay.  Id Software took Doom guy from an insignificant character -, to a legend who could easily take his place in gaming royalty.

There are two online modes in Doom, classic multiplayer and snap-map.  The multiplayer is nothing special, I only played for a couple hours.  Team deathmatch, kill confirmed and capture point make for a painfully-familiar multiplayer mode that didn’t hook me.  Snap-map is a different story.  Part of the appeal of classic Doom was how easy it was to mod and make custom maps.  Snap Map doesn’t have the power of full modding tools but it is still surprisingly powerful.  In addition to creating custom maps, Snap Map allows for custom gamemodes and rudimentary logic-based coding.  My favorite Snap Map I found was a fully functional recreation of CoD zombies complete with purchasable upgrades and unlockable doors.  I don’t have much time to learn a map editor.  But the little time I did spend making my own map impressed me.  It is surprisingly easy to get a fully functional map up and running.  Playing on PS4 I was also surprised how easy using a gamepad turned out to be.  Already there are copious maps of high quality so if you really enjoy Doom there is a nearly infinite amount of Doom content for you to consume.

If you can’t tell already, I really enjoyed my time with Doom.  That being said, it does have some flaws.  Most glaringly it crashed twice on my PS4.  This wouldn’t have been terrible if the second one hadn’t corrupted my save.  Hopefully you won’t run into this but make sure you backup your saves.  Other minor gripes I have are with pacing.  Doom’s upgraded system necessitates lots of exploration, making for long pauses in between combat.  There are designated combat areas and once one is cleared Doom becomes eerily quiet.  At times I was at a loss of where to go after I cleared a combat area.  Doom’s old-school sensibilities ensure the player is not given much information. I applaud Doom for this approach but sometimes I wished for a little more information on where to go next.

Doom doesn’t do anything new.  It strives to be an old-school FPS and it eminently succeeds.  Doom reminds us that a big-budget game in 2016 doesn’t need a massive, open world or a deep,engaging story to be really fun.  Much of gaming’s history was built on shooting things and Doom carries on that tradition.  If you are looking for a great, classic, singleplayer FPS look no further than Doom.           

Filed Under: Video Games

Pokemon Go: day 1 (GOTTA CATCH THE SERVER UPTIME)

July 7, 2016 by GreenTeaGamer Leave a Comment

We knew this day would come.  From the moment I heard Nintendo was getting into the mobile game market I predicted all Nintendo had to do was release a free to play Pokemon game and everyone would lose their minds.  Little did I know how close I was to the truth.

Pokemon Go is a game where you catch Pokemon . . . in your house, your backyard and that liquor store down the street.  Using Pokemon Go is like looking through a window into another world full of little creatures only you can see, not unlike some drugs I suspect.  Using your phones GPS and camera allows Go to populate your world with Pokemon, Poke-Stops and Gyms.  I have spent precious minutes with Pokemon Go, due to server problems, but already I see my world differently.  No longer is the hiking trail behind my house simply a boring dirt path.  At the start there is a Poke-Stop, the closest one to my house, where I can replenish my Pokeballs.  The trail itself is alive with Pokemon, at a small bridge I encountered a Zubat hovering about eye level and spent 30 seconds tossing Pokeballs at it.

IMG_1524                  IMG_1523

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What fresh hell has Nintendo released on us?  I’m not sure yet.  But I’m giving the internet about a week before someone walks off a cliff trying to catch a Pikachu.

Filed Under: Video Games Tagged With: iOS, Nintendo, Pokemon

Overwatch review

June 24, 2016 by GreenTeaGamer Leave a Comment

Wind the clocks back to 2007.  Call of Duty was already an industry powerhouse, but with the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the triple-A video game industry changed forever.  Modern Warfare became the gold standard for online FPS multiplayer.  But after nearly a decade of gritty Call of Duty-like shooters Overwatch is a breath of fresh air not only for gamers but the industry at large.

Blizzard is nothing if not one of the most intelligent developers in the industry. It was impossible to miss the marketing barrage Blizzard unleashed leading up to Overwatch.  Everything from the animated shorts to the giant tracer statue in downtown Hollywood and the lengthy beta had one goal: make everyone fall in love with the characters before the game comes out.  It worked.  I had never seen so much chatter about video game characters for a game that wasn’t even out yet.  The massive amounts of fan art, cosplay and yes even the NSFW stuff fed the fire that was Overwatch hype.  It’s the heroes and the personality of Overwatch that drew me in and I’ve been having fun ever since.

