Aladdin - Review

Many moons ago, when I was just a child, I watched Disney's Aladdin.  I remember being blown away, I loved everything about it, even the singing which generally I am not a fan of with Disney movies.  I remember playing the game on the Megadrive, which at the time I found fiddley, especially the level where you are riding the flying carpet.  Only in the last few months had I mentioned playing it when I was younger, my lovely better half Nolls purchased it for me as a Christmas present. Yay!  I couldn't wait to play it again.


Marshmallows are quite nice, they are soft, fluffy, sweet and remind me of being a child.  They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colours.  While I like the classic pink and white ones my favorites are probably the multi-coloured ones.  They don't contain artificial colours, flavors and have zero sugar.  Okay, that last sentence was a complete lie.  The only downside is that you can't eat too many of them and you will feel really sick.  Playing Aladdin I found myself asking had I eaten the perfect amount or did I have one too many?

Story

He is known by many names, Prince Ali, Street Rat, but his friends call him Aladdin or Al.  A story about a boy living on the streets with his pet monkey Abu, trying to survive.  The story used in the game is a little more straightforward than the movie. The first couple of levels you get to see Aladdin trying to escape the guards and survive before he is eventually thrown in the palace dungeon.  There he meets an old who offers him a way out, as long as he will do him a small favor first.  If some reason you missed one of the best Disney movies of all time I won't say anymore by spoiling the story.


The story is fun and there are moments of comedy in the game, but it is far cry from the movie.  That being said I did enjoy the story that unfolded in the game.  I really want to watch the movie now though, might watch it on my birthday (celebrate good times, come on).

Visuals


The game looks remarkable especially for one that is nearly twenty-five years old.  There were two versions of the game produced, one on the SNES and the other on the Megadrive, the latter is considered the better of the two.  This was due to Disney themselves playing an active role in the games design process after the original studio (Blue Sky Software) had failed to produce a complete product.  Virgin Interactive helped to bring the game to life along with Sega.


One of my favorite animations in the game is when you hit Iago the parrot, his feathers fall out and he drops off the screen, it just looks really comical.  In the desert level, Abu can be seen jumping excitedly up and down on the stomach of a guard who looks dazed.  When Aladdin attacks the guards they drop their trousers and you can see their boxer shorts, another classic.  The most imaginative level was when you are in the lamp, it is a lot of fun and very colourful.  The only negative is the escape level which features a lot of yellows and reds, sometimes it can be difficult to tell where one ledge ends and another begins, leading to more than a few deaths.


Music


When I popped in the cartridge and powered on the Megadrive I smiled instantly, the first thing I heard was the opening of 'Whole New World' - which is a great song.  The soundtrack for the game has some of the classic songs from the movie but are slightly reimagined, due to the sound restrictions of the Megadrive.  The creators/reworkers of the score were:


Tommy Tallarico, American composer, musician, creator of Video Games Live, who has worked on over three hundred video games.  Some of his works include;  Earthworm Jim 1 and 2, Terminator, Unreal Tournament 2004, Robocop Vs The Terminator, Advent Rising, Mick and Mac as the Global Gladiators.

Donald Griffin, American Composer who works include; Mario's Time Machine, Rampage 2: Universal Tour, Jungle Book, and Cool Spot,


The soundtrack was great and I often found myself humming along to the songs, my favorite pieces included; 'Prince Ali' (Prince Ali! Fabulous he! Ali Ababwa!), 'Camel Jazz', 'One Jump Ahead', 'Rug Ride', 'Friend Like Me', and 'Whole New World'.

Gameplay


Aladdin may be short by comparison of today's games but it's certainly not lacking in gameplay.  There are two weapons in the game,  a trusty sword, and apples, it turns out apples not only keep Doctors aways but also guards, parrots and weird spirits.  The combat generally works fine but I certainly found myself relying on apples over the sword as they were far more reliable and offered a good distance attack. The game has you jumping around quite a lot, as any old-school platformer does, unfortunately, Aladdin's jump is a little poor and certainly is nowhere near as impressive as his movie counterpart.  The merchant featured in the film is hidden on different levels throughout the game, if you collect enough jewels you can buy more lives or continues, which can be really handy later on.


Two of the most memorable levels for me were 'Inside the Lamp' and 'The Escape'.  The lamp level was fun and imaginative, it features Genies' body which is used to traverse the level, his head is on balloons that float around and his hands flick you to different areas.  At the end of the level, you walk upstairs that is tongue, gross but still funny.  The escape is memorable for a very different reason.  It is by far the most annoying level, not only are there no checkpoints but it is often hard to tell where one ledge ends and lava begins.  This resulted in me dying multiple times, and that's before you start jumping from one floating rock to another with exploding lava between them.


The final boss is Jafar, who is a pain in the ass.  His first form isn't too bad but I did have to hit him a helluva of a lot before he changed into a snake.  This form is really frustrating as he shoots flames across the floor and on the two small ledges.  The ledge attack is the worst as it does not follow a pattern, stand on it for more than second and he will cook you like a chicken (mmmm chicken).


There is a lot of fun to be had, but the game is not without annoying parts, all in all though, I really enjoyed playing it again.




