A Plague Tale: Innocence - Review

One of the games I have been looking forward to playing this year is A Plague Tale: Innocence.  It is a survival horror game about a brother and sister trying to survive the plague and the inquisition. I decided the other day to buy A Plague Tale: Innocence on PlayStation 4.


One of my favourite Chinese dishes is deep-fried shredded beef.  It's beef, battered and in a sweet and sometimes slight spicy sauce.  While it is really tasty there is a bit chewing involved (no I'm not old age pensioner who wears dentures), and depending on the quality of the meat it can be too chewy and sometimes dry as well.  Playing A Plague Tale: Innocence I found myself asking was this too chewy and dry or was it just right?

Story


If you are looking for an upbeat positive story this game is not for you.  A Plague Tale Innocence Tale plunges you into the darkness mere minutes after starting.  The story is set in France in 1348, there is a plague across the lands and the inquisition is everywhere.  Well, apart from the De Rune Estate where everything seems okay - for about five minutes anyway.  The children of the De Rune family Amicia and Hugo need to escape and with the help of their mother they do.  Amicia and Hugo have barely ever seen each other due to Hugo's having an unusual sickness, so the story isn't just about survival but the bond between the siblings.  There is a lot of darkness on their journey and occasionally someone might be willing to help you but be warned treachery is everywhere.


Overall the story is pretty solid and while Hugo did annoy me at times I think that was the point, annoying brothers and all that.  He does have some great dialogue though. When they are both in an underground cave Hugo says maybe there is a whale in the water, Amicia says it would not fit, his response is that it could be a small pretty whale that is shy and is the reason they can't see it.

Visuals

The visuals are dark, grim and surprisingly beautiful at times.  The game uses a lot of dark imagery - everything from people being killed by the inquisition, rats eating people alive and what seems like fields of slaughtered animals.  There is some beauty when you are moving through the countryside or when visiting an underground cave.  My advice is to savor these moments of quiet and beauty as they are fleeting.

Overall the visuals are amazing and help create a dark world where you always feel on edge.



Music


The use of strings creates a dark and foreboding sound, that often made me feel unnerved in a game that is already very good at doing just that.  The soundtrack was created by French composer Olivier Deriviere. He has worked on a number of video game soundtracks including; Remember Me, Assassins Creed Freedom Cry, Get Even, Alone In The Dark and Vampyr.


The soundtrack runs at over an hour and features some great tracks. My favorite tracks were; 'Plague Tale', 'Inquisition', 'Adulthood', 'Mystical Castle', 'She Is Alive', 'The Wrath', 'Reunited' and 'I'm Sorry'.

Overall a great soundtrack that helps ensure you never feel relaxed.

Gameplay


On to the meat!  The game is a survival-horror, and as a whole, it is fairly linear, don't get me wrong that doesn't mean it's easy.  The game has you play as Amicia, she tasked with taking care of her younger brother Hugo.  It is essential you hold his hand the whole time if you let go for any length time he will freak out and attract enemies to you.  He will occasionally let go of your hand to explore, figure out puzzle/obstacle or to let you fight when needed.


Amicia's primary weapon is her slingshot, and let me tell you it can deal some serious damage.  Outside of this, you can learn alchemical mixtures to help you avoid the many many rats along with human enemies.  While the game often pushes you to use stealth any chance I could deal some hurt I did without hesitation, much to the shock of Amicia and Hugo.


It is not something you would expect in this style of game but you can upgrade a lot of things, mixtures, slingshot, carry capacity and a number of other things.  My personal recommendation is to focus on your carry capacity as it will make thing easier when you need to make a lot of alchemical mixtures later.


The main enemy in the game is rats and they are freaky, crazy and kind of organised.  Avoiding, them at times can be awkward but as long as you are careful and can make fire you will be just fine.


Overall the gameplay works pretty well most of the time, some the chapters are brilliant but I can't provide any details without giving you spoilers, so you will have to play it yourself.




Final Thoughts

So, after nearly fifteen hours how did I feel?  Pretty happy.  The story is solid an interesting,  the visuals and music blend together perfectly to help create a dark world and the gameplay while linear works well.  Overall this one gets a 4 out of 5

Team Sonic Racing - Review

I'm a Sonic fan, which can be tough sometimes when poor quality games keep being released.  But, I like to keep faith that they won't all be bad.  I liked Sonic Generations, Sonic Mania was pretty decent and I have quite enjoyed Sumo Digital's racing series.  Recently they released Team Sonic Racing, and I was excited to try it.


Hot chicken baguettes are huge in Ireland, but nowhere is the love bigger than here in Cork.  It's not hard to get a hot chicken baguette but the quality can vary massively from place to place. Sometimes the chicken can be dry, the cheese not fresh, the roll might be close to being stale, but when the ingredients are right, it's perfect.  Playing Team Sonic Racing I found myself asking was this the perfect hot chicken baguette?

Story


Story?  I know what you are thinking, it's a racing game is there really need for a story?  The answer is no, no there is not. Sonic and some of his associates are sent an invitation from an alien being called Dodon Pa to compete in a series of races. Rather than ignore it they blindly go to meet Dodon Pa, and even though they don't trust him they decide to compete in his races because...reasons.  The dialogue and voice acting is terrifyingly bad.


Overall the story is poor and unneeded and I have nothing positive to say.

Visuals


Swiftly moving on from the story let's take a look at the visuals. Similar to Sonic All-Star Racing, and Sonic Transformed the level designs are vibrant and fun. The only issue as such is that in some levels it can be difficult to work out where the track starts and ends, especially in the lava levels.


Overall Sumo Digital does a great job of the visuals, with very minor issues.



Music


The soundtrack is an upbeat rock soundtrack, it's fun and has a 'we can do anything if we can work together' feel. The soundtrack is created by Japanese video game composer Jun Senoue who is the lead guitarist and songwriter of Crush 40. His previous works include; Sonic Heros, Sonic and Knuckles, Sonic Hedgehog 3, Daytona 3, Burning Rangers, and Sonic Adventure 2 to name but a few.


It's a meaty soundtrack that runs at well over three hours. There are many great tracks which all help in creating a fun feeling when playing.

Gameplay


Onto the hot chicken.  The gameplay focuses on working as a team of three to help win races.  This can be done by sharing powers ups, following the trails left behind by the leader of your team and slingshotting around them. If you do this throughout the race you can pull off an ultimate attack which helps propel your team into, or close to, the lead.


Finishing races and challenges provide credits that can then be used to purchase upgrades for cars.  Some are purely cosmetic and others will help give you the edge in races.


There is an adventure mode, which has a lot to be desired.  The out and out and races are a lot of fun and even the destruction missions are fun, but the others got old quick for me.  I think the real issue for me is that they rehash the levels a lot.  I think it would have been great if they had included some of the levels from the previous games similar to Mario Kart.

Overall, if you ignore some of the elements of the adventure mode it's pretty solid but somehow doesn't quite offer the same fun as the previous the games in the series.




Final Thoughts


So, after twelve hours how did I feel? Ummm, well...not bad.  The story was woeful, the visuals are pretty good, the soundtrack is upbeat and fun.  The gameplay is pretty good and while it would have been nice if they didn't reuse the tracks as much the team element is a lot of fun. Overall this one gets a lukewarm 3 out of 5