I love Overwatch.  Everything from the bright color palette to the quirky cast of characters sets it apart from most other triple-A releases.  But that would mean nothing if it wasn’t fun.  The heroes allow for many different types of fun.  Maybe shooting people with Phara’s rockets is your jam.  Or you take personal pride in keeping your team alive as Mercy.  Overwatch is what we have come to expect from Blizzard, an existing idea that has been polished to near perfection.  Although Blizzard has introduced many improvements to the online FPS multiplayer genre: Overwatch doesn’t do anything revolutionary.  But it is really fun to play.     

Overwatch is a love letter to classic FPS multiplayer.  Quake, Counter Strike and most obviously Team Fortress 2 are all inspirations for Overwatch’s gameplay.  Unlike Call of Duty Overwatch requires constant teamwork.  Knowing where your teammates are, what heroes they have chosen and how you can best benefit your team are imperative for victory.  Each of the four classes, and each of the 21 heroes spread across those classes, has a specific place in the team dynamic.  The most rewarding aspect of Overwatch is the interplay between the heroes.  Modern FPS multiplayer holds 1v1 match ups above everything else.  Every design choice ensures no one player has an advantage over any other.  A match of Call of Duty could be seen as six 1v1 matches.   Overwatch takes the exact opposite approach focusing on team v team.  This design philosophy allowed Blizzard to design heroes without worrying about 1v1 match ups.  Tracer won’t beat Roadhog 9 times out of 10 but distracting a Roadhog player still benefits the team.  This allows for a much wider variety in hero play styles.  Your success in Overwatch is not measured by KD ratio but rather how well you do the job your chosen hero was designed for.  The ability to change heroes during the game makes for very interesting tactical choices as each team has to react to the other’s hero choice

Overwatch pt 4 Screen Shot 6:24:16, 11.09 AM

There is no loadout customization in Overwatch.  Each hero is equipped with one weapon, two abilities and an ultimate, although this exact ratio varies from hero to hero.  Learning the ins and outs of a hero and the interplay between abilities is half the fun in Overwatch.  There are only three gamemodes, attack/defense, payload and king of the hill.  Much like League of Legends, Overwatch’s gameplay variety comes from the heroes. The same gamemode can feel totally different depending on which hero you choose.  It nails the “simple to learn but hard to master” idea that so many games struggle to capture.     

Blizzard has given each hero their own personality both in terms of gameplay and presentation.   The visual design of each hero is consistent with how they play.  Tracer is on the small side of the hero roster and wields two small pistols.  Her backstory says she was a test pilot for teleportation aircraft.  Everything we see from Tracer in the trailers, from her abilities to her upbeat personality, is reflected in game.  She plays fast and is great for flanking.  Her pistols don’t do much damage, small guns generally don’t, but they are used to distract and hinder the enemy team.  Even her audio voice lines are always cheerful and optimistic no matter the situation.  This synergy between visual design and gameplay may not seem important but it is.  Allowing a new player to get a feel for a hero from looking at them on the character select screen makes Overwatch very accessible and less intimidating for newcomers.

Overwatch open beta pt 2 Screen Shot 6:24:16, 11.18 AM

Overwatch is great and it is really popular right now, but the true test will be how long it can keep people playing.  Once the novelty of Overwatch wears off will it still be fun after the 900th match?  I think only time will tell.  Blizzard’s first test will be competitive mode which launches in about a month.  Having a rewarding competitive mode will do wonders for Overwatch’s long-term player interest.  Blizzard’s other silver bullet is their DLC plan.  All future maps and heroes will be free for all players.  Keeping the player base unfragmented is a bold, player-first move. 

Overwatch open beta pt 3 Screen Shot 6:24:16, 11.12 AM

That being said, I do think there are some problems with Overwatch. The biggest is the price point.  On the gameplay side Overwatch is easily compared to Team Fortress 2 while their overall strategy is more in line with League of Legends.  With a big unfragmented player base and a huge e-sports push Overwatch is attempting to recreate the global phenomenon League has become.  There is one huge problem.  TF2 and League are free to play.  Overwatch is asking sixty dollars.  As much fun as Overwatch is I have a hard time condoning a sixty dollar price point for an online-only game.  In addition to sixty dollars Overwatch offers micro transactions in the form of loot crates.  Yes, it is all cosmetic stuff that doesn’t affect the gameplay but I don’t think that matters.  This is still a sixty dollar game locking some of its content behind luck-based microtransactions.  And yes, I know you can also earn loot crates by playing the game and use in-game currency to buy skins etc.  But the in game currency can only be earned through the loot crates themselves which defeats the purpose of it entirely.  You can’t grind for the currency to get that awesome Mercy skin because it is all up to chance.  Because of this the progression system is not rewarding at all.  I don’t feel like I am working toward anything besides a bigger number next to my player icon.  Blizzard could easily solve this by giving each player a tiny bit of currency after each match.  As much hate as Call of Duty gets their progression system works.  I always felt like I was working toward something.  However, in Overwatch I brace myself for disappointment every time I open a loot box.           