Final Thoughts

So after playing for fours hours was I feeling sick or nicely satisfied?  Definitely the latter.  The story is great, it looks good and music is fantastic.  The gameplay is not always rock solid and could be annoying at times but certainly did not stop me playing it.  For this old classic, I give it 4 out of 5

Prey - Review

Happy New Year!  Can you believe it's 2018 already?  Last year was a good year, personally, professionally and gamelly (yeah, I know that's not a real word).  I ended last year having played forty-two games, thirty-nine of them completed.  Project X Zone 2 on 3DS I am still playing and really enjoying, and have no doubt I will finish later this year.  There were two games I walked away from last year, The End Is Nigh and Resonance of Fate.  The former started out really fun and challenging, but after getting to the point where it seemed the game was going to end the developers piled on a load more levels.   This would normally be a good thing, but the difficulty level spiked too much and stopped being fun.  The latter, well it was intriguing, with some really original concepts, but near the end of the game after I had put in sixty hours it became apparent that to complete it I would need to put in at minimal another twenty hours.  I bowed out, it had become about finishing the game rather than enjoying playing it.


Anyway enough about 2017, let's talk about Prey, wait when was that released?  When it was announced I was a little skeptically about playing it, why you ask?  Back in 2006 Prey was released, I really enjoyed it and was looking forward to playing the sequel.  Unfortunately, the plug was pulled and there never was a Prey 2.    When I read about the new Prey I found it did not resemble the original Prey at all and I promptly lost interest.  Luckily enough my main man DG told me a lot about the game and he encouraged me to play it.


I find calzone's to be highly underrated, which is a shame as they can be really nice.  One could argue that they are simply a folded pizza, and it would be hard to disagree with that assessment, but to me they are more than just that.  On the outside, they look simple, unassuming, but when you take a bite you can't believe what you have been missing out on.  The cheese seems more cheesy and the tomato seems more, well you get the point.  Playing Prey I found myself asking, was there something tasty inside or was it just a poor imitation of a pizza?

Story

The game's protagonist is Morgan Yu, you wake up in your apartment and your brother Alex calls letting you know how happy he is that you will be working with him.  Get up, go to work, rinse, repeat, everything's normal, or is it?  Very quickly things become dark and confusing, not knowing what to do or who trust.  Being honest saying any more than that will spoil the main story.


The game offers multiple side quests some of which directly affect the main story, for the most part, you won't know which ones these are, so try not to skip too many of them.   Some of the side quests were really interesting as they offered insight into the world you were in, especially the social aspects.


Overall the main story was pretty good, if not slightly drawn out near the end.  The side quests give depth to the characters in the world and really makes you care about them, well some of them anyway.

Visuals

The game looks really sharp, so much so that when Morgan initially wakes up I thought it was a cut sequence.  The world reminded me of a nice hotel or a cruise ship, well except for the darkness and death that is.  There are parts later in the game where you have the opportunity to float around in space which is not only fun to do but looks really cool as well.  The enemies are interesting and terrifying, at least initially until you get used to seeing them.  One of my favourite things visually was watching the Recycler at work, changing weapons, food, scrap into more workable building blocks.


While the game does look sharp I found it difficult to pull out areas that really stood out.  It is inaccurate to say it looked boring but considering the backdrop I thought it would have been more exciting.



Music

The music and sounds of Prey can be best described as intense, even when you think you are safe it reminds you otherwise.  In many games when enemies appear music plays and then when you kill them it stops, not in Prey.  This is done really well and has you constantly at the edge of your seat, along with making you ask the question, 'are there more enemies?'  There were a number of people who helped create this terrifying score:


Mick Gordon, an Australian composer who has worked on a number of diverse game titles including; Wolfenstein: The New Order, Doom (2016) ShootMania Storm, Killer Instinct and Need for Speed: The Run.

Ben Crossbones, an American composer who works include;  Organ Trail, Skate or Die, Tony Hawks Pro Skater HD and Kick-Ass.

Raphael Colantonio, French game designer and founder of Arkane Studios who brought us the Dishonored series.  Outside of this he also performed the track 'Brigmore Lullaby' in Dishonored 2.

Matt Piersall, an America composer and audio director for GL33k, some of his works include;  Epic Mickey, Full Metal Alchemist and The Broken Angel, Splosion Man, Halo 4, Metroid Prime 3 and Recore.


The score lasts little over thirty minutes, it's filled with dread, darkness and really only exists for one reason, to let you know you are never safe.  The atmosphere it helps create really made the gameplay itself that much more enjoyable.  My favourite pieces were; 'The Phantoms', 'Neuromods', 'No Gravity' and 'December and January'.

Gameplay


Onto the meat!  The first thing that gave me pause when I was about to embark on my journey were the difficulty options and their descriptions.  Easy, 'You will survive. Probably' and Nightmare, 'Nothing Can Save You'.  I really liked that touch, games like Doom and Duke Nukem have a tendency to do the same thing.


Nobody likes tutorials but they are necessary to get you up and running.  Some games try to make them interesting, others do not.  Prey is definitely the latter, it felt like a tutorial from the nineties and it's only saving grace was the personality questionnaire at the end.


The game is a first person shooter style and as such that means there are a number of weapons of your disposal.  My favourite weapon for the first few hours of playing was the turret, if I found one I carried everywhere as my protector.  The Gloo gun was a stand out weapon that was not only used to remove hazards but could be also used to reach inaccessible areas and stop enemies in there tracks. The Golden Silenced Pistol and the shotgun were my go to weapons and upgrading them certainly helped.  Need more materials?  Don't worry you can you use Recycler grenades, through them into an area with lots of stuff in it and boom instant conversion - very handy to remove obstacles too.

