Rise of the Tomb Raider is the sequel to Crystal Dynamics' critically acclaimed Tomb Raider reboot. Following the story of Lara Croft after the events of the first game, she seeks to uncover the truth behind her father's assumed suicide. Before his death Richard Croft was researching rumors of immortality that could be found in the lost city of Kitezh and Lara follows these clues not only to uncover the mysteries of Kitezh but to find out the reasons to why her father had committed suicide.
Pros:
Engaging and interesting plot that contains both obvious and not so obvious twists.
The story further provides the player with information about Lara and her past as well as possible future.
Great voice acting across the board.
Visually spectacular locations and settings which spans across different environments in a linear open world.
Well designed zones and maps that provide the player with multiple ways to deal with enemies or puzzles.
Zones are designed to have a completion list allowing the completionists to strive towards 100% the game.
Tight controls and movements of Lara allows the player to engage the enemy smoothly.
Large arsenal of weapons and gadgets that allows the user to deal with a situation in their own style; going complete stealth or guns blazing.
Maps have multiple sources of materials from plants to animals and chests that lets the player use to upgrade their gear.
Consistency of acquiring the materials lets the player progressively upgrade their gear without being a grind or being too easy.
Whatever action Lara performs will grant experience that can be used to unlock both passive and active abilities for Lara.
Unique outfits that gives a few buffs to Lara, although the amount of buffs isn't that many.
Compared to the last game tombs are a lot better designed in that the puzzle solving is a lot more intricate.
Cons:
Somewhat short, similar to the previous games.
Although interesting the plot is predictable.
Overall, I would recommend Rise of the Tomb Raider to anyone who enjoys action adventure games. If you enjoyed the last title in the series than Rise of the Tomb Raider improves on every aspect present in the last game. The story is also picking up as it's no longer telling of Lara's origin story but more so crafting a story with interesting characters by itself.
After the Open Beta of the Doom multiplayer component, a lot of players have said that the multiplayer is mediocre and boring. Although the multiplayer is mediocre it is by no means boring. The gameplay of multiplayer is fast, action-packed and intense in a lot of situations from BUT it does also suffer from a lot of questionable design decisions and all in all it does feel quite mediocre.
Starting off with gameplay. The movement and the guns both feel perfect because they are just ported over from the singleplayer aspect. The point where the mediocrity starts to creep in is the design decisions and one of the biggest complaints most players have is the hack modules. Hack modules are basically some kind of buff added to your player to give you a slight advantage in combat. One of them shows you the cooldown on map item respawns whilst others show you the enemies health above their heads. Although these are more fair and less advantageous towards the player with them active, there are hack modules that can result in your easy victory over other players. One of them being a wall hack where the game highlights certain enemies, based on your active hack module, that allows you to see them through walls and that in itself is just broken.
The pickups in the game are fair especially the ammo and health but sometimes the armor pickups can be too overpowered on players lucky enough to get them. Giving a player more health, thus more time to kill, means that it's less of a game focused on skill but more so on luck of getting the right item at the right time. It just breaks the game to have players slightly more overpowered than other players on the field. Sadly, there is also a hack module that gives you armor at the start of the spawn. This is extremely unfair to some players as they spawn with a boon but it also helps deny the kill from players trying to kill you because of the bad spawns.
Doom suffers from some of the worst spawning I've ever seen in any game. There seems to be no consistent formula to where you and other enemies spawn. Sometimes you spawn miles away from the action whilst sometimes they spawn in right in front of 3 enemies running towards you. I can't wrap my head around the spawn system to the point where ganking is pretty much extremely difficult to pull of.
Weapons in general feel balanced although the chaingun has been overly used due to its massive damage even at range and continuous high rate of fire. Id Software's suppport of the game since release has been none to minimal. There have been complaints of certain aspects of the game the developers are not doing anything about, not even mentioning all the hackers present in the game.
Doom's multiplayer is still an extremely fun game. Just a barebones FPS game with no attachments and no perks can make the game really fun. Though this fun is torn down by the garbage addition of hack modules and the armor being slightly unbalanced.
