Halo Wars 2 - Review

When the first Halo Wars was released I bought it without a second thought,  I even got the Special Edition (which I still have).  There are two reasons I bought it; first I really enjoy the Halo series & second I really like Real Time Strategy games.  I always felt like it did not receive the praise it deserved, I think a lot of that came from the studio changing from the standard First Person Shooter format to a Real Time Strategy format & not everyone liked that.   I think the game worked well & when I heard Halo Wars 2 was being released I didn't check; trailers, images or any other source of information I just bought it on instinct.


Who likes Noodle Houses?  I think they are great, the food is healthyish, tasty & often comes in those little noodle boxes.  One of my favorite places to get them was Noodle Box in Cork City,  I loved the staff & the owner who would always pour me a green tea even if I was getting take out.  Alas, they are now closed due to a short term lease, I really hope they open up somewhere else in the future - anyway I digress.  Has anyone ever tried a frozen noodle boxes you buy in a shop?  I have. Apparently, they offer the same great taste as you would get from a noodle house - this of course, is a lie.  Even if you heat it up for the right amount of time you might bite into a piece of ice, it tastes sloppy & while there is a hint of taste that reminds you of real noodles from a real noodle house it is not the same - not even close.   So naturally playing Halo Wars 2 I had to ask myself - did it taste like authentic noodles from a noodle house or a poor substitute?

Halo Wars 2 is set 28 years after the first Halo Wars.  The crew of the Spirit of Fire have been in cryosleep taking a well-earned rest.  Of course, there is nothing worse than being rudely awakened to find you are at a giant installation called the Ark & someone is sending out a distress signal. I mean come on you at least need a coffee first before dealing with all of that. Naturally, Captain Cutter sends some of his best people who are so awesome they don't need coffee, to investigate the source of the signal.  Enter Spartan Jerome-092, Spartan Alice-130 & Spartan Douglas-042.


As always I will be sparing with the plot details but I will say this, the villain in the game is called Atriox.  He is so badass that his strength & the army he commands are a scourge even to the Covenant themselves.  For those of you not sure who the Covenant are, they are a powerful collection of alien races all fighting under one banner to eradicate humanity through the use of ancient weapons. They are well trained & highly fanatical.


One thing I really like about the series as of late is how the AI's are becoming more self aware, more feeling & more alive.  In some cases, this has created a protective ally & in other cases, well not so much.  I feel as the series progresses this will play a bigger part in shaping the Halo Universe.

Graphically speaking the game looks good & is a big improvement over Halo Wars,  that being said it is does not look as sharp I would have liked.  While some parts are lacking others really shine, especially when it comes to the smaller details, for example; the building animations or the way when a Hornet passes over a body of water it parts below them.  Some of the level designs in the game look really cool especially some of the night missions.   The cut scenes look great as always but don't quite have the same beauty as those in Halo 4 or Halo 5 Guardians.


The music used in the game has a very militaristic sound & makes heavy use of brass & strings. Then there are pieces used that sound really epic & remind me of music used in some super hero movies, I don't mean this in a negative way in fact totally the opposite.  The overall result works well & helps add to the atmosphere of the game.  There are three composers who worked to create these sounds:


Gordy Haab - who worked on; Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars The Old Republic, The Walking Dead: Survival Instincts & lots of music for shorts.

Brian Lee White - who worked on; Massive Chalice & also Halo 2 Anniversary.

Brian Trifon - who has worked on many titles including; Halo 2 Anniversary, Assassins Creed 2, Assassins Creed Brotherhood & Borderlands.


There are some really great pieces of music used in the game, some of my favorites were; 'Catastrophic Failure',  'Recommissioned', 'Incision', 'Isabel's Awakening', 'Arise, Good Child', 'Symbiotic', 'Empathy' & 'Steel Hand, Gloves Off'.  As a whole I felt it was a good soundtrack but not as high caliber as some of the others games in the series.

The gameplay, where to begin? In short it was fantastic but I should probably be a bit more specific than that.  Let's start with some of the units.  There are the Hell-Bringers, flame throwing troops who work well as part of large group & who all sound Scottish.  Hands down my favorite unit in the game are the Snipers, very powerful & if you combine a small group of them with a Spartan then you have an excellent covert team who are unstoppable.


Each mission features optional/bonus objectives & while it is not necessary to complete them they really add to experience.  I found I played harder & often more tactical just to try finish as many as possible.  In the end I finished over 70% of all optional/bonus objectives & I plan on trying to get 100% of them.


I did not feel there were any weak missions but there were some that stood out to me. Two of my favorite were; 'From The Deep', where you try to stop a beachhead invasion.  It felt intense, challenging & victorious when finally winning.  'Under The Dark' was probably my favorite mission as is not only introduced the Sniper unit but also you have to use three Kodiak units to help destroy an objective & reminded me of a mission from Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun (which is a game I really love). All missions were great to play & some were really tough even on Normal difficulty especially if you are trying to complete all the objectives.  The campaign was great & I look forward to revisiting it again in the future.


