Command and Conquer Tiberian Dawn Remastered - Review

25 years ago Westwood Studios released Command and Conquer Tiberian Dawn. The game set the standard for real-time strategy games. I remember playing it when it first came out and then again a few years later. As PC gaming hardware improved I was no longer able to run it but never forgot about it. I have played every game in the series and while the series and the RTS genre has advanced a lot I always wanted to go back and play the original again. Fast forward 25 years and it has been remastered and released, the question is does it still hold up?


I like Jaffa Cakes, they remind of being a kid again and as an adult makes me feel like a big kid. I recently saw our local Spar had Jaffa Cake Nibbles, and I thought, yeah I want me some of those. I grabbed a bag and scoffed down most of them. Are they as good as normal Jaffa Cakes? No. But are they bad? Also no. They are just a bit a different, a slightly lesser version of the regular ones. Playing Command and Conquer Tiberian Dawn I found myself asking was it as good I remember and did remastering make it as good as the newer games in the series?

Story


The story has you pick on of two sides; GDI (Global Defence Initiative) and the Brotherhood of Nod. One is seeking to protect the world, the other to control it. There is a plant-like substance called Tiberian, it is powerful and is beginning to appear all of the planet.  The cut sequences provide a little more story but that is pretty much the whole story.


Overall the story is fairly light, and the cheesy cut sequences don't help as much as they should. To be fair though the story was pretty underwhelming the first time around and it was one of the few things that could not be altered.

Visuals


When I started playing I thought to myself the visuals look better but how much have they changed? Luckily, if you press the spacebar you can see what the game used to look like and even play the whole game that way. The visuals have been changed massively, everything looks better and smoother but without changing the core design. I think it was a great idea to be able to see what the game used to look like as it is only then I could fully appreciate the work put into it.


Overall the remastered visuals look great and getting to compare them so easily was a nice touch.



Music


When I first heard the soundtrack for Command and Conquer years ago I remember thinking how awesome it was and really wanted to have it on cassette or CD so I could keep listening to it. The composer for this legendary music is Frank Klepacki and Tiberian Sons. He has worked with Westwood Studios, Lucasarts, EA, Disney and many more. He has created the sound for the Command and Conquer series and I am already excited to play Red Alert again as it features some of his best work.


The soundtrack run at almost exactly an hour, there are no duds in it and I could listen to it again and again. Overall it is a great soundtrack and a great example of how important they are in games.

Gameplay


I really enjoy real-time strategy games, I love building up a base, having good defences, create an army and then wipe the enemy off of the map. With most modern games each side is fairly balanced, in Command and Conquer Tiberian Dawn that is not the case. GDI has the Mammoth Tank, it it impressive and pretty tough, but apart from the GDI structure and units feel weak by comparison of Nod. With Nod, they have strong defence turrets, a laser turret which destroys any unit no matter how strong. They also have flame troopers, rocket bikes, and stealth tanks.  While I enjoyed playing with both sides The Brotherhood of Nod is superior in every way.


Like the original release of the game, there are different difficulty settings and is possible to speed up the gameplay. This is invaluable once you have a good base defence and need resources to build your army.


Some people had reported glitches with some of the gameplay, maybe I was lucky or may a few patches fixed the issue. In any case, I did have any issues with the game crashing or failing to register things, which is always a plus.


Overall I enjoyed my experience and only wish that both GDI and NOD could have been a little more balanced.





Final Thoughts

So, after twenty hours how did I feel? Not bad. The story wasn't great but I can overlook this a little. The visuals were really sharp and the music was fantastic. The gameplay was pretty good but certainly could use a little balancing. Overall this one gets a 3 out of 5

Yakuza 3 Remastered - Review

I have been pretty giddy to play Yakuza 3 since the remastered collection was released, I even made sure to pre-order it. The quality of the story and gameplay of Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 were fantastic and hoped that Yakuza 3 would be the same. This was my first time playing Yakuza 3 so curious to see how the story of Kiryu Kazama would progress.


I love eating a tasty sausage (easy now), there are so many varieties and you can rarely go to wrong unless you go for the super cheap ones. I fancied sausages and mash the other day, so picked up some Tesco Finest Pork Sausages. Now they weren't bad but nowhere near the same quality, I had got used to with O'Flynn's Gourmet Sausages. Now maybe O'Flynn's had simply spoiled me with the taste and flavours of their sausages or maybe Tesco Finest Sausages weren't as good. Playing Yakuza 3 Remastered I found myself asking, what kind of sausages was I eating?