Nothing is safe to pick up.  When is a health kit not a health kit?  When it's a mimic.  These enemies throughout the game made me jump many times even when I knew they were there.  They will jump right at your face and if you are not careful it will mean your demise.  There is a creature you encounter later called the Nightmare, it's exactly what it sounds like.  You have the choice to hide until it passes by or kill it, at least early on I would recommend the hide and pray option.


There are no shops to sell things but there is a genius invention called the Recycler.  It take anything you dont' want and converts it into one of four materials; mineral, exotic, organic, synthetic.  These materials can then be used in a Fabricator to create anything you might need, and trust me you will call on the both many, many times through out the game.


The skill tree is pretty standard until later in the game where you have access to many unusual abilities.  There is no levelling up system so you will need to collect or fabricate neuromods which are used to purchase them.  While there were many good abilities I found myself sticking to the same reliable few.  Initially I thought this was due to laziness on my part, but then I realised there were many that just were not that worthwhile.  One of the most frustrating abilities was hacking, not the ability itself but the annoying mini game you had to do each time you wanted to do it.  Anything outside a level one hack was painful, lucky enough in most cases there was a way round this.


Overall some pretty good gameplay with few complaints apart from hacking and a some so so abilities.




Final Thoughts

So after just over thirty hours how did I feel?  Pretty good.  The story was interesting and only near the end did I find it to be a little drawn.  The game looked sharp visually even if it wasn't very standout.  Musically the game was right on the money and really helped intensify the gameplay.  The gameplay itself was fairly solid with a few minor exceptions.  Overall I would have to say this calzone was pretty tasty and give it 4 out of 5

Gears of War 4 - Review

Back in 2006 Epic Games released a new third person shooter called Gears of War, due to it's popularity it later went on to create a whole franchise.  The series had it's highs and it's lows but overall it was pretty good.  For me I feel the series peaked with Gears of War 2, it had a great story, the gameplay was much improved over the original and it introduced horde mode which was really awesome.  Gears of War 3 was okay but the story wasn't great and horde mode was not as much fun.  Gears of War Judgement was interesting but sometimes the gameplay felt a little unbalanaced especially on higher difficulty settings.  Naturally when Gears of War 4 was announced I wasn't exactly foaming at the mouth to play it.  I noticed it the other day in CEX for under €20 and thought let's give it ago, how bad could it be?


Calamari anyone?  The relationship I have with calamari is a difficult one, I don't love it but I don't hate it.  I like some seafood, I like things that are battered, combining the two just seems natural.  Strangely though each time I have had it I feel conflicted, never commiting to it fully, I should either like something or I shouldn't.  Playing Gears of War 4 I found myself asking was I loving it, hating it?

Story


The introduction is interesting and starts with a commemoration ceremony, you get to see flashbacks from before, during and after emergence day.  For those of you not familiar with series emergence day is when the enemy know as the locust popped out of the ground and started slaughtering everyone.  The war with the locust is long since over but that doesn't mean there aren't still battles being fought.  There are also people disappearing and nobody knows by who or where they have gone.


The protaganist is JD Fenix, son of Marcus Fenix from the original series.  He basically looks like a heavier set version of Nathan Drake but nowhere near as funny.  There is his punk rock, hipster girlfriend Kait and of course who could forget Del?  Yes, Del the third wheel that doesn't get many lines or much character development.


The story starts slows but does find it's feet,  well for a while anyway.  The pacing feels a little off, a lot happens in the last act that could have happened earlier in the game and the story feels a little drawn out especially considering the pay off.  To me it felt like just a set up for a new series, which annoys me because the focus should have been to get this game right before worrying about potential sequels.

Visuals


The last Gears of War game was released on the XBOX 360 so naturally it was a step up, Gears of War 4 looked good but it certainly wasn't amazing.  The game is as bloody and gorey as ever and was very much in keeping with the series, which I really liked.  The environments seemed to be a lot more detructible then in previous games which looked great along with creating some intersting gameplay.  I can't go into too much detail about the enemies (spoilers and all) but one I liked and can mention are the pouncers.  The name says it all, they pounce on you and you have to beat them in the head to get them off you.  They have both up close and personal attacks along with ranged ones which make them a formidable enemy.  One of my favorites areas was the mountain side retreat in Act 1, it was very picturesque and a scene not generally seen in the Gears of War series.



Music


Listening to the score again there is certainly a familiarity to it but at the same time it has a very different sound to the rest of the series.  There is the classic guitar riff that is played whenever you clear an area of all enemies, which is always nice to hear.  I felt the score itself had an underlining sound that felt like it was constantly building up to something which created a real air of intesity, it was something I quite enjoyed.  The creator of this familiar yet new sound was:


Ramin Djawadi who is an Iranian-German composer who has worked on many Films and TV Series and is best known for his work on Game of Thrones.  Some of his other works include; Iron Man, Pacific Rim, Person of Interest and Westworld.


If you have not had the chance to listen to Ramin Djawadi's work I would highly recommend heading over to Spotify and checking out some of his work.  Overall a really solid score with many short but great pieces, my favorites included; 'Anvil Gate', 'Taken', 'Night Terrors', 'Rise of the Swarm', 'Wind Flare' and 'The Storm'.

Gameplay


Onto the meat!  The first thing I noticed in the campaign menu was that there was an option called Ironman.  Unfortunately I could not play as Ironman, instead activating the option meant that if you die, even once you have to start the game from scratch.  Interesting but very punishing.  Horde Mode is back again, if you are curious about it all you have to do is play the main campaign which gives you the chance to try it out in a smaller way.