Naughty Dogs' newest game, Uncharted 4, has released with critical acclaim across all media boards and it seems set to be in the running for game of the year. Although the game itself is quite a visual, technical and narrative marvel I personally feel that Naughty Dog has decided to take the safe route with Uncharted 4 instead of doing something 'a bit more unique' like they did with The Last of Us.
Uncharted 4 is said to be the last Uncharted game and the game was a fantastic closing chapter to the Nathan Drake story. Similar to previous titles in the franchise Uncharted 4 follows the story of Nathan Drake and his adventures through exotic and historical locations across the world. It also features parkour and climbing, a staple of all Uncharted games, mixed with puzzle solving and some gunplay. This might sound all well a good for a sequel but when compared to their previous game, The Last of Us, and the direct competitor, The Rise of the Tomb Raider, I feel that Uncharted 4 falls short in providing more content than the other two games.
Both TLOU and ROTR not only features pretty much all the gameplay in Uncharted 4 but more so it adds more elements of progression such as leveling, crafting, skills and looting. Though some may want their Uncharted experience to be a bit straight forward and let it be more of an interactive movie than an in depth game. Maybe Naughty Dog wanted to play it safe and not add any extra content and leave the extra gameplay elements to a TLOU sequel (if there ever is one) than trying to shoehorn that style of gameplay into Uncharted 4.
I can understand that adding that kind of content can cause the game to become completely different from the vision that Naughty Dog wanted to achieve with Uncharted but when I finished the game I felt like a wanted a bit more. A bit more story, a bit more actions, a bit more Uncharted BUT alas I was left slightly disappointed at the overall length of the game being around 12 hours or so. I could go back and discover all the secret treasures or notes but I'm not really the kind of gamer to go through a story focused game again so quickly. There needs to be more ways to play the game than the content already offered.
It's a fantastic game, don't get me wrong, i'll probably will play the game in a few months or years just to re-experience the story. But I just can't not feel like after all the delays, after all the effort that the game only managed 12 hours with no new mechanics and ultimately felt like a movie sequel more so than a game sequel.
Dark Souls 3 is the third entry in the Dark Souls franchise and is also the fifth game developed by FromSoftware after their cult classic Demon Souls which was directed by the genius Hidetaka Miyazaki. The series of action RPG games with brutally difficult combat has become somewhat of a group of niche titles satisfying veterans and newcomers alike. Dark Souls 3 is no different from its predecessors though that isn't a bad thing.
The third entry into the franchise started me off as Unkindled ash, risen from my grave in the Cemetery of Ash. I spend the first few moments creating my character. There are multiple classes to choose from ranging from your typical knights to mages and everything inbetween as well as the returning deprived class, a class that starts you at the lowest level and is only for those looking for a challenge in the early stages of the game. In this case I chose the knight, I knew I was eventually going to wield a greatsword and it felt right to pick a class suited to my future build.
I run around, throw a few swings of my sword just to get a feel of things and this definitely feels like Dark Souls. A few steps forward after defeating some relatively easy undead foes I see an item on the ground indicated by a glowing white ball of light and pick it up; Ashen Estus Flask. Dark Souls 3 has the addition of the mana system that existed in Demon Souls and has been brought back into Dark Souls 3. The Ashen Estus Flask is used to restore any lost mana or Focus Points as it's known in DS3, alongside the Estus Flask, your regular healing potion.
Fighting through some easy undead enemies I come upon an arena with an ominous knight kneeling in the center. Iudex Gundyr, the first boss of the game. Being someone who's adept at the combat in Dark Souls I down him on my first go. To some, Iudex's second phase may surprise and ultimately kill you if you're not careful but because of my need to spoil myself I already knew of this. I was prepared for the fight knowing full well what to expect. The second phase of other bosses is something I wasn't expecting to happen often within boss fights in the future but boy was I wrong.