There are number of game modes in Halo Wars 2 including Blitz.  Any of you who know me know that I'm not big into multiplayer, but I just had to talk about Blitz.  Basically it's a slight twist on Domination; you need to capture two of the three points on the map to gain points, first to 200 wins.
What really sets this aside from the standard domination modes I have seen in other games is that you build a card deck & play cards to summon units.  To play those cards you need energy which can you collect from energy cells on the map or by holding points & destroying enemies.  There are two ways to gain cards & build your deck; buy them or play the main campaign.  Additionally all cards can be leveled up by collecting multiples of the same type.  You can play private matches, standard quick matches or play against the A.I.  Also the spectator is as awesome as he was in Halo 3, my favorite saying are; 'Killtacular', 'Kilimanjaro' & 'Untouchable'.


I must admit even though I only just finished them game I'm really tempted to start it again, so many thing still left to do.  Hmm, might start it again after I finish off here.

So what are my final thought after 15 hours playing the main campaign & another 5 playing multiplayer? I liked it, I liked it a lot.  The story was good, as were the graphics & music.  The gameplay was fantastic & I really hope they make a Halo Wars 3.

Mafia 3 - Review

I don't want to start off this review negatively (meaning I almost definitely am going to) but when Mafia 3 was announced I was not very excited.  Why?  Well, I was just not convinced Louisiana was a great setting for a Mafia game.  When I think of Louisiana, I think of the Dixie Mafia rather than the traditional Italian Mafia.  It's might sound strange I would dislike it for that especially considering I really like the TV show Justified which centres on exactly that.  Outside of that, the game was not exactly stunning looking for a Triple-A title,  based on all that information you might be wondering why I played it - I was waiting for Halo Wars 2 to arrive.


I like Chips but I am not as pushed on French Fries, depending on what country you are from & how you view each of those things it may sound confusing.  I see French Fries as potatoes cut into thin strips, fried lightly in oil & cooked with a lot of salt.  Chips are potatoes cut into chunky shapes & cooked heavily in oil.  While playing Mafia 3 I had to ask myself was eating French Fries or Chips?

The game is set in 1968, in a version of New Orleans.  You play as Lincoln Clay who has just returned from the Vietnam War.  Clay returns home to his adopted father Sammy & his brother Ellis.
Before Clay left for war he, along with his family were part of the Black Mob.  All Clay wants to do is be a good man, get a good job & leave his bad ways behind.  Unfortunately Clay is too loyal for his own good & quickly falls back into bad ways to help his family.


One of the strongest parts of the game is definitely the story.  It's not just simply the story but also the method used to tell it.  The introduction is told in flashback format which I really liked.  The part I really loved was the documentary style story telling.  I found it interesting listening to different people's take on Lincoln Clay,  the characters showed real emotion when speaking on camera.  I felt this, along with the story helped make the world & characters seem more real.


As always I won't spoil the story for you but I will say two things; first I was shocked & excited that there are multiple endings you can pick, two after the credits role this a little extra story which was just epic.

Visually speaking the game is very underwhelming especially for a Triple-A title,  I would not go as far to say it's awful but all the same it's not great.   While I know a game is a lot more than just what it looks like I do feel it let it's self down in a big way because of it.   When it came to look of the main characters they looked quite good but world itself seemed dull & almost out of focus. The documentary scenes looked quite well & I loved that it looked purposefully grainy to make it seem like old footage.  A friend described it best to me, the games looks like it is 8-10 years old.  If Mafia 3 was released back in 2007 visually it would have been considered to be really good but nowadays it just isn't really acceptable, especially from a bigger studio.  But I digress & will move onto some of the better aspects of the game.


The soundtrack in the game is split into two parts; the score & the music, both are equally brilliant. I will start by talking about the score, the two composers responsible for it are:


Jesse Harlin - who is a composer for Lucas Arts & has worked on; Star Wars Republic Commando, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith & Force Unleashed.

Jim Bonney - who worked on; BioShock Infinite, Mortal Kombat Armageddon & Perception.


The music is a blend of Cajun, Blues, Rhythm & Zydeco.  It fits the setting of the game well & I found it hard to pick any fault with it.  My favorite pieces included:

New Bordeaux
No One Is Untouchable
Boy Becomes A Man
Crush N Shuffle
Devil In The Woodpile
5 Years, 3 Months, 18 Days
Hard Fought & Hard Won


The second part of the soundtrack featured many great artists & songs from the era, some of my favorites were:

Animals - We Gotta Get Out of This Place
Canned Heat - On The Road Again
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising
Elvis - A Little Less Conversation
Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
Ottis Redding - Sitting on the Deck of the Bay
The Avengers - Paint It Black
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil


Overall a pretty much flawless soundtrack featuring work from some great composers & artists.  Well worth a listen even if you don't plan on playing the game.

Right, on to the meat - the gameplay (also I really want some meat).  Lincoln Clay is a big guy & moves like one, this may come off sounding like a bad thing but it isn't.  By having him move realistically it makes him feel more powerful, you can really feel the benefits of this when using melee attacks.  The game may lack a few thing things but violence is not one of them, it is intense, frequent & awesome.  Taking down enemies feels good especially if you go for the more brutal attacks.  The guns for the most part felt good & the cover system worked well, some cover was also destructible which helped make the gameplay more intense.