The controls are pretty much the same as the rest of the series which was good thing.  There were old and new weapons, some good and some...well bad, very bad.  Greats examples of this would be the Retro Lancer and Marzka MK1, both feel inaccruate and underpowered.  The classic Lancer was great and the only thing better than shooting a load of enemies is using your chainsaw to cut them into little bits.  The new buzzkill weapon was a lot of fun, basically it shoots out saw blades that can, if you are not careful rebound off the environement and end up hurting or killing you.


There are some fun new enemeies like robots and...well really I can't say more without spoiling the game for you (reading that would really want to make me play it).  There were certainly some interesting and fun moments in the game.  Riding a bike through a forest was both cool and nerve racking.  The new fabricator that allowed you to...well you get the idea from the name was interesting.  Later on in the the game there are sack like things which look like giant zits, which if you keep popping them the other characters give out to you which is the kind of dark humor that the series is know for.


The gameplay as a whole was fairly solid, with the exception of a few weapon issues and some enemies that were a little annoying.




Final Thoughts

After 10 hours of gameplay how did I feel?  Confused and uncertain.  There were moments in the game where I was fully engaged and could not wait for the next section but there were other times where I wished everything would just hurry along.  The story has interesting parts to it but as a whole it was not fantastic, especially if you take away Marcus.  The visuals were good but not amazing, the music was really good.  The gameplay itself was pretty good but felt a little lacking in some places.  Will I play Gears of War 5 when it is released?  Probably, but I know I won't be rushing out to get it either. Overall Gears of War 4 gets a rocky 3 out of 5

Sonic Mania - Review

Ah, Sonic just saying the name makes me smile.  One of the first games I played and owned was Sonic The Hedgehog on the Sega Master System.  That's right, for most people they played it first on the Sega Megadrive but not me.  In fact, I played Sonic 1 and 2 on the Sega Master System and Sonic on the Sega Game Gear before playing it on the Sega Megadrive.  Each console offers a very different experience but I enjoyed them all.


It is the 25th Anniversary of Sonic and to celebrate Sega in association with Christian Whitehead,
Headcanon and Pagodawest Games released Sonic Mania which I was very giddy to play.  Lucky enough I have an awesome girlfriend (shoutout to the Starfish) who bought it for me as an early Christmas present, not only that but she got the special edition which comes with a Sonic statue mounted on a replica Sega Megadrive.  When you power it on it says 'Sssssssseeegggggaaaa (currently grinning like a Cheshire cat).  Anyhoo onwards to the food analogy followed by a review.


I grew up on Kinder Surprise Eggs (don't worry my parents also gave me real food too), low in cost, containing both milk and white chocolate with a little container inside featuring a toy you had to put together.  When I used to get my pocket money I would buy a Buster comic and a Kinder Surprise, if I was really lucky the comic would come with free sweets too.  Every now again I revisit my childhood to see what they are like now and while the chocolate is pretty similar the toys for the most part really suck and are often assembled.  Playing Sonic Mania I found myself asking was this something that looked good and had something great inside or was it filled with disappointment?

Story

The story for Sonic Mania is quite interesting, it turns out buried beneath Angel Island (Knuckle's Home) is the Phantom Ruby.  It has the power to disrupt time and has endless power, this attracts the attention of both Sonic, Tails and Knuckles along with Dr. Eggman.  Their mission is to retrieve the Phantom Gem and thwart Dr. Eggman's plans.

Since Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles Dr. Eggman has been feeling a little bored and created the Hard Boiled Heavies robots that all look like him (maybe for a little company).  Either due to boredom or the Phantom Gem, they have gone a little mad and gained their own personalities.  You will get to battle them along the way, some are annoying and some are not so much so.  That is pretty much the story in an eggshell (see what I did there...forget it).

Graphics

Sonic Mania while looking retro did not go for the classic Sonic 8-Bit or 16-Bit look of the Sega Master System and Megadrive.  Instead, they have gone for a mixture between those consoles and the MegaCD which still gives it a nice retro look and feel.  I like that they updated the look but did it without destroying the overall design of Sonic, unlike Sonic Boom (shaking my head at this moment).

The game includes many of the classic zones like Green Hill, Flying Battery, and Chemical Plant all with a little twist along with the newer zones like Titanic Monarch, Oil Ocean and Mirage Saloon.  My favorites zones had to be; Green Hill, Flying Battery, Studipolis and Oil Ocean.  Green Hill is the classic first act in most Sonic games and just reminds me of my childhood along being terrified of robotic crabs that walk deep inland like it's no big deal.  Chemical Plant has a very industrial look and there are chemicals everywhere, some of them can make you bounce and others kill you (just like real life).  I really like the look of Oil Ocean as it reminded me a little of Sonic CD and just looked like a polluted mess.  It was also a subtle way for the designers to show kids the devastation of what oil can do to the ocean in a similar way as they did in Sonic CD.  Also if you get the Fire Shield and go down the oil slide it sets on fire, it's the little things in life.

Music

The game was created by Sega along with big-time fans of the Sonic franchise and listening to the music the passion and love they have for it is clear.  There are the classic Sonic sounds blended seamlessly with something new that feels like the original.  The music is upbeat and moves between pop, electronic and a chiptune style sound well apart from the boss music which always has a slightly darker tone.  The composer behind this music is:

Tee Lopes, born in Portugal and move to the United States when he was a child.  For years he has been getting recognition for the remixes of Sonic he has posted on YouTube.  He now works for Pagodawest Games helping create music for indie game, some of his works include; Major Magnet,

Circle Frenzy and Fling all available on Andriod and iOS.

