This time of year is always HUGE for new video game releases! With Christmas fast approaching, game publishers are always keen to get their latest and greatest in the hands of gamers around the world as soon as possible, with a lot of us having a Christmas wishlist full of the latest releases.
I've picked up a couple of new games over the past few weeks, one of which is surely a no brainer for Game Of The Year. Even if you're not a huge video game addict like myself, you've surely heard of this one. So here's a quick look at what I've been playing recently...
Red Dead Redemption 2
I could probably write an entire post about my admiration for this game. I took a day off work to play it when it came out a few weeks ago and literally played it non stop for the first weekend I had it. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a prequel to the original Red Dead that came out almost 10 years ago now for the Xbox 360, and oh man have Rockstar Games been working their magic during that time to make this game a true masterpiece.You can spend the first chapter marveling at the snow effects and drawing rude pictures by walking about but at some point you have to hit the story which involves riding on horse a bit (you have to hold a button to follow while they give you the story) , shoot a bit and then go back to camp. Repeat this a few times and you're on to chapter 2 where the game opens up into. Well more of the same, just less snow.
Now there are issues, just look at the endless YouTube rants and discussion to see that! Too slow paced, clunky controls, the character is slow, not as good as the first. Some of these comments are true but only to a point! Yes, it is a first slow but that’s story and character building. Anyone used to the current crop of twitch shooters and the hand holding and your character possessing the superhuman abilities of the Assassin’s Creed games will find Arthur lumbering. Controls can be fiddly but patience and a little time in the controls will help. But the key thing here is Arthur feels, well, real! He’s heavy and human and feels like flesh and bone and he fits his world perfectly.
The world itself is vast, being substantially larger than the original (even though it features the top half of the first game, anyway). It varies from alligator-invested swamps to open plains, from an industrialised city to farming commutnies, from mountain peaks to snow-carpeted wilderness; in terms of location, this game simply has it all. And the story takes you to a large amount of the map in an organic way, which is not only relevant to the story, but also gives you a chance to explore different areas out of your own leisure. The light effects are beautiful, especially when the dying light of sundown dapples through the arms of trees. The sound effects add to the immersive world too, with crisp sound quality that makes it again seem more than a video game. Rockstar’s attention to detail is the greatest achievement in video game history as of so far. Even rockstar themselves may not be able to surpass what they have achieved with this game. I play on an Xbox one X and on a 4K TV, and in Native 4K, this game is beyond stunning. Many times (more than I dare to admit), I was staring out into the game’s world in awe. I was simply left with pure wonder at how a game could look, feel and sound so real.
NPCs will carry on with whatever they’re doing or saying whether you’re there to witness it or not. Encounters happen frequently, meaning long horse journeys to and from locations are not mundane or lacking excitement. Rival gangs will ambush you or be up to no good within your proximity. Citizens will ask for your help or try to rob you. So much can happen that you almost can never predict when something will; that’s what keeps it fresh after countless hours of play.
You can pick up Red Dead Redemption 2 on Amazon here
Overwatch - Game of The Year Edition
Overwatch has now been out for well over a year but I recently decided to pick up the Game of The Year Edition as it came with some cool extras including free loot boxes and an exclusive character skin. This is online only, so you will need an Xbox Live subscription to play. If you don't know what Overwatch is about it is basically a Team vs Team of various game types, and is usually more fun with friends. If you love competitive gameplay you'll enjoy this. It often does start to bore me after awhile due to its repetition, so I will often end up after 2-3hrs sticking in a RPG or something. You will find that you will get better as you play more, and you will start to learn what chararcters suit you most {I personally prefer Soldier, Tracer, Sombra, Hanzo and Widowmaker}, but for a casual gamer you will die, rage and sigh but cheer and feel a great accomplishment when you get your first kill, then your ten and so forth. Obviously not all players play fair, some games will test your patience.
There's a huge amount of variety on offer when it comes to heroes and the unique abilities that they bring to game play. You'll certainly find your favourites but all of them have some cool abilities that can counter those of other heroes. It's super competitive but if you're a casual gamer just looking for something that you can pick up and play then no fear as there's plenty of unranked modes that enable you to hone your skills before taking on some seriously high level players in the ranked match making. If you are up for a challenge then the leveling system on offer here is super rewarding, and offers periodic cosmetic items that can help you show off your level, but importantly never impacts the core gameplay by giving you overpowered weapons or characters. Everything on offer is purely cosmetic.
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My last Let's Play was one of the most popular posts I've ever done so I thought why not do another one and tell you about the games I've been playing so far this year. There haven't been any big new releases yet in 2018 so I actually picked these games up before Christmas during the Black Friday sales and got a couple of really good bargains. Enjoy!