Overall, the future looks bright for Overwatch.  If you want to relive classic FPS multiplayer days, or you want to try something new, Overwatch is one of the best multiplayer games to come out in years.        

              

   

Filed Under: Video Games

Alienation review

June 17, 2016 by GreenTeaGamer Leave a Comment

Developer Housemarque has always nailed one thing, moment to moment gameplay.  Alienation captures the feeling of their previous titles like Resogun and Super Stardust but stumbles when it attempts to merge with a loot driven RPG.

You’ll feel right at home in Alienation if you have played any of Housemarque previous titles.  It’s a twin stick shooter although more in line with Dead Nation than Super Star Dust.  There is nothing wrong with Alienation’s gameplay, each of the three classes plays well and is unique enough to keep things interesting.  Being a spiritual successor to Dead Nation most of Alienation’s gameplay revolves around managing ammo and knowing what weapons to use when.  Alienation adds to this formula with abilities.  Each class has four and they do everything from leaving a trail of poison gas to calling down airstrikes.  Unlike regular RPG mechanics these abilities aren’t on a timed cooldown.  These skills are recharged with orbs dropped by enemies, this forces the player to constantly engage the enemy and not hang back waiting for their abilities to recharge.  Combat is fluid and responsive, all of the weapons are satisfying to use and the Aliens you are shooting them with are fun to kill.  One of Alienation’s greatest strengths is the enemy design.  Far from being cannon fodder many different enemy types demand a change in strategy.  The game can throw huge amount of enemies at you and it is easy to feel overwhelmed.  I do get the sense that Alienation is designed primarily for multiplayer.  Up to 3 friends can join your game in drop-in drop-out co-op.  I don’t prefer to play these type of games that way but the little I did play was fun and the difficulty goes down considerably.  If you have some friends to play with online then I would recommend that.  It’s too bad a game that plays this well is bogged down by the other half of its systems.       Alienation part 7 Screen Shot 6:17:16, 10.26 AM 2

I was puzzled by the lack of a score or any type of leaderboards for that matter.  So much of the enjoyment and replayability in Housemarque games come from chasing highscores.  I am quite proud of my Resogun highscore and I feel the urge to try and beat it to this day.  It started making sense the deeper I played Alienation.  Far from being a compliment to Housemarque’s classic gameplay loop, the loot driven RPG mechanics aim to replace the highscore.

Alienation chases the king of the genre Diablo 3.  I don’t dislike these types of games, I’ve put well over 100 hours into Diablo 3 myself.  But Alienation doesn’t do enough to stand out.  I blasted through the initial campaign in about five hours.  Those five hours were very enjoyable and felt comparable to a classic Housemarque game.  But suddenly the end game grind came out of nowhere and the pacing slowed to a crawl.  Once you finish the campaign it immediately starts again on a harder difficulty.  The only reason to play the missions again is to find keys to unlock the true endgame content, UFO missions.  These are Alienation’s version of procedurally generated dungeons.  They are also very difficult.  If you can complete it without dying you get another key that unlocks a higher level endgame dungeon.  If this endgame loop sounds familiar to you it’s because it is nearly identical to Diablo 3.  The problem is none of this endgame content is particularly user friendly.  First you need to play a story mission again to find the correct side mission.  These mini-dungeons are where you find the UFO keys.  But if you die in these you lose your chance and are kicked back to the story mission.  If you manage to get a key the same rule applies in the UFO dungeon, die and  you lose your chance for the higher level key.  Dying in a UFO feels like a waste knowing you must go play another story mission and find a key to get another shot.  A far cry from the “just one more try” feeling Resogun and the like imbued in me.

Alienation part 11 Screen Shot 6:17:16, 10.27 AM

After about ten hours I don’t have any plans on returning to Alienation.  I enjoyed those ten hours but I am disappointed at the lack of reasons to return.  I am hoping Housemarque will change that with post launch support but right now I can only recommend it as a fun but fleeting distraction.          