There is good selection of cars & for the most part they behave as they should.  I generally found myself using a sports car to get around as they were fast & handle very well. The boats were okay but I tried to avoid using them most of the time as I found they did not handle very well.  Being honest though there is not a great need to use them if you focus on the main story.


Wiretapping is a feature in the game which was a cool idea but the novelty wore off quickly, the only real benefit of doing it is to find collectibles.  The collectibles include;  Album Covers, Communist Propaganda Posters, Hot Rod Magazines, Playboy Magazines, Repent Magazines & Vargas Paintings.


The city is vast & you can't take it all on by yourself so you need some help.  Enter Bourke, Cassandra & Vito.   Each time you take over a racket or district you get to pick who will run them.
Each character offers you something different for giving them a racket or district,  I found myself favoring Vito a lot of the time as I liked what he offered the best.  It is important to keep all three happy otherwise...well I will let you find out.  Each Under Boss provides you with kickbacks which you can increase further by performing some very repetitive missions.  Money as a whole seemed a little pointless in the game as once you had one or two good weapons & upgraded your car there was nothing else to really spend it on.  It would have been nice if you could have invested some of your earnings into something like real estate.


The story missions were often quite fun but the racket missions got old fast,  I wished there had been a little bit more variety with them. Some missions take place at night but if you are driving to the mission during the day the game quickly transitions to night & looks really cool - it's only something small but I liked it.  While the gameplay was pretty good I found that the game crashed way too often for my liking, the only bonus is that the games auto saves fairly regular so I never really found myself losing much.





So how did I feel about the game overall?  I was going to say the game was meh because of the disappointing visuals & some of the missions were repetitive but after some contemplation I have decide to say it was a good game.  I still much prefer Mafia 2 overall but I feel both games shared the potential to be more if only they had just tried a little harder - maybe Mafia 4 will do the series the justice it deserves.

Unravel - Review

When Microsoft first announced the XBOX One they showcased a number of games that would be available on launch including Unravel.   The game looked like a fun puzzle platformer with a cute protagonist called Yarny.  I didn't buy the XBOX One on release & ended up forgetting about the game until recently.  I decided last week that I had waited long enough to play it & so started my journey with Yarny.


I like to make comparisons between foods & the games I have played.  Smaller games always feel like snacks to me, some of them leave you wanting more while others remind you why a proper meal is better.  While playing Unravel I had to decide was it a tasty treat like GÜ Millionaire Flapjacks (which for some reason Tesco no longer stock & I wake up in cold sweats wanting them) or a Twinkie that seems okay at the time but after you have a had a few you think 'meh, there not that great & now I feel horrible'.

Unravel follows the story of a little red creature called Yarny.  His mission is to help recover memories of a families almost forgotten past by collecting badges.  This is achieved through entering photos in the house & traversing that moment in time.


As you explore these memories you see many happy ones along with some very dark painful ones. One of the main themes of the game is family & how important it is.  The other is nature, it's beauty & how it's destruction is so devastating, not only to people but also the environment.


Unravel may appear like a simple story at first glance but is actually full of depth, emotion & heart. As always I won't reveal anymore about the story as it's an adventure you need to experience for yourself.

The game looks stunning & proves once again you don't need to be a big studio to produce high-end visuals.  There is just so much detail in every area of the game, the background is just an impressive & important as the foreground.  There were times when I was playing that I would just stand still & admire the beauty of the game.


As is my way when discussing games I won't go into much details about the various levels, that being said I would like to mention one of my favorites.  Mountain Trek was my favorite part of the game for so many reasons.  It features outside areas & caves, scary enemies, magic mushrooms & you get to ride a fish.  In case you wondering is riding a fish as cool as it sounds yes, yes it is.


The music used in the game was very interesting & has a very Nordic sound.  Violins & pianos feature heavily in the soundtrack which help create homely & folksy sounds.  There are two composers who worked on Unravel, they are:

Frida Johansson; who is from Sweden & not only composes but also plays music, mainly violin & piano.  She has worked on music for radio, theater & has featured on many other musical collaborations.

Henrik Oja; who is also from Sweden & has been part of multiple groups including Spacious Mind.
who are; David Akerlund, David Johansson, Jens Unosson, Niklas Viklund, Thomas Brannstrom. Their albums include; Take That Weight Off Your Shoulders, Sailing the Seagoat, Organic Mind Solution & many more.


Some of my favorite pieces included: 'Yarny's Theme', 'Mountain Trek', 'Snowfall', 'The Sea (parts 1-4)' & 'Credits'. The music has a very distinct rich sound that works really well & adds the already impressive atmosphere in the game.  Overall a solid soundtrack that helped make something good into something great.

At first glance Unravel looks like just a fun & entertaining game but at closer inspection you see it for what it is truly is, a masterpiece of emotion, character, feeling & depth.  I think the game would have been better suited to be called 'Yarny' because without him the game wouldn't be the same.  You could argue some other character could have filled his place but I would have to disagree.  The game is visually impressive in it's own right but I feel it is Yarny who is the really makes the game.