After my victory over Iudex Gundyr I went onwards towards the hub of DS3, Firelink Shrine. Firelink Shrine acts as your safe place to level up, buy and sell items, upgrade and infuse weapons as well as commune with NPCs. Upon lighting the Bonfire in the centre you can rest and restore your lost Health, Focus Points and Estus Flasks ready for the next fight. The Bonfire also acts as your fast travel point, similar to that of Dark Souls 2, you can fast travel to any previously lit Bonfire as well as the first Bonfire outside the Cemetery of Ash and Firelink Shrine, The High Wall of Lothric.
The High Wall of Lothric starts off on the ramparts but the journey throughout the walls leads further deeper into the castle. There are multiple paths to take, down stairs, through doors, back up stairs, across the roofs. It feels like a maze at first but through thorough exploration and persistence the maze becomes clear. Shortcuts are created as elevators are activated, multiple entry points into previously similar looking locations are discovered. The landscape feels dense, populated by items, enemies and secrets alike. Enemies in this area are much tougher than the those in The Cemetery of Ash. This time around there are knights will swords and some with spears all of which required some deaths and learning to understand how to take them down efficiently without chugging all my Estus for one knight.
After dying multiple times BUT experiencing and learning along the way I come upon a clearing, what clearly looks like a boss room. Running forward towards the door on the other end a cutscene activates as the boss materializes, a hunk of armor with the cold flowing off of him, wielding a giant mace like weapon, Vordt of the Boreal Valley. This boss is completely different to Iudex Gundyr, extremely fast given the size with large cleave strikes, rushing across the battlefield and squashing me along with it. I die.
Dark Souls 3's combat style is a mixture of the best elements from all the previous games FromSoftware have made. It's fast and it's visceral, Stamina plays a major role in your fighting capabilities and proper management of Stamina can lead to success. Learning the attack patterns and understanding when and where to dodge allows for attacks unto the enemy whether they're a boss or regular foe.
For this boss I decided to summon some help. I consume an Ember, DS3's take on Humanity from previous Souls titles. Embers increase your maximum HP and allows for summoning of other players to assist you in your fights, it also opens you to invasions from Red Phantoms (other enemy players) that can kill you and reset your progress back to the Bonfire. The fight went much smoother and upon defeat of Vordt I gesture a thank you to my fellow co-op partner and rush onward.
After Vordt is where the game truly opens up. The landscape is much more intertwined once you're outside of Lothric Castle. The Undead Settlement is the first of many different locales that you'll explore on your journey through Lothric. The Undead Settlement was similar to Lothric Castle with multiple winding paths that all leads to one conjoined area with shortcuts and even more secrets to discover.
Although not shown in pre-release footage and screenshots the locations are varied in DS3. The Skeleton filled Catacombs return as well as what is now considered Blight Town 2.0, a poisonous swamp that will continuously afflict you with a poison debuff that slowly eats away at your health. The beautifully ominous snow covered city of Irithyll Valley and the large hallways guarded by giants in the Cathedral of the Deep and more (avoiding spoilers). All unique in their own right with fantastic visual design there to separate itself from the other locations. In your travels across these locations you will encounter NPCs, though some require some searching, and all of them have a purpose.
NPCs can be recruited back to Firelink Shrine where they'll usually act as merchants to sell you different goods based on who or what they are. Some of them have questlines which can provide better rewards as you complete each task. Though akin to Dark Souls fashion, the quests are never set in stone. They are vague messages told through dialogue of which you must discover through exploration of each area to acquire items or do specific tasks in order to satisfy their needs.
Weapons, armors, rings and miscellaneous items are scattered throughout the game, some more difficult to find than others but mostly rewarding. There are many different weapons and armors to find but some of the best items are acquired from the unique NPCs or from Boss Souls. These Souls drop after you defeat each boss and you can trade them in to acquire a unique item such as a weapon or a spell. Some bosses also offer their armors up for sale upon their defeat.
Across my adventures through Lothric and its surrounding areas I found many weapons and armor sets for me to use. DS3 follows suit with previous titles by offering a large range of weapons and armors to use but this time around weapons provide a deeper and more strategic action that wasn't present in previous titles, Weapon Arts.
