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.