I found myself emotionally connected with Yarny in the early parts of the game.  He is bursting with personality.  For example the first time a butterfly appears he jumps with surprise but also looks in wonder & awe.  Like with Sonic if you take no action he starts to get bored or will cross his arms looking contemplative.  Throughout the game you see him get; scared, inquisitive, happy, sad & so much more.  As you move along the level his body unravels & the smaller he gets I found myself panicking looking for more yarn to save him.  To put it simply Yarny is amazing, powerful & is highly memorable.


Yarny's key tool to solve puzzles is the lasso & for the most part it works really well whether you need to; climb to a higher area, swing across somewhere, create a bridge or any number of things. Random animal encounters are not only cool but can help you navigate areas or try to attack you (feckin' birds).   The hedgehogs were one of my favorite animals not only from a visual stand point but they just acted so cute.


The gameplay I felt overall was strong with one main exception & a few minor ones.  The main one was on the level Last Leaf.  I found that when dragging the lantern it was not always successful & seemed to get stuck on something invisible.  I restarted the level a number of times & each time I did I got a little more frustrated. In the end I clearly the stage but with significant perseverance.  The minor exceptions were that some puzzles did not always work on first try even if the solution was correct & Yarny's lasso sometimes failed to work as intended.





So after over 8 hours gameplay how did I feel?  Overall I really enjoyed the game & Yarny feels like a truly magical character.  While there were some flaws in the game it was never enough to make me give up.  I would say the game is great & I like forward to future projects by the studio.

Resident Evil Biohazard - Review

January is over & I thought to myself  'I deserve a new game', so I decided to pick up Resident Evil 7 Bio Hazard.  I remember seeing some of the early gameplay & thinking 'damn that looks freaky'.  It seemed more intense than a lot of the other games in the series. Generally speaking, I am not the biggest horror game fan but I was more than willing to give it a go due to how much I enjoyed some of the other games in the series.  This is the first big new release title I played this year so was pretty excited to play it.


Who else here like's burgers?  Juicy, tender, meat-filled burgers, so many toppings & condiments to choose from the possibilities are almost endless.  Outside of your standard meaty goodness, you have some alternatives like spicy bean burgers.  I find it hard to consider them burgers as they are so different to what I'm used to.  That being said they have their place & can be a nice change from the heaviness of meat.   Playing Resident Evil 7 Biohazard I found myself wondering am I eating another tasty meat-filled burger or some spicy veggie alternative?

The story starts with our protagonist Ethan receiving a message from his wife Mia.  She has been missing for three years with no word until now,  so naturally, he is pretty excited to find out she is still alive.   Ethan's destination is a house located at an old plantation in Louisiana, so it's time to take a road trip.  It's terrible but when I think of Louisiana I find it hard to picture anything else but swamps, swamp boats, old beaten up wooden houses & people sitting on porches giving everyone the stink eye.  Basically, it's the perfect setting for a horror game.


The games start out dark & clouded in mystery. Why was Mia here? Where was has she been for three years?  Who would live here?  Very quickly you find Mia who is a little worse for wear & is scared because of Daddy.  Who is Daddy & what does he do?  He freaks you out & tries to kill you every chance he gets.  The rest of the family is even worse, Mommy is a scary old lady who likes bugs & then there is their son Lucas who is just completely insane.  Things don't get any better or any easier for Ethan but like any good protagonist he doesn't let anything keep him down.


Ethan's mission, should he choose to accept it is to explore a creaky old house, take on a crazy family & save his wife Mia who may have gone a little nuts after three years.  This Resident Evil game is so very different to the others in the series that I found it hard to draw any comparisons between them.
There are sprinklings of the Resident Evil Universe scattered throughout the game but overall there is very little tie-in. That's not to say the story is bad,  in fact, it is really good from start to finish I am just unsure as to why they found the need to use the Resident Evil name.

Visually speaking the game looks fantastic & there is no real difference between cut sequences & gameplay.  The attention to detail is amazing & disturbing, for example in the kitchen there were old plates of food with maggots squirming in them - ewww (slightly shivers).  Initially, I found Ethan's movement's to be a little disorientating as it really feels like you are looking through someone else's eyes.  The look & feel of the game makes it really immersive, I would love to play the VR version as I can only imagine how intense it would be.  When it comes to visuals this game does not disappoint.


There are many composers that helped create the Resident Evil 7 Bio-Hazard soundtrack, they include:

Akiyuki Morimoto  - who worked on; Monster Hunter 3, Lost Planet 2 & Resident Evil 6.
Miwako Chione - who worked on Monster Hunter 4G.
Satoshi Hori -  who has a fantastic self-titled album that I highly recommend listening too.
Brian D'Oliveira - who worked on; Spirits of Spring, Tearaway, Little Big Planet 3.
Cris Velasco - worked on Mass Effect 3, Overwatch, The God of War Series.

Some of my favorite pieces in the game were; 'Atmosphere - Swamp Encounter', 'Main Hall', Into Madness', Welcome to the Family', 'Garage', 'Molded I', 'Safe Room', 'Tatari', 'Apprehension' & 'The Beast'. At times I felt like the music was almost crawling up my spine. Strings feature heavily in many of the pieces helping to create an almost claustrophobic feeling. Overall it a very eerie, well-crafted soundtrack & listening to it all again made me realise how integral it was to the game.