Weapon Arts are a relatively unique skill that each weapon possess. Some of them are repeated across some of the more common weapons but the unique weapons have obviously unique skills. One weapon that I used for example was a unique greatsword that allowed me to do a forward flip that could do a shield break exposing the enemy to further attacks. These Weapon Arts require Focus Points so the Ashen Estus Flask isn't only used by spellcasters.
Although useful against regular foes Weapon Arts aren't nearly as useful against the bosses. DS3 features a variety of bosses, some easier than others. All bosses have a second phase where they become significantly tougher but this doesn't mean the first phase isn't any different. Each boss requires some learning and practice before you can defeat them. Though some bosses can be killed rather easily it doesn't take away from their well designed character as well as their generally unique movesets and not to mention the superb soundtrack.
Although music only plays during boss fights and in Firelink Shrine, the ambiance of the game never fails to bring about an immersive feeling as the winds howl through the snow laden landscape of the Irithyll Valley or the bubbling of the poisonous swamps of The Road of Sacrifices. It is through this ambient silence that brings so much intensity and joy whenever music plays during a boss fight.
Returning composer Motoi Sakuraba who composed Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 and Yuka Kitamura whom is best known for the their composition of the music in Bloodborne as well as a few tracks from DS2, bring in some of the best music within this franchise. Yuka Kitamura, for me personally, provides the best boss music I've heard in a long time. Their use of a choir of vocals and the violin just brings about a sense of epicness that previous titles don't match up to.
Dark Souls 3 is the culmination of the best features from all FromSoftware games within this genre. Providing a complete combat experience surrounded by a fantastically well designed and detailed and dense environment that makes this game such a joy to experience. Although sadly it isn't as long as its predecessors and with an ending far too vague to be satisfactory as a series finale it does still hold a dear place in my heart. FromSoftware have created the best Dark Souls game they could've made and I'm glad they continued to make these niche titles.
It is through this that I say Dark Souls 3 is a well deserved series finale for the Dark Souls franchise although it does play it safe by reusing locations and elements from previous games as a fanservice to those Souls veterans out there. Although some players may be distraught at the recycling of material most from Dark Souls 1 it doesn't detract from the whole experience in the slightest because FromSoftware are the creators and leaders of this niche genre and I only wish for more people to enjoy this game.
The Division is the hugely anticipated MMORPG/third-person shooter hybrid from the developers of Ubisoft Massive. Since its reveal at E3 2013, The Division has been slowly building up hype from players all around the world. Many were skeptical of the direction that Ubisoft were taking the game but many more stayed on the hype train, even through all the delays, and rode it out all the way to its release. A truly ambitious Ubisoft title as the scope of The Division is large enough that it makes some of their other large open world games such as Assassins Creed and Watch Dogs feel inferior in comparison.
Setting
The events of the game take place after the effects of a large viral pandemic during Black Friday, of which banknotes were contaminated causing widespread death and social collapse. You are one of the many sleeper agents planted throughout the United States that are the last line of defense to restoring social order and maintaining peace.
As you uncover the situation you discover that you are actually the second wave of agents to be activated. Upon this realization, you are tasked with finding out what happened to the first wave of agents that mysteriously disappeared. You assist the JTF who are the militarized section of soldiers who patrol the Manhatten streets and can sometimes provide you with backup as you engage in firefights with enemies across the map.
Central Manhattan with the Dank Zone.
Central Manhattan, New York, is where the playable area of the game is located with the centre of the map dedicated to what is known as the Dark Zone; the area that was hit hardest from the pandemic and also the region that has lost communications with the outside world making it an extremely dangerous place to venture into.
Ubisoft has definitely made the world feel dead, in a good way. The streets are littered with trash and unowned vehicles due to the panic rush the civilians had during the outbreak. Buildings are burning, shops are looted, streets are a mess due to the lack of maintenance; the world just feels like chaos and Ubisoft have done a fantastic job in replicating what it would look like if an event such as this occurs.