 

Filed Under: Video Games Tagged With: PS4, review

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End review

June 17, 2016 by GreenTeaGamer Leave a Comment

Naughty Dog’s rise to become one of the world’s best developers has been incredible to watch.  The Uncharted franchise defined the PS3 experience and The Last of Us is considered by many to be one of the best games ever made.  It seemed impossible that Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End could live up to those expectations.  After its seemingly troubled development, most notably the loss of long time Uncharted creative director Amy Hennig, I had a couple reservations myself.  But after finishing Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End I don’t hesitate to say it is the best game currently on the PS4.

At its core Uncharted has always been a 3rd person shooter and admittedly there are mechanically better 3rd person shooters on the market.  I’ve never had a problem with Uncharted’s combat, however Uncharted 4 adds some much needed variety to firefights.  The biggest change is the stealth system.  

Uncharted has played around with stealth mechanics before but never to their full extent.  If you broke stealth in previous Uncharted games there was no way to get it back.  Uncharted 4 adds new enemy AI, if the player is spotted it is now possible to regain stealth and attack from the shadows again.  This mechanic is complimented greatly by the design of the combat areas which have more than doubled in size from previous games.  These areas offer much more player mobility and allows for a variety of playstyles.  Gameplay feels smooth, all the different aspects flow together: climbing, shooting and stealth feel like different parts of a whole rather than separate gameplay mechanics.  This gameplay flow not only gives Uncharted 4 better moment to moment gameplay but it also lets the player feel more like an action hero than previous installments.

Uncharted 4 combat Screen Shot 6:17:16, 10.21 AM 3

The other half of Uncharted 4’s gameplay is something Uncharted fans know well: climbing.  Much like combat, platforming is more open ended.  Drake is sometimes given multiple paths and while they all take you to the same place this lets the player feel like they are actually exploring.  Mechanically the biggest addition is what I am calling the rope hook swing.  It accomplishes much the same task climbing would have in previous games but is much more fun to use.  Visually it adds speed to what is otherwise the slowest parts of Uncharted.  Having Drake reach his hand out when you are close enough to jump is a great way for it to not be frustrating.  

Climbing wouldn’t be half as fun if the areas you were given to explore weren’t visually stunning.  From dilapidated buildings, to underground catacombs and far reaching vistas Uncharted 4 has some truly breathtaking visual moments.

I am calling it right now.  Uncharted 4 is the best looking game I have ever seen.  I could talk forever about Uncharted 4’s graphics.  But for me, the standout is character design.  Drake and friends have never looked so real.  It is very easy to forget these are digitally animated characters.  Everything from how water affects the characters clothing to the way light disperses through hair in a realistic way with hundreds of other tiny details add to the feeling that these characters are real. Amazing facial animations combined with top notch voice acting made me feel connected to Drake, Elena and Sully more than ever.  Naughty Dog’s graphical fidelity can only be fully appreciated when you play it for yourself.  This level of detail allows Uncharted 4 to tell the best Uncharted story in the series.

Uncharted 4 Cutscene Screen Shot 6:17:16, 10.17 AM 2

I don’t want to talk about many story details for fear of spoilers.  This is the type of game where the less you know the better.  Uncharted 4 has taken many clues from The Last of Us in terms of environmental storytelling. The player can engage in optional conversations with characters adding little bits of context that greatly compliment the story at large.  Much like The Last of Us you are given small stories by notes hidden throughout the environment.  Uncharted 4 tells a very ambitious story on many levels.  The Uncharted franchise has always told a story that involves some historical mystery but rarely does that act as anything more than just a reason for Drake’s adventures.  This time the historical aspect plays a much larger role not only as a story in itself but as commentary on Drake’s character arc.  Overall it is a more mature story, we see our characters coming to terms with and realizing their crazy adventure lifestyle can’t last forever.  This mirrors the same feeling we the player have accepting this will be our last adventure with Drake as Naughty Dog has made it very clear they are done with the Uncharted franchise.  Uncharted 4 is very conscious of the fact it is the final game in the series.  It features many callbacks to previous games and gives a sense that those adventures have been building up to this one.  This adventure is more grounded by Uncharted standards allowing it to focus more on the characters than the adventure itself.  

I haven’t said anything negative about Uncharted 4 because I have nothing negative to say.  The only caveat is I would highly recommend playing the previous games before this one.  Uncharted 4 can stand on its own as an amazing game but it only realizes its full potential if you have seen the series all the way through.    

