Observer - Review

I have played in excess of eight-hundred games in my life, that's not be bragging (it sort of is). I have tried all genres and played more than a few horror games, so believe me when I tell you that Observer is once of the most intense psychological horror games I have ever played.  In was released in 2017 and for many people (myself included), it flew under the radar. That being said it got an overwhelmingly positive score by most reviewers. I was curious and recently saw it on sale so I thought why not?


Bolognese looks kind of messy at first glance,  meat, sauce, vegetables slopped on top of pasta.  Despite this, the individual ingredients help pull it together and make it a tasty dish, even if it does look a little crude.  Playing Observer I found myself asking was this a tasty mess or just a mess?

Story


The story is set in the future in a world where the East and West have destroyed each other and out of the ashes one corporation has taken over everything, Chiron.  The game is set in Poland and follows Daniel Lararksi (played by Rutger Hauer), a member of the KPD, and an Observer.  His body is augmented, and one of these augmentations allows him to hack into people's minds.   He gets a call from his estranged son Adam, desperate to reconnect with him he tracks down his son to an apartment complex in the slums of Krakow.


The story all plays out in the apartment complex and while this seemed restrictive to me at first my mind was quickly changed.  There are side cases to deal with which you can investigate or ignore but personally, I would recommend looking into them all.


Overall the story intense and like nothing I have quite played before, not only that but the world you move through is far removed from our own and is often quite horrific, not only visually but psychologically.

Visuals


Like every part of the game, the visuals are intense.  The apartment complex you are in is a slum, sometimes the room is laid beside each other times you will have to get through sections of broken walls to find the next few.  There are a number of floors and the basement itself is extremely claustrophobic and made me fight between my desire to explore and my desire to get out of there as quickly as possible.


Daniel is able to use a bio-scanner and an electro-scanner which changes the look of the world and can feel harsh on the eyes at times. This does not feel down to a low budget, or oversight but part of the design to keep you feeling uncomfortable. Even when you are not using one of the scanners or night vision it all feels a little jarring.


Overall the visuals are intense, jarring and the only point I felt even mildly comfortable is when I was communicating with the other tenants through closed doors.



Music


I was asked today what the music in the game like and I noted that it did not feel very present and was in the background. Listening to the soundtrack again I realized how wrong I was. The music is
palpable and permeates every inch of my experience and did so without me fully registering it, which for someone like me who really enjoys video games soundtracks is a feat.  The composer for the interesting and psychological experience is Arkadiusz Reikowski.  He is credited for a lot of video game music; Layers of Fear, Husk, and Kholat to name but a few.


The soundtrack clocks in at around forty minutes, while exceptionally short for a game of around ten hours it never felt like any of it was repeated over and over again.  All of the tracks help to create discomfort in the world you are in and each track is as potent and as important as the next.

Gameplay


The game has you play from a first-person perspective which helps you really take in the world around you.  There are no weapons, only tools. There is bio-scanner that allows you to find blood trails and other nastiness. Then there is the electro-scanner that allows you to find electronic devices including those in people. While this may seem like very little it is actually more than enough to get everything you need.


There is a user interface in the form of a wrist band that you can use to track cases and take pills when needed.  The pills in way help you keep connected to reality, and even then there was rarely a time I wasn't asking is this real?


Being a Detective you can ask questions to the tenants in the building, all of which you have very distinct personalities. Some want to help, others are scared, some are insane and others you would cross the street to avoid.


The game was clearly created for PC, the reason I say this is that there is a little dot you use to interact with objects which can be a little awkward with a controller but would be more straightforward with a mouse.  Outside of this, there were one or two small glitches and sometimes I would get stuck on objects.


Overall though the gameplay was really solid with very little room for improvement. Nolls also played Observer, and her only qualm with it was the aforementioned glitches, which had her frustratedly resorting to walkthroughs to figure out was she being stupid (her words, not mine), or had the game actually glitched. There are times in the game when you can die, and she also found these parts of the gameplay to be a bit contrived compared with the rest of the gameplay, rather than actually effective or scary. Especially because she kept dying when she just wanted to get on with the game, which otherwise flowed naturally as an interactive story should.