Story


The direction of the story is very different from the previous ones in the series. One side of the story sees Kiryu Kazama in Okinawa running an Orphanage, Morning Glory, with his adopted daughter Haruka. It is so sweet watching them take care of the orphans cooking, keeping house, dealing with childhood problems and different prejudices. The other side sees a change in the Tojo Clan and being on the brink of war and a sinister force at work which is far beginner than before. Kiryu is forced back into the troubles of the Tojo Clan while also trying to keep Morning Glory and its orphans safe. This time though can Kiryu really do it all or will it all come crashing down?


While there are many great elements to the game my favourite was those focused on Morning Glory, see Kiryu in a more fatherly light was really nice. There was a level of simplicity about it that was hard not to love. The Tojo Clan storyline was good but lacked a certain something and did draw me in like the other games stories had. The substories were a little shakey, where there were ones I enjoyed they did not seem as fun as the others, Okinawa substories were great for the most part but those in Kamurocho just did not have the same appeal.


Overall the stories lines were not bad but in some ways, I wish they had created a shorter game than just focused on Okinawa and the Morning Glory Orphanage rather than trying to cram so many things into it.

Visuals


The visuals....mmmm.....I.....hmmm. Getting to enjoy a new area was great and felt fresh and fun. However, the visuals were nowhere as good as they could or should have been. Obviously, there was serious remake/remaster of the first two games as they were on the PlayStation 2 and would have looked really poor if they had not. That being said I feel Sega really dropped the ball with Yakuza 3. The visuals look like an early PlayStation 3 game and while side by side comparisons of the original versus the show improvements they just are not enough. Honestly, perhaps they rushed the release due to working on Judgement and being concerned some would be released on the PlayStation 5 and would fail without serious work.


I hate to bash on a game's visuals but it hard to ignore them, perhaps I was just spoiled by the others but consistency is key and Yakuza 3 is certainly lacking that element.



Music


Thinking back on all the Yakuza games I have played so far there is a distinctly Sega sound to it. There are these fun tracks combined, guitar riff infused tracks along with epic battle tracks. Many of the sounds of Sega are created by Japanese composer Hidenori Shoji. He is a rich body of work including not only the Yakuza Series but also; Sega Tour Car Championship, Project X Zone 2 (and when 3 is released might be the only reason I buy a Nintendo Switch), and Sonic All-Star Racing to name but a few.


As always there are number of great tracks even though it feels like one of the shortest soundtracks to date. Some standout tracks for me were; 'Fly', 'Howl Of The Dragon', 'Urgency', 'Pure Malice', 'Lyricism Without Tears' and 'Fish On'.


Overall it is a fairly solid soundtrack and while it is not my favourite one of the series it did not make it any less enjoyable.

Gameplay


As always in Yakuza games there is a lot to discuss in terms of gameplay, let's start with the big one, combat.  The fighting element is fun and will feel familiar to those how have played the others in the series. There are a couple gripes I had, firstly fighting does not feel as robust as the other remastered Yakuza games, and the levelling up system. The more you fight, complete mini-games and sub-stories the more experience points you can gain. That makes sense, what does not make sense is that often you have to pick between upgrading between two abilities, for example, you can increase your health or improve the damage you do when throwing an enemy. This way of levelling up made no sense to me and is something that was unnecessary to incorporate into the game. On the plus side, there is a new way you can acquire fighting abilities, one of these by capturing people having crazy things happen to them and then blogging about it.


There is a host of mini-games including; fishing, mahjong, massage (you read that right), running, and a number of others. Then, of course, there are the classic substories, they are usually quite quick to complete and pulls you away from big responsibilities and just helping people in their day to day life, from the simple to the bizarre.


Hostesses Bar. This is an element I have really enjoyed in the series I love managing the clubs, the fun stories of the hostess and the competition in other clubs. Sadly, this was missing this time around. Instead, you get to visit hostess bars and try to win over the hostesses. That part to me seems a little bizarre, you pay a lot to be there, you are kind of expected to give gifts and to answers their questions the way they want. Now it could be just me but if you are paying to be there with them surely they should just go along with whatever you like or are into (unless it is demeaning or all-out rude). Instead, you are pretty much courting them with no guarantees they will like what you say or do. So why would you not either go to an escort or try to get with a real girl especially considering the effort you have to put in with a hostess. I am not sure if this was put in because this is how it actually works in Japan or if Sega just wanted to go in a different direction, in either case, it was not for me.


Overall the gameplay isn't bad but certainly has some shortcomings, while of course, I understand the need to change things up but as the old adage goes, if it ain't broke why try to fix it?