The final piece to Uncharted 4 is multiplayer.  In the past I have never been able to get into Uncharted’s multiplayer.  It’s not that I think the multiplayer is bad it has just never done enough different to hook me.  When you strip away the amazing story, characters and crazy action of the campaign what you are left with is simply a good 3rd person shooter.  I won’t be returning to it but if you’re into Uncharted multiplayer I think there is plenty to love here.   

Uncharted 4 multiplayer Screen Shot 6:17:16, 10.18 AM

Uncharted 4 consistently surprised me throughout my twelve hour playthrough.  I was expecting great things from Naughty Dog but in my mind Uncharted was a known quantity.  Uncharted has built a formula over the 4 previous games, counting Golden Abyss.  Uncharted 4 plays with this formula by turning it on its head and adding to it at the same time.  Naughty Dog is a developer at the top of their game and I can’t wait to see what’s next for them.

 

Filed Under: Video Games Tagged With: PS4, review

Broforce: the first 15

March 7, 2016 by GreenTeaGamer Leave a Comment

Broforce is simple, jump, shoot and blow crap up.  An action platformer in the pixelated style studio Devolveer has become known for Broforce takes joy in the simple act of shooting bad guys and blowing stuff up.  Each character the player is given access to is a parody of a famous action movie hero but with 100% more broification. From Bro Hard (die hard) to Brominator (terminator) most well known action movie heroes are represented in some way.  Broforce’s character variety is it’s greatest strength.  Hidden throughout each level are prisoners, rescuing one immediately changes the player into another action movie hero.  One minute you are the terminator with a heavy machine gun the next you are indiana jones dispatching bad guys with his trusty whip.  Each level offers the player a variety of different approaches.  You wouldn’t guess it but it is possible to stealth your way through a Broforce level.  Every inch of the level is destructible allowing the player to dig tunnels under the bad guys and attack from behind.  But in all seriousness, guns blazing is the best approach.  With the obligatory explosive red barrels it is possible to set off spectacular chain reactions which leave only blood and guts where there used to be bad guys.         

Broforce first 15min Screen Shot 3:5:16, 7.13 PM 2

Broforce isn’t without its faults, cheap deaths are a constant nuisance as your character dies in one hit.  I died many times not even knowing my character was in danger or I accidently shot a red barrel I was next to.  Despite being a game about running in guns blazing Broforce can require more finesse than the controls are cut out for.  Throwing the grenade in the right place or platforming your way over a minefield is more frustrating than it should be but it never breaks the game.  Broforce remembers that dumb fun is sometimes the best fun and it doesn’t pretend to be anything more than that.  Despite its flaws, after fifteen minutes Broforce kept me playing and it is definitely worth a try.      

Filed Under: Video Games

Dying Light review

September 5, 2015 by GreenTeaGamer Leave a Comment

Zombie games fall into two different categories: either the undead masses are simply there to be blown up or the zombies are something to avoided at all costs.  Dying Light from developer Techland is squarely in the latter category.  When the game took the training wheels off me and threw me into the open world; I was at first terrified of the zombies.  This was the case because I assumed the zombies took their ques from the walking dead.  I was sure I would be quickly mobbed by zombies if they saw me.  This I soon learned was an overestimation.  Dying Light’s walkers are some of the most docile zombies I have ever encountered, at least at first…

Dying Light’s elevator pitch is Mirrors Edge + Dead Island.  I am surprised no one has tried this before because it works brilliantly.  Jumping, climbing and sliding your way across the beautifully realized city of Hurran is enough to make Dying Light stand out from the crowd of zombie games.  A dynamic day/night cycle is used, quite effectively I might add, to constantly push the playing adding a layer of tension even when your not being chased by zombies.  When night falls all hell breaks loose.  Special zombies I call “stalkers” spawn all over the game map.  If one of them sees you a mad dash to the nearest safe zone is your only option.  These chases are the highlight of the action.  I highly recommend using headphones the combination of my characters frantic breathing and the sound of the zombies relentless pursuit increased my heart rate considerably.  Dying Light is never scary but the constant sense of tension was enough to keep me on the edge of my seat for the first couple of hours at least.

Crafting is the name of the game in Dying Light.  There are materials everywhere I had tons of fun just searching for them.  Breaking into houses and tearing open cabinets trying to find that last peice of duct tape for my machete made me feel like a real zombie apocalypse survivor.  When you finally make that machete duct taped to a chainsaw the combat is there to make you feel like a badass.  Using a machete to cut a zombie up piece by piece is really satisfying.  Jumping around a group of zombies, vaulting over the scary ones and cracking heads when I need to is some of the best zombie killing fun I’ve had in a while.