Many recognizable locations are available for you to explore as Ubisoft's replication of New York into a playable game zone definitely matches with reality. One of the more iconic buildings you'll recognize will be the James A. Farley Post Office where the main hub of the Base of Operations will take place in.
Gameplay
The Division is an RPG/third-person shooter hybrid. Although not completely encompassing the MMO element it does have large regions of land populated by multiple players in which you can interact with. Co-op missions can be easily initiated with its simple and easy to use matchmaking system which teams you up with players doing the same mission or activity.
The Dark Zone is the area that is more akin to an MMO PVP zone where players are not limited by any rules and players can kill and loot as they please.
The RPG elements that The Division has is a leveling system, skill/talent system and loot. Weapons do damage based on numbers and weapons may also have additional perks that are defined by their rarity and attachments.
Along side the weapon modification system there is an equally important armor system. Though not as detailed as the weapon system, the armor system is where you'll mostly be getting the necessary stats of which there are three; Firearms, Stamina and Electronics.
Proper management and gearing of this system is used to fit certain playstyles. Gearing for Firearms increases general DPS damage whilst increasing Electronics can improve Skill Power which determines the effectiveness of your skills. Though there isn't a clear cut trinity system of tanks, healers and DPS there are slight playstyles that can place you into a certain role you decide and playing towards that role can yield more advantages in combat.
Alongside this RPG system there is an equally well designed third-person combat system. The strategic Tom Clancy kind of gameplay you'd expect. You are able to take cover behind walls and vault over objects to reach better vantage points. The movement in this game is spot on. Rarely does the game ever feel unfair when you are positioning your character but sometimes the terrain can be a bit annoying when you're trying to run away from enemies.
There is also a skill system in which you can choose 2 abilities and a specialization (ultimate) ability to use from one of the 3 tech trees though are you are not limited to one.
The Medical skill tree filled with skills that supply ample healing to you and/or party members.
The Tech tree which provides advantageous tools at your disposal such as turrets and enemy tracking grenades.
The Security tree provides support abilities that help you or your party members when taking cover or when applying pressure to the enemy.
Along with these 3 skill trees you can also choose talents which are separate from the skill tree but are categorized the same and they provide passive abilities. By customizing accordingly to a certain style you can do a ton more work during firefights as you're abilities will compliment the talents and vice versa.
Content
PvE
The sandbox map is separated by leveled areas which serve as a warning only. You can venture from one side of the map to the other the moment you start playing of which the only thing that could probably stop you is the higher leveled NPCs. There are main missions scattered across each zone of which can be done solo or in a group of 4 players. These missions are more detailed in what they provide in terms of story and loot though most of the main story missions are usually just shoot at enemies and kill a boss. Although similar in scope, the experience of playing with 3 other players and providing backup to each other whilst taking on tough enemies can be an exhilarating and I find myself being able to do a lot of these missions more than once.
Across the map, in each leveled zone, there is a safehouse serving as a location to use the vendor to sell or buy and restock on ammo. Also in each zone there are Side Missions which serve as a small experience window in which you take on a task which can sometimes pit you against waves of hostiles and you defend a point or there might be missions where you help start a decontamination process of a highly contaminated area.
Encounters are mini missions which provide a basic objective based on which tech tree it is categorized under. For example, Security Encounters will most likely require you to protect fellow JTF members from hostiles forces whilst Medical Encounters task you with collecting supplies.
Each zone has a fair amount of these missions to do but can be quite repetitive as a lot of the missions are tasking you with completing the same objectives.
PvP
The PvP in The Division is limited to the Dark Zone only and is leveled separately from your PvE experience though it is recommended that you be a high level to competently deal with the threats.
In the Dark Zone players kill NPCs for loot which is contaminated meaning that they can't use it unless they call a helicopter to extract it. During these extractions other players may use this moment to go 'Rogue', this means that the player is marked on the map and have a bounty on them BUT the benefits of this is that if the Rogue Agent kills another player, they can take their loot. This mechanic creates an on the edge type feeling when you're extracting or even when you're just roaming around killing enemy NPCs.