 Additionally, Hyper Potions created the opening animation music for Sonic Mania along with the tracks 'Checkpoint', 'Time Trails' and 'Friends'.  Hyper Potions are Ian 'Sushi Killer' Tsuchiura and Kevin Villeco, who have an awesome logo - go check it out.  They are an American band who produce Electronic Dance Music.  They have created many tracks and remixed a number of songs, their works include; Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice, Gotta Go Fast - Sonic Tribute, League of Legends 

and Mischief Makers Remixed.

The score runs at just under two hours and has many great pieces of music, I can see myself in the near future buying the record from Data Discs (check it out below).  There were quite a few pieces I really enjoyed including:

Green Hill Zone Act 1

Chemical Plant Zone Act 1

Studiopolis Act 1

Flying Battery Zone Act 1 and 2

Hydrocity Zone Act 1

Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1

Lava Reef Zone Act 1

Titanic Monarch Act 1

Blue Spheres Bonus Stage

Hi Spec Robo Go!

Final Boss Theme

Gameplay

The gameplay is classic Sonic, most of the techniques and items are the same with a few additions, the classic TVs are all there including; lightning, fire and bubble shields along with the new Hyper Ring.  The Hyper Ring collects all your rings together meaning if you get hit it's easier for you to catch them all.

There are multiple games modes that can be unlocked by playing the game and by completing bonus stages successfully.  There is a Debug (cheat mode), Time Attack and Competition Mode.  Like Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles you can play as Sonic, Tails or Knuckles and later Super versions if you collect all the Chaos Emeralds. 

Sega and associates put a lot of nostalgic moments from the series into Sonic Mania including; Mean Bean Machine Boss, Metal Sonic from Sonic CD, original Sonic Bosses from the Megadrive along with Heavy Shinobi who is basically Shinobi from the series but in robot egg form (I know that it's not technically from the series but is still cool).

There are some great zones throughout the game and some not so great ones.  My favorite zones to play were; Metallic, Mirage Saloon and Studiopolis.    Metallic was really great as Sonic is already cool and cute, how do you make him cooler and cuter?  Use a shrink ray on him, then get him to take on miniature versions of bosses.  Mirage Saloon had an interesting desert cowboy feel along with some weird enemies plus you get to stand on top of a plane for Act 1 looking badass.   I was slow to warm to Studiopolis as it had too much of this Hollywood feel but after a while, I got into it and I really liked the silhouette effect that occurs when you go behind glass.  There were two zones that chapped my hide, Oil Ocean Zone and Titanic Monarch.  Oil Ocean Zone looked good for the most part but later on, there is black smoke that builds and you have to pull chains to clear it if you don't you lose rings and die.  Was not a fan of this and is it was very out of synch with the classic Sonic gameplay.  Titanic Monarch Zone, the acts were quite long but became longer with those damn gravity balls.  Purplely, pinky orbs that you have to almost break the analogs sticks to get yourself pointing in the right direction to reach higher locations.  Of course, I could deal with one or two but both acts are littered with them and they are super annoying.

Final Thoughts

After six hours of play, how did I feel?  Happy.  While I felt Sonic Mania was not as good as the original games it does do a fantastic job of paying homage to them along with creating something new and special.  In recent years few Sonic games released have really felt up to the mark but this one felt just right and I look forward to tackling it again in the future and maybe collecting all the chaos emeralds.  This one gets a solid 4 out of 5

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 - Review

Since Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was released I have played it every year with the exception of last year.  I am not the biggest Call of Duty fan as a whole, mostly due to the fact I am not big into multiplayer and also some of the games are just not that good.  With a lot of first-person shooters, especially nowadays I feel the studios create a single player campaign as an after thought which really bugs me.  To me playing games is about your own singular immersive experience which I simply don't think you can achieve with multiplayer.  I think its's good to have the option of multiplayer but I feel along with many others that there should be more focus put back on the single player campaign.  First-person shooters often seem to blend into each other, why?  Because while there are some variations in the multiplayer experience they all feel too similar.  The one way to set them apart from each other and stand out is by having a solid story.  It worked in Bio Shock Infinite, Black OPS, Crysis, Far Cry, Half Life and The Darkness to name but a few.  I could talk about this stuff for hours but time to refocus, my point is Modern Warfare 2 has a great and engaging story which is why it stands out from the others and why so many people want it remastered.



Pies, pies, wonderful pies, they are a whole meal encased in pastry whats not to like?  With so many variations there is something for everyone (note to self buy some pies).  When I was growing up there were a few pies I really liked, one of them was steak and kidney.  It's not the nicest sounding or the best looking but it was damn tasty.  I tried one a few months ago and it was still good but not as tasty as I remember.  Playing Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 I found myself asking was this is tasty as it used to be?

Story


The game is set five years after the original Modern Warfare and the world sees a new enemy rise up after the death of Imran Zakhaev, his name Vladimir Makarov.  He has no allegiance, no political agenda and isn't afraid to commit murder or even genocide, he is one bad guy.  You get to see the story unfold from many characters perspectives including; Private Joseph Allen, Private Ramirez,
Captain McTavish and Sergeant Sanderson.  There is nothing more I can tell you as it would spoil the story.


This story has it all, betrayal, revenge, loss, war and lots of guns. It still holds up to the test of time and is a great story with a really good ending.  The game had me hooked as soon as I heard the intro, Captain Price saying 'what the hell kind of name is Soap anyway?', which is a call back to the first Modern Warfare.