The game offers a few difficulty levels; Easy, Normal & Madhouse - the last one unlocks once you finish the game on normal.  I would not describe the overall gameplay as hard even though some of the puzzles did have me scratching my head, often because I had missed something small.


There are so many details big & small that make this game feel amazing.  It looks to freak you out as often as possible, have you ever seen a chain link fence with lots of baby dolls attached them or a ball bouncing past you but yet there is no one in the room - I have.  The game never wants to make you feel safe & even in the save room I always felt on edge.  I loved the way your character opened & closed doors, in many games you just run through a door without thinking about it.  When Ethan comes up against a closed door he will cautiously open it which always leaves you in a state of suspense.  Most of the time you have nothing to worry about but other times, well other times you get a horrible surprise.  I died a number of times in the game & some of the deaths were pretty dark.  I won't go into specifics too much but let's say getting cut down the middle is pretty damn gruesome. While most of the game you play as Ethan occasionally you will get the opportunity to play through someone else's eyes.  These are available in the form of VHS movies, each one of them helps give the game even more depth.  I would say my favorite one featured a birthday party, not the nice kind where you have fun, but that's not to say there isn't cake.  These side stories not only give an insight into other characters but can also help you work out ways to get into a previously inaccessible area, solve puzzles or find new items.


Resident Evil games have always been a little scary but this one is truly terrifying & the Baker Family are a big part of that.  They are creepy, crazy strong & are a pain in the backside when they attack you. Lucky enough you have a small arsenal of weapons, my weapons of choice were buckshot & blades.  As a whole I had little to complain about with regards to gameplay, I was constantly on guard & never felt relaxed.  This works really well in a horror game but I would not recommend playing it before bed.

So after 12+ hours of gameplay how did I feel? Freaked out.  A brilliant game, with a great story, impressive visuals & an unnerving soundtrack.  It is hard to pick fault with the game, the only stand out one is that it just not feel like a Resident Evil game.  I wish they had released this as a stand-alone game rather trying to loosely tie it into the Resident Evil Universe.  Overall I would have to give a big thumbs & recommend it to any horror game fans.

Halo 5 Guardians - Review

Still in January & still need a game to play so I turned to Halo 5 Guardians.  I forgot I had bought a copy last year & thought now was a great time to play it.  I remember getting goosebumps seeing the teaser trailer for it back at E3 2013, unfortunately when it was released I did not have the XBOX One & by the time I bought one it just slipped my mind to buy it.  I will be up front with you guys the review covers the campaign mode only not the multiplayer aspect.  As many of you know I am just not that into multiplayer.


Anyone in the house like steak? I love a good steak especially if it's cooked to perfection with a side of chips or mash, corn on the cob with a generous serving of pepper sauce.  Even just the thought of it gets my mouth wet.  However if you end up getting a piece of meat that has more fat than it should or is a little tough it can really spoil the meal.  That being said it's steak so you will still enjoy it but not as much as you would have liked to.  That's the dilemma I faced with Halo 5 Guardians, was it a really good steak dinner or just a so so one.

The Halo story is vast & intricate, as normal I will try to keep information on the story light to avoid giving away spoilers.  At the end of Halo 4 Dr Halsey (semi mad scientist & creator of the Spartan program) is being held by the Covenant (collective of aliens bent on ruling the universe).  Fire Team Osiris is tasked with extracting her & taking out one of the Covenant Leaders.  The team is comprised of:

Locke - leader of the team & before becoming a Spartan was previously part of ONI & he was basically a government assassin.
Buck - easily one of my favorite characters, not only because he is in Halo 3 ODST but also because he is voiced by Nathan Fillion who is just awesome for so many reasons.
Tanaka - smart & general badass, she also one of the few people so survive the destruction of her world.
Vale - the most cultured of the group, not only having a deep knowledge of Forerunners & the Covenant but can also speak Sangheili (the Covenant language).


Off somewhere else you have Blue Team trying to secure an abandoned ONI research station, unfortunately the Covenant show up & you have to get the hell out of dodge.  While all this is happening Master Chief receives a message from an old friend, determined to find out what it all means he & the teams goes AWOL.  Blue team is comprised of:


Master Chief - the most legendary Spartan & kicker of alien asses, he is still reeling after the lose of the AI Cortana.
Linda, Kelly, Fredrick - I won't lie these characters are not very fleshed out in the game especially by comparison of Fire Team Osiris.  It would have nice if they developed these characters, the team felt like it was comprised of Master Chief & the three interchangeable Spartan's.


This is the basic story but as I mentioned I don't want to give much away regarding the story.  There are some really great characters in the game including;  Rowland (UNSC Infinity AI) who is not afraid to speak out. Spartan Palmer, who in my opinion is one of the best characters & the best female character in Halo 4 & Halo 5 Guardians. Captain Laskey commander of the UNSC Infinity, a well rounded character who I felt they should have used more in Halo 5 Guardians after they developed him in Halo 4. If you have not watched Halo Forward Onto Dawn I would highly recommend it as it reveals more about Laskey & features Master Chief.