Overall, the PvP in The Division is quite basic BUT Ubisoft said that they will be providing periodic updates to the game featuring new content and hopefully they add more activities in the Dark Zone.
Graphics/Presentation
Ubisoft have done a fantastic job with the graphics of The Division. The game looks sharp and believable coupled with the extremely well created map. New York feels real. Cars litter the streets, non-hostile NPCs walk about desperate for aid and enemy NPCs assert the dominance by killing and looting across the whole map.
The dynamic weather system and lighting system can make the whole world feel eerie. It is perpetual winter in New York and the sun's weak flare in the morning definitely sets the tone of a cold environment. The times when it snows or when a blizzard occurs can greatly reduce visibility and provide a more cautious experience as you make each step not knowing whether you'll accidentally run into and enemy or not.
Final Thoughts
The Division provides that MMORPG/third-person shooter hybrid and is one of the most fantastic experiences I've had to date. Going at the game solo or in a group provide vastly different experiences and playstyles. The RPG elements are definitely well-done, detailed but not too overly convoluted in information. Each weapon or armor upgrade always felt like it did improve your character as you leveled.
Though repetitive, this kind of gameplay only helps to improve you as a player as you tackle missions and enemies at a higher difficulty which provides a hard but fair fight. Sometimes the AI can be questionable but for the most part the game is well-balanced, extremely fun solo or in a group and a game that definitely feels like it has only more to give as Ubisoft add updates to it.
8.5/10
At launch the game would do with slightly more end game content as it is lacking in that department. The Division definitely has the core mechanics down to a T and it's been a while since I've played a game as close to this kind of balance at launch.
I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys RPG even if it is a third-person shooter, MMO loot grinding and tactical PvP.
Fallout 4 is the sequel to two of the most critically acclaimed RPGs of the last generation, Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks it's another game under the belt for Bethesda Game Studios who are known as one of the best western RPG game makers with their franchises The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Fallout 4 is no different from the rest of their games in that it provides a deep and immersive experience that other RPGs can't compete with complete with improved game mechanics and graphics engine.
Setting
[Spoiler Free]
Fallout 4 starts off in pre-war Boston. This is where you create your character and following suit with other Bethesda titles, you can make your character either male or female as well as make them whoever you want. You can be ugly or you can try to create your own perfect character. The possibilities are endless granted that they are within the limits of the human face.
After creating your character you are living in the year 2077 with your wife/husband and your infant child, Shaun. This tranquil lifestyle doesn't last as after only a few moments in your peaceful neighborhood, there are warning signs telling you to evacuate to Vault 111. You and your family run to the Vault in hopes of surviving the nuclear devastation that is occurring all over the USA and thankfully you do. You are lowered into the Vault, events occur between this and your eventual departure from the Vault into the Commonwealth, now a wasteland, 210 years later.
You awaken in the year 2287, the world as you knew it has been completely destroyed by the nuclear bombs dropped during the Great War 210 years ago. The landscape is devastated, lifeless trees and dead barren wastelands welcome you as you take your first steps into exploring this world you have found yourself in.
The world of Fallout 4 is expansive and detailed. The world space is similar to Skyrim but much more intricate and rich with many more points of interest as well as many more locations for you to explore, all designed with exceptional detail. Many locations have their own story to tell even if they aren't associated with a quest. The shear joy and intrigue from discovering and exploring these locations is what truly makes Fallout 4 one of the definitive open world experiences to date.
The region of Boston that Fallout 4 encompasses is roughly between Concord and Quincy. The whole game world is, though, somewhat separated by a dynamic leveling system in which some enemies in the lower regions of the map are much stronger compared to the enemies in the upper regions so you won't be able to completely explore the map without difficulties.
At first glance the game world might not seem as expansive and detailed but once you start taking your first steps from the the upper Commonwealth towards the skyscraper filled landscape of the Boston city region, you start really appreciate the effort and detail that went into designing many of the game's areas.