Assassin's Creed Origins
First up is a game I've been obsessed with over the past few weeks and certainly one of my games of the year for 2017 - Assassin's Creed Origins. I've been a fan of the series for a long time but fell out of love with it over the past few iterations, but buy has this got me right back into the franchise! Set in ancient Egypt, your character is on the hunt for revenge and discovers the secrets of the Pyramids and the desert along the way. Amazing game, great combat and visuals with amazing RPG elements this time around. In terms of reinventing a stale formula, Origins knocks the franchise's previous entries out of the part. A beautiful, huge open world populated by realistic characters and interesting events around every corner. A must buy for any gamer.
You can pick it up on Amazon here.
Destiny 2
Now this next game has caused a huge amount of outcry from fans of the original who say it's just a copy and paste of the first game with a somewhat boring story mode this time around. Destiny 2 has truly split the gaming community. There are those who loved the addictive multiplayer and futuristic weaponry from the original game and are happy for more of the same, but then the other side of the argument is that is this really worth £50 for what feels like DLC more than a fully fledged game?
I sit firmly in the first camp and believe this is a stand out game that feels far more polished and better executed than Destiny 1. Players will notice immediately that the storyline has been given much more focus which is nice to see since this was one of the biggest complaints about the first game. So far the stability has been good for me, in around 30 hours of play time I've only been kicked off 3 times. The gameplay is just as good as ever and there are a whole host of minor improvements which will really please veterans of the original Destiny.
The campaign is brilliant but a little short, that is not a criticism though as it's such a tiny part of the game, the real bulk of the game is working your way up to the current level cap of 300 and getting good enough to complete the raid, past level 265 progress is slow but there is still so much to do. I have to admit I'm slightly addicted and can see myself racking up many, many hours on Destiny 2!
You can pick it up on Amazon here.
Call of Duty WW2
Fans have been waiting for this game for what feels like 5 years. Boots on the ground COD in a world war 2 setting has been what fans of the franchise have been asking for for a long time now and we've finally got it. The new Call of Duty is a vastly different game from previous iterations that have been set in a futuristic world with jet packs and crazy weapons (think Destiny 2) but now the franchise has gone back to it's roots with this gritty WW11 thriller of a game. The campaign is short but very respectively presented whilst putting the player right into the boots of soldiers on both sides of the war.
Some of the better moments of the campaign I felt were around the stealth aspects including a tense level of spying in the German headquarters in Paris. Trying to return a child blended both the gameplay and cut scenes brilliantly to make you feel like part of an action scene that had some emotional weight. Even supplying ammo to frontline soldiers in the Ardennes forest was welcomed as a change of pace from the run-and-gun moments that you see plenty of (albeit in a hand-held way).
Multiplayer has followed suit with Destiny by having a community ‘lobby’ where you can equip your soldier, test weapons, prestige your class, take up daily and weekly orders – there’s bloody loads of stuff! At first it can seem daunting as there are lots of things you need to do and the game itself doesn’t do a great job at helping you to get started. There are so many things going on at once – daily orders, weekly orders, weapon upgrade tasks, player upgrades, perks, ribbons, appearance unlocks it can be a headache to navigate especially as there are so many menus to go across and the UI isn’t the best. It took me ages to find some features and in the end I had to just google ‘How do I…” and I found the answers. I’m not in a hurry to get the most badass class going so I am taking my time with a lot of the things and I feel I enjoy it more, the game can feel a little pressuring on some of the options as there are time restrictions to achieve objectives from a week down to 30 minutes for some. A lot of the rewards are either coins or loot crates.
You can pick it up from Amazon here.
What games have you picked up recently? I'd love to get your recommendations on what to play next.
Assassin's Creed Origins
First up is a game I've been obsessed with over the past few weeks and certainly one of my games of the year for 2017 - Assassin's Creed Origins. I've been a fan of the series for a long time but fell out of love with it over the past few iterations, but buy has this got me right back into the franchise! Set in ancient Egypt, your character is on the hunt for revenge and discovers the secrets of the Pyramids and the desert along the way. Amazing game, great combat and visuals with amazing RPG elements this time around. In terms of reinventing a stale formula, Origins knocks the franchise's previous entries out of the part. A beautiful, huge open world populated by realistic characters and interesting events around every corner. A must buy for any gamer.
You can pick it up on Amazon here.
Destiny 2
Now this next game has caused a huge amount of outcry from fans of the original who say it's just a copy and paste of the first game with a somewhat boring story mode this time around. Destiny 2 has truly split the gaming community. There are those who loved the addictive multiplayer and futuristic weaponry from the original game and are happy for more of the same, but then the other side of the argument is that is this really worth £50 for what feels like DLC more than a fully fledged game?