While there are many great elements to the Halo 5 Guardians story for me there was something missing.  Perhaps it was the pacing or some of the characters but I felt the story at times to be weak. This was especially true with regards to the ending & it really felt like they held back because they knew there would be a Halo 6.  I felt the story in Halo 4 to be much stronger.

Visually the games looks fantastic, everything for the level designs & characters to the cut sequences themselves.   One of my favorite cut sequences was the opening one, not only because it looks visually impressive but it also really shows how badass the Spartans are.  Seeing them in action really made me want to watch Halo Legends again.  One of my favorite levels was planet Genesis it is covered in trees & plant life.  Additionally I loved the detail, for example the insects running around the place that move away as you get close.  Being honest I really could not fault the game graphically speaking.


The composer for Halo 5 Guardians was Kazuma Jinnouchi who also worked on the additional music on Halo 4.  War is a large theme of the game & the music definitely was created with that in mind. Some of my favorite pieces include; 'Light is Green', 'Scavengers', 'The Trails', 'Sentry Battle', 'Walk Softly',  'Dominion','Osiris Suite Act 2'.   Jinnouchi weaves the classic halo music into his own to create new pieces that work really well. The soundtrack was often pulse pounding & really helped create a tense atmosphere.


For many people they felt the direction of the music was much improved over Halo 4 but for me I would say they both sounded great.   If I had a Spartan Laser to my head & had to chose I would say the music from Halo 4 wins out - marginally.

Running around like a tank on legs is always a lot of fun, throw in an arsenal of weapons, some vehicles (including an actual tank) & you have some truly fun gameplay.  I am going to mention some of my favorite parts below.


I loved the spartan charge, whether you are breaking through a wall, knocking into an enemy or jumping across ledges it's just feels good.  The executions are not a new feature in Halo but does not make them any less fun.  Even if you manage to mess up an execution  killing an enemy by smashing them in the back of the head never gets old.  AI team mates assist you in battle, follow your directions & pick you up if you get knocked down.  It may sound strange but I had a love/hate feeling for this. The team element could be a lot of fun & knowing they had your back was great, but at the same time for me Halo was always about you against the world, almost isolated from everyone else which I kind of missed in this game.


There is so much more detail in the character designs then ever before, one of the many examples of this are Unggoy.   For those of you who are unfamiliar these are the little guys who often run round panicked & screaming.  This particular alien is unable to breath outside it's own planet without a gas mask & tank.  Naturally shooting these tanks are a lot of fun, in some cases the little guys go flying away from you, other times they spin around in front of you.  I won't lie I laugh each time I do this & feel bad at the same time as they usually cry out - not sure what that says about me.


The conversations between the Covenant can be hilarious.  Elites will often mock the grunts for being lesser & sounds like a big brother picking on a little brother.  Grunts will often talk amongst themselves saying if they were in charge the war would have been won.  I would sometimes hold off attacking just to hear what they would say.


Overall the gameplay is solid but if you have played other games in the series it will not offer you much that you would not have experienced before.  That all being said if the Warthog ain't broke why fix it?

The main campaign took me little over 10 hours to complete which I felt was a good length for a first person shooter.  The story could have been stronger & the gameplay while solid offered little in the way of something new.  The visuals & music were the highlights of the game for me.  It was a steak dinner but not as tasty as I would have liked, I'm sorry to say I would have say the game overall was; meh, meh, meh, meh, meh, meh, meh, meh, meh, you can't hear inside my head but I'm doing that to One Final Push from Halo 3.

Murdered Soul Suspect - Review

January is a tough month for all of us. Some of you will have made New Resolutions which you have already broken, there are not many new games out & our wallets are feeling light after Christmas.  So what is a gamer to do?  I guess it is time to play one of the Playstation Plus or Games for Gold titles.


Hands up if you have ever eaten Koka Noodles, I have.  According to the Daily Edge "Koka Noodles are the food that keep Ireland running".  They are not super tasty, filled with chemicals & don't look very appealing but they help fill the void in your stomach during tough times.  There is no point complaining about all they could be because you know what you signed up for, this is sort of how I felt about Murdered Soul Suspect.

The game is set in modern day Salem Massachusetts, you play as Detective Ronan O'Connor, a rogue cop with a murky past.  In the opening moments of the game you are thrown through a third-storey window by the Bell Killer, unfortunately you can't fly so you can imagine how that works out.


I really liked the introduction to Ronan, you are given a back story by way of tattoos appearing on his body marking major events during his life.  The most notable of these is meeting his wife Julia which helped make him a better person, naturally her murder throws his life into turmoil.


Ronan loved being a Detective when he was alive & decides to continue being one now he is dead.
His mission is to figure out why he was killed, stop the Bell Killer & find Julia in the afterlife.  Don't worry you are not completely alone, you have Joy, an angst ridden teenager who looks like how I would imagine Triss Merigold's daughter to look like, oh & a cat.


There is genuine heart & emotion in Murdered Soul Suspect along with an interesting detective story with a paranormal twist.

Visually speaking the game does not look awful but does not look great either, considering Square Enix rubber stamped their name on it I hoped it would look better.  That being said there some great character designs, especially the Demons & some of the more random ghosts in the background.  One thing I really liked was that parts of old Salem often come through into modern day Salem which gave a really eerie feel.