Graphics


The game is starting to look dated but that isn't saying it looks poor either, it does however show that it does need to be remastered (hopefully in 2018).  The cut-scene at the beginning looks great and helps provide a recap from first Modern Warfare.  I know it's only a map showing illuminated green lines jumping all over the globe but it does look good.  There are some stand out places in the game, my three favorites were; Firebase Phoenix (where you first start out), The Boneyard and Cliffhanger missions.  Firebase Phoenix is a living breathing place, there are soldiers carrying out repairs, a few playing basketball, some training and others just hanging out. The Boneyard looks amazing especially all the old planes, half a fuselage here, a wing there, even a few rows of seats out in the open.  I also like the contrast between old and new, you have all these forgotten wrecks and then there are a ton of soldiers with up to date equipment fighting around them. The Cliffhanger mission is awesome for many reasons but one of them are the visuals.  At the start it has Captain McTavish causally smoking a cigar near the edge of a mountain, you get to look at the ice and snow capped mountains surrounding you and it just looks fantastic and that is just a taste of what the mission has to offer.



Music


The score for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is simply epic, it has the feel of a really good pulse pounding action movie and it really creates an intense atmosphere.  The two people responsible for this are:


Hans Zimmer who created the Main Themes in Modern Warfare.  The man needs no introduction and has worked on and created musical masterpieces for many films, TV series and games.  Some of his works include; Gladiator, Inception,  Black Hawk Down, The Rock,  Lion King, and The Darknight Returns.

Lorne Balfe is a Scottish born composer and created the main score for Modern Warfare 2.  He has varied background, some of his works include: Terminator Genisys, Assassins Creed 3, Crysis 2
and Ghost in The Shell (2017)


The soundtrack runs at just under an hour which I found to be a great length considering how long the campaign is.  There were many great pieces, my favorites were; 'Ordinance', 'Extraction Point', 'Guerrilla Tactics', 'Onwards' and 'Safeguard'.

Gameplay


On to the good stuff!  Let's talk about shooting mechanics, as a whole they were okay throughout but there were times I thought the aiming was off or the weapons were not as balanced as they should.  It wasn't enough to spoil my experience overall but it did throw me off a couple of times.  Everyone one has weapons of choice, mine were the UMP45, M14EBR and the combat knife.


My biggest concern when reviewing a game is that I will give away too much and spoil the experience for those reading it so I will try not to give away too much detail about the missions.  I will however provide some cliff notes.  The cliffhanger mission is great for people who love snow, snowmobiles and mountain climbing. The Gulag missions offer a varied pace which helps keeps you on your toes plus who doesn't like a prison break?  The Boneyard is chaotic fun and encourages you to choose flight over fight.  Then there is the mission Loose Ends, this is a tough one to talk about as it brings up a lot of emotions for me, so like any regular male I am going to keep quite and say nothing (it still hurts).


The campaign is short and depending on what difficulty you decide to play it on you could have it finished in as little as five or six hours.  It might be short but it certainly is sweet and even though some people complained about it I thought it was the perfect length.




Final Thoughts


So after fifty hours or so (well just under six hours this time) how did I feel?  Awesome, I really enjoyed playing it again and getting to experience the thrill of it all.  I am hoping next time I go to play it that it will be remastered as at this point it is really needed.  This one was easy to score and gets a 4 out of 5

Dishonored 2 - Review

I remember when the original Dishonored game was first released, everyone was raving about it so eventually I decided to play it.  After playing I felt underwhelmed, it wasn't bad but definitely wasn't everything it was hyped up to be.  When I heard they were releasing a sequel I was mildly interested, mostly because this time you had the choice of playing as either Corov or Emily and the early gameplay looked good.  Lucky enough my favorite technician and buddy Siniša (kidding, you are all my favorite) loaned me his copy so I could give it ago.


Let's talk about soup.  It's healthy, can be tasty and is great if you are not sure what else to eat.  There are hot and even cold soups, why there are cold soups I don't know but they exist.  There are simple soups and more complex ones.  For me the most basic soup is tomato, nothing wrong with it but it's not really my soup of choice.  Add a little chili or another ingredient and yeah it can be nice but by itself, meh.  Playing Dishonored 2 I found myself asking was this just a plain tomato soup or was it something more exciting?

Story


The story is set fifteen years after the first game and Emily is now Empress after her mother Jessamine was assassinated.  Her father Corvo stands by her side as her Royal Protector, but don't be fooled Emily can handle herself.  The game starts on the anniversary of  Jessamine's death,  naturally a great way to dishonor her memory is to stage a coup.  Things get intense fast and you have to choose to play as either Corvo or Emily.


The story is about revenge which is great as I like revenge stories, but I did feel Dishonored 2 shared a little too many similarities with the first game.  Clearing your name for a crime you didn't commit, saving someone you love and helping to clean up the corruption by kicking asses and taking names. While the story isn't bad I wish the studio had been a little bit more adventurous, while there were some interesting characters it just felt a little too familiar for me.

Graphics


This time around the game is visually more impressive and features a lot more detail especially the interiors of buildings, however like the first game it suffers with something I can best describe as the 'unfinished painting effect'.   Some people have said that the game is visually impressive, I would argue that point.   I was speaking to a friend of mine about it recently who made a really good point about it, the Borderlands Series has a very distinct art style that is purposeful and works well with the style of gameplay it offers but with Dishonored it feels out of place as the gameplay has a darker and more serious tone.  There is a clear foundation of something that could be really special but instead just feels unfinished, the colours often feel very basic and some parts of the background look half completed which stops the world feeling organic.