I sit firmly in the first camp and believe this is a stand out game that feels far more polished and better executed than Destiny 1. Players will notice immediately that the storyline has been given much more focus which is nice to see since this was one of the biggest complaints about the first game. So far the stability has been good for me, in around 30 hours of play time I've only been kicked off 3 times. The gameplay is just as good as ever and there are a whole host of minor improvements which will really please veterans of the original Destiny.
The campaign is brilliant but a little short, that is not a criticism though as it's such a tiny part of the game, the real bulk of the game is working your way up to the current level cap of 300 and getting good enough to complete the raid, past level 265 progress is slow but there is still so much to do. I have to admit I'm slightly addicted and can see myself racking up many, many hours on Destiny 2!
You can pick it up on Amazon here.
Call of Duty WW2
Fans have been waiting for this game for what feels like 5 years. Boots on the ground COD in a world war 2 setting has been what fans of the franchise have been asking for for a long time now and we've finally got it. The new Call of Duty is a vastly different game from previous iterations that have been set in a futuristic world with jet packs and crazy weapons (think Destiny 2) but now the franchise has gone back to it's roots with this gritty WW11 thriller of a game. The campaign is short but very respectively presented whilst putting the player right into the boots of soldiers on both sides of the war.
Some of the better moments of the campaign I felt were around the stealth aspects including a tense level of spying in the German headquarters in Paris. Trying to return a child blended both the gameplay and cut scenes brilliantly to make you feel like part of an action scene that had some emotional weight. Even supplying ammo to frontline soldiers in the Ardennes forest was welcomed as a change of pace from the run-and-gun moments that you see plenty of (albeit in a hand-held way).
Multiplayer has followed suit with Destiny by having a community ‘lobby’ where you can equip your soldier, test weapons, prestige your class, take up daily and weekly orders – there’s bloody loads of stuff! At first it can seem daunting as there are lots of things you need to do and the game itself doesn’t do a great job at helping you to get started. There are so many things going on at once – daily orders, weekly orders, weapon upgrade tasks, player upgrades, perks, ribbons, appearance unlocks it can be a headache to navigate especially as there are so many menus to go across and the UI isn’t the best. It took me ages to find some features and in the end I had to just google ‘How do I…” and I found the answers. I’m not in a hurry to get the most badass class going so I am taking my time with a lot of the things and I feel I enjoy it more, the game can feel a little pressuring on some of the options as there are time restrictions to achieve objectives from a week down to 30 minutes for some. A lot of the rewards are either coins or loot crates.
You can pick it up from Amazon here.
What games have you picked up recently? I'd love to get your recommendations on what to play next.
It hasn't been the busiest month for video game releases so I thought I'd go back and play through a couple of my favourites from the year so far. Two massive sequels to highly respective titles - let's see if they matched up to the hype..
Gears of War 4
The Gears of War series is a massive deal for Microsoft. The launch exclusive for the XBOX 360 way back in 2006 has now reached its 4th iteration but continues to innovate the shooter genre more than we ever thought it could have done. The series was always a big reason to own the Microsoft console, and luckily it still is.The real struggle any returning player is going to find is in relation to the new characters. The original Gears Of War crew stood out because of how ridiculous they were. Here, our new cast are a little too generic to compare. They develop before all is said and done but none are as memorable as Delta Squad.
Ultimately, not much has changed, but that’s exactly why it’s so good. It’s been over three years since Gears Of War: Judgment, so jumping back in is like reacquainting yourself with an old friend. There are new modes – such as Dodgeball where you kill members of the opposition to revive deceased members of your own squad – but the real joy comes in how unique it still feels.
You can pick up Gears of War 4 on Amazon here.
Halo Wars 2
As I said It's been a month of playing sequels and this is no exception. Halo Wars 2 is yet another example of a shining beacon from selection the Microsoft exclusives available for Xbox One. The Halo series has always ben at the cornerstone of what Microsoft stands for when it comes to top quality multiplayer shooters, but this RTS (real time strategy) approach to the series will be a welcome change for many.If there’s one thing Halo Wars 2 gets emphatically right it’s the Halo content. You can feel it in the music and the front-end menus, the lengthy cut-scenes and the near-constant referencing of background bloodshed. If you’re looking for the sense that you’re fighting climactic battles straight from the Halo playbook, only from the perspective of a commander controlling units from the sky, it has you covered.
There’s some smart thinking going on behind the basics, too. As you play you can build up a range of Leader abilities, enabling you to heal or repair units or call down missile strikes, mines, turrets and ODST troopers. Upgrading skills makes them even more powerful, and using them wisely can be a game-changer, turning the tide of battle when you need it most.
Halo Wars 2 suffers a little from its console limitations, but it’s a solid RTS with a strong campaign and a good overall feel for the Halo universe.
You can pick up Halo Wars 2 on Amazon here.
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