The composer for game is Jason Graves who's works include; Fear 3, Far Cry Primal & The Order 1886.  The music lingers in the background & is never really intrusive,  unfortunately it so much so that the soundtrack is not very memorable.  There are only a few pieces that stood out for me; 'Main Theme', 'Julia' which has a very somber sound & 'Devour Your Soul' which is a rather chilling piece.
Due to the nature of the game it instead focuses on sound effects which being honest maybe was a better choice.

Onto the meat - the gameplay.   There are multiple cases to solve in the game, each one requiring you to find clues.  Once you have most or all of the clues you can answer the question being asked of you. While for the most part I enjoyed this I never quite understood what difference the order of clues you picked mattered especially as you were only asked one question. Picking the wrong order penalised & you would lose one of your three shields but being honest it never seemed to have an impact on the overall result of the case.


There are a number of trapped souls in Salem all who are looking for your help.  If you can successfully help give them closure they will pass on to the afterlife.  It made me feel good watching them float up to the sky all happy.


You have a host of ghostly abilities that you gain in the early part of the game.  One of them is called 'reveal' which helps reveal (funny enough) something from the past or something that was hidden. When you find something to use your ability on it actually looks like a glitch in the game.  I wonder was this originally an accident & someone in the studio thought this would be a great way to cover up a glitch?  Another ability you will use frequently in the game is 'Poltergeist', it works well for the most part but other times you have to be at a very specific angle to get it to recognise there an item to interact with.


There are few Easter Eggs in the game; in the Police Station almost all the computer screens have the main menu for Deus Ex Human Revolution & there are Just Cause 2 posters randomly put up in the station as well.


As a whole the gameplay was okay but was never very exciting, it could of been an action horror like Fear 2, or a pick your own path game like Telltale's Walking Dead but instead never really committed to being either & went for something sort of in the middle that did not really work.

So after less than 10 hours how did I feel about Murdered Soul Suspect?  If I take it as budget title, with a good story & some interesting characters I could almost say it was good.  Being honest though that was not what it was supposed to be & if I had to pay full price for a game that offered under 10 hours of gameplay & no real replay value then I would have to give it a 'meh' rating.  If you have nothing else do & want something to play while eating your Koka Noodles this might fill the void.

Final Fantasy 15 - Review

Ever eaten a BBQ Pork Bun?  "A man who never eats a pork bun is never a whole man" - hats off to anyone who knows what game that is from.  Pork buns sound nice & look appealed, so whether you have had them before or it is your first time your likely to approach them with the same gusto. However on occasion when you bite into a pork bun you think, 'this is nice & fluffy but where is all the meat?' This game made me ask that question on more than one occasion, is there enough meat in the middle to make this tasty or is there too much fluffy dough?


I remember seeing gameplay of Final Fantasy XV & thought to myself that the game looked awesome.  I am not the world's biggest RPG fan, despite the fact that three of my favorite games of all time are RPGs. Final Fantasy X, Panzer Dragoon Saga & Persona 4 Golden (technically the last one is a JRPG but let's not split hairs).  What attracted me to the game is the same thing that seemed to attract a lot of others; open world & beautiful free flowing combat. Square Enix made sure the game appealed not only to newcomers but also to fans of the series.

The game is set in the world of Eos, there are two main continents; Lucis & Nilflheim.  The kingdom of Lucis is at war with the vastly more powerful & militarised Nilflheim.  Lucis's capital Insomnia so far has been unconquerable due to a protective barrier surrounding the city that is powered by a crystal & the life force of the King.  Naturally how to you create peace between two warring nations? Nukes!  No, they decided to go with marriage to help bond the two sides.  Enter Prince Noctis & Lady Lunafreya, they are childhood friends that have not seen each other in sometime. That being said neither seems unhappy about the prospect of getting married.  Naturally Prince Noctis has to go off with some of his loyal buddies for a road trip/bachelor party before getting married.


Your group is comprised of:

Prince Noctis - group leader, part time cry baby & future King.
Gladiolus - the groups muscle & all round tough guy, you know he is tough as he has tribal tattoos & always has his arms on show.
Ignis - the smart guy in the group, as you know all smart guys wear glasses & are well spoken.
Prompto - the comic relief of the group, part kid brother & pain in the ass not just because he gets downed easily during battle.


The groups dynamic is fantastic & feels like they are all really friends rather than just sidekicks. There is character development & meaningful bonds between them all.  However three quarters of the way through some of this is soured for me.  I won't give away any spoilers but I'm pretty sure I am not the only one that felt this way.  There are some truly amazing & entertaining characters you meet along the way & as always I won't give details but you will know them when you meet them.  As a whole the main story is not bad but from time to time I had an issue with the pacing and if it were not for some of the side quests I think I would have felt a little unsatisfied with the story overall.