All the visual bashing aside there were some areas of the game that looked great and stood out for me.  The two that come to mind are; the journey out to the Addermire Institute and the Clockwork Mansion.  Travelling out across the water to the Addermire Institute is great as you really get to focus on your surroundings, the building itself looks like the setting of a horror movie, it gives a real feeling of isolation.  The Clockwork Mansion was hands down my favorite area, pulling levers in the house completely changes the structure and layout of rooms and feel likes a real feat of engineering.



Music


The score moves between two very distinct tones, somber and foreboding.  These sounds are conveyed through the harsh use of percussion and stringed instruments.  Listening to the score again it really gave me pause as I became so used to the music in the game I almost didn't notice it.  While I know that sounds very negative I actually mean it as a positive, with many other games I have played the music almost feels like a separate entity rather than being intertwined as it was in Dishonored 2.  Perhaps it is an oxymoron to say the music was distinct but also subtle but I think with this score it really does settle comfortably between the two.


The creator of the sound was American composer Daniel Licht who sadly passed away earlier this year.  He worked on films, TV series and games, some of his works include: Dexter, Amityville: A New Generation, Hellraiser: Bloodline, Silent Hill: Down Pour and the Dishonored Series.


Outside of this there were a few additional people who contributed to the score including;
Ravi Krishnaswami creative director at COPILOT Music + Sound, Raphael Colantonio founder of Arkane Studios and one Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac.  John Benthal, Lev Zhurban and Brian Slattery were the musicians who helped create the sound of the Serkonos group who can be found playing in different parts of the game.

A very enjoyable soundtrack and I really liked the additional pieces of music, my favorite included; 'Dishonored 2 Main Theme', 'Corvo Trailer', 'Void Theme', 'Delilah's Theme (Combat)'
'The Coup' and 'Silver and Dust'.

Gameplay


Onto the meaty goodness that is the gameplay.  As noted earlier you get to play as either Emily or Corvo, as I had played as Corvo in the original I wanted to mix it up and see what Emily had to offer.  Dishonored 2 is a first person, stealth, action, open worldish game.  The combat, weapons and abilities are pretty good and sometimes a little weird.  The combat for the most part works well, the swordplay can be a lot of fun and choking someone out mid-combat never gets old.  If you want to take the non lethal approach then you will likely need a lot of sleep darts and stun mines, there are buffs and abilities you get later in the game that will help you minimize the amount you use and save you money. There are a lot of abilities you can unlock in the game, my favorites were; shadow walk and mesmerise.  Shadow Walk allows you turn into a ghostly looking shadow and knock out enemies which looks really weird.  Mesmerise allows you to distract people for a time, which ends up looking like a moth gravitating towards a flame, funny and useful.


There are upgrades for your weapons in the form of blueprints but the downside is you can't make them.  Basically you find the blueprint, pay to get it made and then you can buy it on the black market.  This bothered me a little because you were paying for the item to be made and then paying for it again once it was made along with going to the effort of finding the blueprint in the first place.  I feel they should have either allowed crafting of items or just be able to buy them in the shop day one. Sorry you can craft bone charms and runes which I found playing on normal difficulty did not come in that useful as a whole.


Similar to the first game there is an otherworldly element,  it is definitely more present this time around. The mechanical heart appears again and is used to track down runes and talisman that will help you on your journey.  Playing Dishonored 2 I couldn't always figure out if the studio wanted to make a serious stealth game with otherworldly elements or an otherworldly game with some stealth elements. Overall though the gameplay was pretty solid and had some interesting moments.




Final Thoughts


So after nearly twenty hours how did I feel?  The experience was better than expected but overall it wasn't amazing.  The story felt a little rehashed, the visuals were better than the original but still not quite there.  The soundtrack was great and there was some good gameplay.  I think like tomato soup Dishonored 2 just wasn't for me.  Scoring this was one was tough but in the end I could only give it 3 out of 5

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War - Review

Can you believe it's already November?  There are still so many games I want to play and the year is nearly over.  I have played through and reviewed thirty-five games so far this year (including this one), I would love to make it a round forty but not sure if that will happen with so little time left. What's a gamer to do?  Anyway enough lamenting and onto the review!  Back in 2014 Monolith Productions release Middle-Earth Shadow of Mordor and it was awesome, great story and great combat.  The moment I heard they were releasing a sequel I got pretty excited about it and could not wait to play it. 


Have you ever tried dry salt chili spare ribs?  If you haven't you should try because they are damn tasty.   The name pretty much says it all.  A little warning though to any of you with sensitive taste buds they can be a little spicy but to me it all adds to the tastiness.  Generally speaking they are an appetiser, a small portion of them are good but if you have say a little extra or decide to have double then you may end up with some bad results.  Playing Shadow of War I found myself asking, was this the perfect portion or was it too much?  Was I left satisfied or was I left with a sore stomach, tender behind and the desire to never try it again?

Story

The opening of the game provides a slight recap of the first along with showing the current state of play for our protagonist or is that protagonists?  There is Talion the ranger who was not great at being dead so decided to come back to life (sort of) and Celebrimbor a self righteous angry dead elf.  They don't always share the same view points but overall they both agree that Sauron needs to be stopped.   How can they stop him though? They probably need a powerful ring but Bilbo still has that in the Shire, what to do?  Oh yeah it turns out Celebrimbor crafted the rings of power, may as well let him make another. 

The main story is pretty engaging throughout with the exception of a few minors bumps.  One of  the many things I really enjoyed about the game were the smaller stories especially those focusing on Shelob, Carnan and Bruz.  I felt they really helped show the shear vastness of world and that there was so much more going on than just the battle for middle-earth.