Final Thoughts


So, after around ten hours how did I feel?  Glad to be out of the nightmare that was the Observer. Don't construe that as me saying the game was bad, far from it, but was an intense psychological experience that few horror movies could match. The story felt like falling down a rabbit hole that when in directions I could not have foreseen.  The visuals offered insight into the dark world controlled by the mega-corporation Chiron. The music crept out of everywhere being both subtle and loud.  The gameplay intensified an already intense experience and I am not sure I could take living in a world like that. This one gets a solid 4 out of 5 and make excited and nervous to play Bloober Teams other game Layers of Fear. (Nolls reckons 4.5 as it's a superb game that could only be improved with slightly revised gameplay, and more/more-developed stories/cases/endings. But she loved it anyway.)

Ghost Recon Wildlands - Review

Welcome to another review! This time around I am playing Ghost Recon Wildlands.  One of the first games I got with the XBOX 360 was Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, before this point I had never played a Tom Clancy game.  I found it really tough initially, I was used to games that were not as tactically challenging.  After a while, I really got into it,  I then played the sequel which was even better.  Then there was Future Soldier, I remember seeing the trailers and thought yes this is going to kick ass.  There were a number of delays with the game but it finally got released, it was good but was missing something that I just could not put my finger on.  Fast forward to 2016 and Ghost Recon Wildlands was announced,  I immediately signed up for the Beta Test.  While there were elements I liked about it, such as the open world and the impressive visuals there were certain things I didn't like, the driving felt sloppy in all vehicles, in particular, the planes.  When the game was released  I didn't rush to get it.  Recently my buddy (D to the G) loaned me his copy and assured me it was worth the play and was as important as Metal Gear Solid V, which I highly enjoyed.


Bolognese, it's got pasta, sauce, mince and vegetables, all things I like.  Unfortunately, no matter what I add or take away from it I am always a little underwhelmed.  It's incorrect for me to say it's bad, all the elements are there but it just doesn't do it for me.  Playing Ghost Recon Wildlands I found myself was it really for me?

Story


The story is set in Bolivia, there is a cartel called Santa Blanca who have become so powerful, so influential that they have created a narco-state.  The cartel is run by El Sueno, who is a powerhouse of man and looks like he could kill you with his pinky finger or his gravelly voice. The operation is broken into four divisions, Security, Production, Smuggling and Influence, each has multiple Lieutenants (Buchons), an Underboss and a Head.  They need to be taken down before you have a chance of taking on El Sueno.  So, who you gonna call?


Enter the elite team of soldiers known as Ghosts, you play as the Leader Nomad, along with three interchangeable characters, Larry, Moe, and Curley.  There is undercover CIA agent Bowman, who runs point and provides you with all the intel.  She has been working with the local Rebel Leader Pac Katari to help destabilise the cartel.


Overall the story is quite engaging and there are some interesting characters, unfortunately, your teammates are not among them.  There are two endings to the game depending on your percentage completion, great if you like getting 100%.

Visuals


The visuals in the game are simply breathtaking, I loved jumping in a helicopter and surveying Bolivia which has a varied landscape.  There are lightly snowed cover mountains, dense jungle, rural villages, mines and excavations sites.  El Sueno's mausoleum is particularly impressive, being honest it is hard to pin down my favorite area as it all looks so good, even down to smaller details like the water and plant life.  The only downside is that I found it hard to see due to the sun burning my eyes so unfortunately, I relied on using night vision more than should have been necessary.  I messed around with the brightness settings but to no avail.


Overall some very impressive visuals and probably some of the best I have seen to date on the new generation of consoles.