Does anyone else get excited watching E3, TGS, PAX & the many other games showcase conventions? Well I do, so many cool new games to see & look forward to.  Unfortunately when some of these games are released they are not as visually impressive as they were shown to be.
Final Fantasy XV is not one of these games.  It truly is a visual delight & roaming the open world feels fantastic.  I really don't want to spoil it for you but some of the enemies in the game look amazing.  One thing I will say is that summoning one of the astral's is jaw dropping, for those of you who have played it you know what I mean.  There are many great places to visit, two of my favorite were; Lestallum, which feels like a small Cuban town & the music reminded me of that performed by Buena Vista Social Club.  There is Altissia, which is a city surrounded by water & is definitely inspired by the city of Venice right down to the use of gondola's.  As always there are no short cuts with Final Fantasy cut sequences & the ones featured in the game look truly magnificent.  When it comes to visuals it really is hard to fault the game.


The music is composed by Yoko Shimomura who is famous for her work, most notably for the Kingdom Hearts series.  The score features some really nice pieces that are heavy on both piano & strings which I really loved.  Some of my favorite pieces were; 'Valse Di Fantastica', 'Omnis Lacrima', 'Apocalypsis Noctis', & 'Veiled in Black'.  Honorable mentions included; 'Relax & Reflect', 'Chocobo Theme', 'Veiled Aggression' & least we forget Prompto's humming of the classic victory song after some battles.


While there are many great pieces I felt the overall soundtrack was tarnished by some of the poor Country/Cajun/Bluegrass style pieces.  I can understand why this style of music was chosen but ended up coming across as a bad attempt at doing it.  The end result was a cheesy sound but not the good kind of cheese, however it did really grate on me.  Another out of play piece was the rendition of 'Stand By Me',  it features twice in the game & although the second time is more poignant it just didn't feel right.  Overall what could have been a very epic soundtrack was spoiled by a few bad choices.

Onto the gameplay!  The fighting mechanics are unlike any I have seen in an RPG before,  they take a little getting used to especially if you are more used to turn based combat.  Due to the pace of most battles I found myself sticking with melee weapons rather than magic.  While magic is really powerful (especially when you can craft your own spells) it is very easy to damage yourself or others in your party so sometimes it is just not worth the risk using it.  Each of your team can pull off special techniques & if performed correctly you will be able to perform a team link with them which can be devastating, in some cases turning the tide of the battle.  Taking on enemies big or small is a lot fun, apart from the Malboro who is still terrifying & it still sucks ass when he uses foul breath.


A feature I really loved in the game was camping.  It not only gives you the chance to bond with your team & enjoy one of Ignis's tasty meals but actually feels like a real reprieve from all hardships of the day.  While it is a great way to level up it is more beneficial if you visit a hotel, that being said I generally camped rather than paying to stay somewhere.


Each character has there own unique skill.  Noctis's is fishing which is okay but I did not find it as much fun as the version in the first Nier game.  Ignis's skill is cooking, this is quite a lot of fun as by picking up ingredients, eating in restaurants & diners he figures out new recipes.  Each of his meals offers some bonus to the team including increased health or extra XP.  Prompto's skill is photography which although in itself is not much use it can offer some fun dialogue between the team. Gladiolus's skill is Survival which is very useful, at the end of battle you pick up items - these drops increase the more you walk around the world.


There are a few ways in which to get around in Eos; walking, driving in Regalia & riding Chocobo's. Walking is rather slow, running is much better but make sure to keep an eye on Noctis's stamina as if he loses all of it he will need to catch his breath for a few moments.  There is a way round this which you can be found online.  Once you get the Regalia all fixed up you can start driving around, at the start this was fun but in a very short time I found myself handing the wheel off to Ignis or fast travelling between town & cities.   A friend described this well saying that it felt like you were stuck on a rail moving from point A to point B rather than actually driving, it ended up being my least favorite way to travel.  The third form of travel is Chocobo's - need I say more?  For those unfamiliar the yellow bird features heavily in the Final Fantasy series & is a fast, fun way to traverse all landscapes, they even have their own theme music.  Basically they are awesome, rent one as soon as you can.

The skill tree used to buy new abilities is really interesting & is broken down into different categories; Magic, Stats, Exploration, Combat, Teamwork, Techniques & Armiger.  You can buy abilities using AP, AP is gained easily by doing pretty much everything.  There are a few abilities that help boost this further.  I found exploration & teamwork were two skill trees I focused on heavily but there was nothing I really felt was an outright waste.  Leveling in the game was a lot easier than most RPGs & required little grinding, in the end I finished up on about level 63 which is more than enough to finish the game.

The elevator section late in the game really drove me nuts, it was frustrating & out of key with the rest of the game.  In all honesty what were the developers thinking?  Do you remember the first Assassins Creed?  You start with all your weapons & abilities but quickly get them all removed, slowly throughout the game you gain them back.  Imagine waiting until a really annoying area near the end of the game & doing that? Yep, that's what they did!  As a whole the gameplay was good but fell short of greatness due to a few minor annoyances & one large one.

So after 40+ of playing how did Final Fantasy XV fair?  I would say the game was very good & I definitely do not regret playing it.  Loved some of the characters, it was visually stunning, the combat was fluid & fun, also Chocobo's!  That all being said some of the story pacing along with sprinklings of poor music & one or two tedious areas stopped it from achieving it's full potential.