Nothing about Dying Light screams next gen.  But in those moments when the zombies aren’t chasing you take a look around.  Too many post apocalyptic games use the brown, black and grey color palette.  Hurran is refreshingly colorful especially during a sunset you might even say it’s pretty.  Everything with Dying Light’s presentation is good not great.  The voice acting is fine even with a few bad jokes here and there.  Most of the characters suffer from dead eye but you spend so little time that it doesn’t matter.  Graphically the only problem is accessional texture pop in but again it doesn’t detract from the overall experience.  My one problem with the presentation is the ambient noise.  This may seem like an odd complaint but bear with me.  When your character makes a loud noise i.e. shooting a gun all the zombies from a large radius start converging on you.  Whenever this happens the zombies let out a chilling scream or at least I thought so.  It turns out those noises are ambient noise.  In fact, much of the action music incorporates zombie screams.  When I figured this out those noises became much less scary and broke the immersion for me.

Dying Light was the right game at the right time.  Is it a great game? No, but it is a very good game and definitely worth your time.

 

Filed Under: Video Games Tagged With: fps, PS4, zombies

Batman Arkham Knight review

August 24, 2015 by GreenTeaGamer Leave a Comment

Running off the top of Wayne Tower into a dive, hearing the wind rushing past Batman’s cape as I pull out into a glide and drink in the view of Gotham City while Oracle tells me the details of my next mission.  Now I’m in the streets of Gotham beating the crap out of a multitude of thugs who never stood a chance.  Then with a press of a button the Batmobile comes tearing into the intersection as Batman jumps into the drivers seat, half a second later I hit the afterburner and speed away into the night.  This is Batman Arkham Knight and being Batman has never felt better.

We’ve come a long way from the cramped corridors of Arkham Asylum.  Gotham city looks better than ever from the imposing sky scraper of Wayne Enterprises to the grimy alleyways of Gotham’s underbelly.  Rocksteady has always prided themselves on the high level of detail in their open worlds not the size.  The size is impressive, Arkham Knight is roughly three times the size of Arkham City, but it’s the level of detail that is truly stands out.  Every inch of the city feels like it has a story to tell from the evidence room at the GCPD to the comments made by thugs as you fly though the Gotham City skyline.

Backing up the staggering attention to detail is an all star cast of heroes and villains.  Most notably Commissioner Gordon, Alfred and Oracle make their first appearances in more than just voice. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamil reprise their roles as Batman and Joker respectively and don’t disappoint, with Mark Hamil’s Joker stealing the show.  Many familiar faces return such as Two-Face and Penguin but  Arkham Knight isn’t afraid to dig deep into Batman’s rogues gallery with much more obscure villains such as Firefly and Manbat. 

Arkham Knight delivers one of Batman’s best story arcs to date.  The mystery of  the Arkham Knight’s identity will fall a little flat for those of us who are sunk deep into Batman lore but for the casual player it’s a great hook to keep you playing.  Scarecrow’s threat to destroy Gotham City and all Batman stands for, although not original, culminates in one of the best endings I’ve experienced in a long time. 

Not much has changed from Arkham Asylum to Arkham Knight in terms of gameplay.  The free flow combat still feels better than ever.  Pros of the system will appreciate all of the subtle changes while the average player will still feel like a badass.  If you have played an Arkham game before you will know what to expect.  Probably the biggest changes to gameplay are the predator missions.  More enemies, bigger maps and more ways than ever to take down thugs makes these missions stand out.

The big selling point for Arkham Knight was the introduction of the Batmobile.  Unfortunately, this is one of Arkham Knights biggest mistakes.  Driving the bat mobile feels great, chasing down Gotham’s most wanted while power sliding thought the streets of Gotham feels like Batman.  Holding down L2 transforms the Botmobile into a tank.  These tank missions require you to destroy other conveniently unmanned tanks over and over and over, it’s just not fun.  There is nothing wrong with the gameplay, the bat-tank controls fine but these missions are frustrating and most importantly don’t feel like Batman.  It feels like these missions were added as an afterthought to justify the Batmobile’s presence as more than just a glorified car.

Boring Bat-tank aside, Arkham Knight is still the best Batman game ever made.  From the gameplay to the presentation and the story Rocksteady has delivered the perfect sendoff for the Dark Knight.     

Filed Under: Video Games Tagged With: batman, PS4

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