Music

I felt the soundtrack mostly lingered in the background, save for one or two tracks, but with the style of game Ghost Recon Wildlands is that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.  There is a lot of use of both Electric and Spanish guitar, which while both are used quite subtly works well and reminded me of some of the music from Spec Ops the Line, the composer for the soundtrack is:

Alain Johannes, a Chilean-American performer, composer, and producer.  He has been part of many bands including Eleven, Spinnerette, Ten Commandos and What Is This?  Outside of this, he has worked with many talented artists such as PJ Harvey, Queens of the Stone Age, Chris Cornell, UNKLE, and Kelly Clarkson to name but a few.


The soundtrack runs at just over ninety minutes and has more than thirty tracks.  The score isn't amazing but contained some great tracks including 'Wildlands', 'Night Counters', 'Chopper Fight' and 'End of the Road'.

Gameplay

Onto the meat! Ghost Recon Wildlands is a third-person open world tactical shooter.  Running into an enemy camp going for a spray and pray tactic won't generally pay off.  The enemy AI is one of the best I have experienced in a game and their not afraid to run, hide or circle back behind you.  There are multiple types of enemies that are broken into two groups, the Sicarios who are part of Santa Blanca and the security forces know as Unidad (ever wondered who unilads father is?  Now you know).  Unidad has different levels of aggression ranging from one to four patrols, similar to Grand Theft Autos star system.  The team AI left a lot to be desired, unlike previous Ghost Recon games you do not have as much control over them.  This I felt made the game a little less tactical then it could have been, additionally teammates will often do their own thing like getting hit by a train. The commentary by them was often poor, for example 'that was fuckin' close', when there was only one enemy who was nowhere near spotting me or 'I think they know we are here' when you are in the middle of a firefight but not said in a haha kind of way but quite seriously.


There are many, many weapons in the game but as I find in a lot of these games I usually gravitate towards a few and they become my permanent loadout. Wildlands was no different.  My favorite weapons were the M4 A1 Assault Rifle (suppressed), a Drone with an explosive payload and C4 (lots of it).  There is a nice variety of weapons that suit any and all play styles.


The vehicles felt much improved over the Beta Test with once exception, planes.  Planes handle like you are trying to fly a bar of soap with cardboard wings and it has been raining.  The car and helicopter controls handle like a dream.  I can say without a doubt I spent more time in a helicopter than any other vehicle, not only due to their variety but also I got the additional benefit of checking out the picturesque views.   There are boats in the game which was a nice option to have but save for one or two areas were unnecessary.  Two things I found quite funny and certainly took away from the realism element of the game was when the car is full a teammate will get in the boot and you can see his weapon poking out.  If you don't want to wait for your teammates to get in a vehicle drive off without them and as if by magic they will appear beside you, hey presto.


There is a leveling up system but for the most part feels irrelevant.  There are skill trees, and perks to be purchased.  Multiple skill points can be found in every region, however, that in itself is not enough you also have to collect supplies such as Medicine, Communications, Gasoline, and Food.  The early perks require few supplies but later they need a crazy amount which can only really be collected by playing side missions which for the most part are not very interesting and quite repetitive.  Overall the perks are nothing exciting, they help a bit but there are only a few I found to be essential such as maxing out sync shots and some of the drone upgrades.  The rebels also provide support once you complete one of each side mission, these can be upgraded later.  In honesty, I never found them that helpful with the exception of 'call for a vehicle'.


There is a multitude of collectibles including weapons, weapon accessories, skill points and King Slayer files (provided by a dead DEA agent).  I collected most of the King Slayer files to start with but they didn't really add a lot to the experience so I focused on the other collectibles instead.


Overall the game got very repetitive within a short space of time, the only thing keeping it alive at times for me were the visuals and the story.  While I am slow to play co-op I think this game would have been vastly more entertaining had I done so.  It may be something I look into in the future but if I view it from a solo campaign experience I found it to be a little underwhelming.




Final Thoughts

So, after little over thirty hours how did I feel?  Umm, it was alright, far from terrible but also far great.  The story is interesting, the visuals are amazing, the music was okay and the gameplay itself had its moments.  I struggled to rate this game as I felt 3 out of 5 was too low and 4 out of 5 was too high, as I haven't used decimal points for scoring up to this point I am not going to start now.  After much debate, I am giving this one 3 out of 5