Final Thoughts


So, after nearly thirty hours how did I feel? A bit underwhelmed. The story had some great elements in it but felt like they tried to cram in too much. The visuals were a huge downside and hope that Yakuza 4 and 5 look a lot better. The music was reliable as always and while it was not my favourite to date in certainly is not bad. The gameplay was a little hit and miss, risks were taken that did not pay off and the combat was a little weak by comparison of the other games in the series. Overall this one slides in with a 3 out of 5

Darkwood - Review

I used to feel that top-down games had there day, that was until I played Hotline Miami. When I saw the trailer for Acid Wizard Studio's Darkwoord I thought to myself, 'Horror version of Hotline Miami? Count me in'. It was special on the PlayStation Store for half price and thought why not treat myself?


Every now again I like eating those microwaveable Rustler Rib Burger. I know what you are thinking, how can someone who enjoys food so much eat that watered-down burger-alikes? Nostalgia is a powerful thing and growing up working in SuperValu I ate more than my fair share of them. I don't want I was expecting, they look like the real deal but was never that tasty. Play Darkwood I found myself asking was I eat a real Rib Burger or a watered-down version of one?

Story


Ever woken up strapped to a chair being beaten by a 'doctor' in a creepy looking house? Me neither but it sounds awful, and I'm sure our protagonist would agree. His job is to find a way out of the Darkwood which is truly a place of nightmares. There are a number of people/things to interact with who have some strange stories and, requests for you. Like the gangster fox with an AK47, or the elephant people who are strange folk who wear gas masks (it's weirder than it sounds).



Overall the story is less of a story a more a bunch of concepts. The events that transpire are interpretative, perhaps everything is real, maybe it's not, maybe some of it is who knows? The issue is that I never really cared about the protagonist or any of the other inhabitants of the Darkwood, I wanted it to but was bizarre to point where I was neither intrigued to know more or found it entertaining like the game Strange Flesh for example. The ending left me shrugging my shoulders and going 'meh'.

Visuals


The visuals are dark, gritty and kind of cool, well it started that way for me anyway. The visuals like many other elements of the game provide a level of disorientation and reminded me a little of those used in the original Postal game. There are trees that are alive and things around the pulsating, old ruined building, and people being absorbed into the earth (while still alive). The visuals made it hard to sometimes work out where I was, and more than an hour or two of playing really killed my eyes.


Overall the visuals left me feeling conflicted, while they did look cool to start with very quick they felt hampering, and instead of enjoying them I felt annoyed by them.




Music


If I had to describe the soundtrack in one word I would say unnerving. The sounds climbed up my spine and made me feel uncomfortable, but in a good way. The score was created by Polish composer Artur Kordas who is part of Acid Wizard Studios. I had a look around but could not see him credited for any other games.


The soundtrack is just shy of an hour but rarely did I feel the music repeated itself. The soundtrack is certainly one of the stand out parts of the game and am curious to hear what else Artur Kordas does in the future.

Gameplay


Darkwood is a top-down survival horror game. The game provides you with a small health bar and a stamina gauge that can be depleted real quick if you are not careful. Each area has a hideout and you are going to want to set up camp there as soon as possible. It is great for storing your gear, cooking up crazy vials of what looks like blood, and trying to survive the night. Let's break it down.


The game is broken into four areas of sorts, each of those areas is pretty big, or at least it feels that way when something tries to kill you every few feet. If you do get killed you will be respawned at your hideout and lose some gear. Similar to Dark Souls you can run back to your body or in this case backpack and retrieve your goods. Even as I got better at the game I grew tired of this so just carried items in my Hotbar (which you can't lose even when killed) and went back to my hideout regularly. The hideout is where you go to survive the night, if you can, often even with traps enemies broke into it and killed me which was annoying.


Weapons and other supplies to patch you up and your hideout can be found in the world but can also be made at your workbench in your hideout. Upgrading your workbench is very worthwhile as it allows you to build more items. Then there is cooking which can be used to unlock both negative and positive perks including one where you can replenish your health by eating wood, very handy.



The weapons and tools are okay but break regular, my favorites were the shovel and automatic pistol as they seemed more efficient than some of the others. Combat is a mixed bag due to you eating through stamina for doing anything, meaning if I got attacked by three enemies I was likely going to die. Hitting enemies could be a little awkward and some weapons like the axe and even the shovel took a second or two to make an impact which ended up sometimes being too late.


Overall the gameplay is okay but can be a little frustrating at times and being killed happened so regularly it started meaning nothing to me.




Final Thoughts

So, after twenty hours how did I feel? Disappointed. The story seemed like it could have been something interesting but never quite got there. The visuals are okay but are a little hard on the eyes and sometimes makes navigation difficult.  The music is creepy and horrific and suits the game well. The gameplay is okay but could be a bit fiddly at times. Overall, this one gets a 2 out of 5