Visuals

The game definitely looks sharper and more detailed than Shadow of Mordor. I only wish I had waited and played it on the Playstation 4 PRO rather than the XBOX One as seeing the comparison between the two showed how vastly different they looked.  Damn my impatience.

Visually speaking there were a few really standout things for me.  Shelob's backstory was one of them, it is told through a mini game where you need to angle glass shards into the correct position to get a clear image and you are then provided with some insight about her.  I really liked the look and feel of the Nürnen region which had a forest/tribal look which just blended together and worked really well.  While there were many great character designs the one that I really liked was Brǔz (seen above).   He has over sized spiked metal gauntlets, giant shoulder pads and an awesome facial scar everything about him says 'I am a badass'. 

Music

It must be tough to be the composer of any Middle-Earth game because you will always be trying to live up to Howard Shore's work on Lord of The Rings films which is a pretty tall order.  The soundtrack for War of Mordor has a pretty epic sound.  There are deep beating drums and horns for the battles, and haunting violin sounds for the more poignant moments in the game.  The two composers for the score are:

Nathan Grigg an American composer who has worked on multiple games including; Fear, Fear 2, Fear 3, Matrix Online, Alien vs Predator 2 and Condemned.

Garry Schyman an American composer who has worked on films, TV series and games, some of his works include; BioShock, BioShock 2, Bio Shock Infinite, Dante's Inferno, Destroy All Humans Magnum P.I. and the A-Team.

Unfortunately I was unable to listen to the entire score as I could only find a few pieces uploaded on YouTube.  I am unsure as to why but the only way I could get the complete soundtrack is to buy the Gold Collectors Edition of the game (see below), which I will not being doing.  My favorites pieces (of the one's I could listen to) were; 'Main Menu Theme', 'Seige of Minas Ithal', 'Minas Morgul' and 'Sauron Boss Fight'.

Gameplay

So much to talk about so let's get to it.  The combat is really smooth which works really well especially when you get into a brawl with twenty orcs.  Outside of combat you have the option of using stealth which for the most part works well, this is especially true later when you can chain stealth kills.  There are plenty of skills to upgrade but don't worry it's pretty easy to get skill points.  Weapons and armor get better as you level up, there is legendary items that have a secondary ability that can be unlocked by completing challenges.  No need to worry about health as long as there is an ally or enemy nearby you can just drain them.  

Building an army is a big part of the game and there are quite a few elements to it.  The are worms that carry intelligence on Captains including locations and weaknesses.  Hunt them down, dominate them and make them part of the Bright Lords Army.  Of course it can be a little tougher than than, they are always surround by their allies and in combat can adapt to your fighting style.  They will sometimes regenerate health when near death or simply retreat.  All of this adds varying degrees of difficulty and that is before you look at laying siege to fortresses.  

Taking a fortress is a lot of work, it requires planning and a lot of currency.  It is recommended you take out all Warchiefs before attempting a siege as it will help reduce the fortress strength.  Once that's done you will need to choose your Captains along with purchasing upgrades to help you get inside.  The next task is capturing points inside the fortress before finally taking on the Warlord himself.

I had some really great experiences while playing Shadow of War and I wanted to discuss a few of them.  I don't want to give you too much detail but I am going to say this - you get to fight a Balrog and yes it is fun.  Caragors are a great way to get around the map and are a great way to stealth kill enemies it was one of the first challenges I completed which was awesome. You never forget your first siege, breaching the walls, battling multiple enemies, dethroning the warlord it feels really good.

I saved the best for last, it started with me being over ambitious and getting killed by an orc called Grom.  After he killed me he was promoted to Captain and was given the title Tark Killer, naturally I wasn't happy about this so I went to kill him only to have him escape moments before his death.  I found him again and this time killed him, it felt really good.  Later on in the game it goes quiet and out pops Grom the Machine, turns out his friends put him back together with metal.  I got to enjoy an intense fight before killing him.

Well I have talked about many great things, what I am going to discuss next is not so great.  There are the Captain introductions, each time you are about to fight one (or sometimes during) they give a speech which really interrupts the flow of battle but is made worse by some really poor voice acting choices.  The controls for Drakes are not great and it often felt like I was trying to control a lead weight with wings.  When trying to hang or drop from ledges there were often times when Talion was completely unresponsive, it had me nearly throwing my controller in frustration especially when trying to infiltrate a camp.  However all of these things pale by comparison of the final thing on my list - Shadows Wars.  In my mind once the first three acts are completed that's it you are done and that is where the game should have ended but no.  The studio thought lets make the last act as annoying as possible and ensure that you will have to put almost an equal amount of time into it as you had for the first three acts combined.  The object is for you to defend the your fortress twenty times!  Of course leveling up your Captains to keep up with your attackers takes time and if you lose then you have to retake it from scratch along with having to rescue or find new Captains.  It requires you to do one of two things; grind like crazy or buy lots of loot crates with real money to get Captains to replace ones that you lose and you will lose them.  What is the pay off you ask? A three minute cut scene that helps tie the game into the movie franchise, I think the clip below says it all.

Final Thoughts

Well after over 30 hours how did I feel?  Not awesome. There was some really great gameplay and I did have some fun.  There were was good story, with three really good acts that was followed by a really bad one.  Shadow Wars should have been a separate mode which would have worked well instead of just a poor way to tie the game in with the movie franchise.  I expected better as so many others did, I am sorry to say I am giving this one 3 out of 5