Gameplay
Bethesda have decided to change up the formula for how dialogue works in Fallout 4. Instead of your listed down options, you are given 4 options to choose from accompanied by a voiced player character. It may be weird at first hearing your character talk in a Bethesda game but it soon becomes something you get use to as many other RPGs have the same system.
What is a disappointment in the new dialogue system is the limited number of options when it comes to the choices. Although you are given the option to say yes or no, it doesn't really give you complete control over your character as in Fallout 4 you can't be that asshole or idiot like you were in previous titles in the franchise. No longer does having a low intelligence make your character mentally challenged. This also means that there won't be speech checks within dialogue.
In previous titles there would sometimes be a chance where, for example, your intelligence would be high enough for you to have a unique piece of dialogue that allows you to answer differently and in turn grant you experience and in some cases skip certain parts of the dialogue/quest objectives. This kind of check system was also apparent when you, for example, had to repair stuff. If your repair skill was high enough you'd be able to repair the object without having to find the necessary equipment a player without the specified repair skill would have to find.
The lack of this system is what makes Fallout 4 feel like a non-Fallout game. It was these moments in previous titles that truly separated this game from others where your skills and SPECIAL stat actually had a use other than in numbers or skills but as a mechanic for your character to act accordingly giving a deeper sense of immersion and roleplay.
The quests in Fallout 4 were much more unique and varied compared to the quests in Skyrim or Fallout 3/New Vegas. Because of the many more locations present in the game there was definitely more places to go and more things to do in terms of quests. Similar to previous Bethesda titles, I found myself having a large backlog of quests to complete because I was too distracted by the many other things in the game.
Even though the quests are more unique and varied it doesn't change the fact that the quests usually always end in the same way, with you finishing it properly as asked and getting the caps and experience. It would've been nice to have more variety in terms of branching quests where you are given a choice throughout the quest. And even then I wish there were more quests in the game. Skyrim's quest system had more radiant quests with more random unscripted events compared to the more tame Fallout 4. Even though Fallout 4 has more quests than previous Fallout games I felt that they needed more in general. I went to the point where I was actively searching for NPCs to talk to to get more things to do.
The main storyline has you choose a faction to side with, as per Fallout games, and take that faction with you to the end. Each faction has their own agenda and it makes for an interesting choice on which faction you join. All the them are heavily influenced by what they believe is the right thing to do and there's no middle ground which makes it really difficult to choose but even then it's a choice you'll enjoy to the end. But the ending did feel rushed. It felt as if the ending sequence wasn't spaced out properly and made you act as if there was a timer to do the objectives. It also felt as if each faction had some elements of quests and/or dialogue cut which is never a good thing.
There are multiple companions in the game all of which are very unique. They all have some back story to further fullproof their existence in the world and most of them have a unique companion quest you can do as you progressively increase your affinity with them. One of the nice things about the companions in Fallout 4 is that they will comment on actions you do, whether they like it or not, as well as comment on locations and occasionally some companions can intervene and have their own dialogue within quests as they talk to you or other NPCs. They genuinely feel alive and not just some meat shield you use to tank the bullets.
If you've played the previous Bethesda published Fallout titles you would know that the combat in the game was sub par. Bethesda has really improved upon the gameplay in Fallout 4 making it feel as if it can compete with some of the other first person shooter games that came out this year. The control, the weight, the transitions between each action has been greatly enhanced to allow the player to truly feel immersed in the experience.
Even though the combat has seen great improvements and is actually enjoyable, the iconic V.A.T.S. system is still present within the game. VATS allows you to choose an enemies body part and tactically decide which part to shoot at a percentage success rate. With each successful shot onto an enemy your CRIT bar will fill up and once it is full you can select when you wish to activate it and get a guaranteed critical hit.
Fallout 4 features its iconic Pip-Boy which is your companion device that acts as your hub to navigate item menus, maps, quests and stats etc.
As in previous titles, navigating the Pip-Boy can be hassle as you have to sometimes go through other tabs or pages in order to reach your destination. There are shortcuts on the keyboard and controllers that allow for instant access into a specific tab but you'll mostly find yourself flipping through tabs in your play time.
It's a relatively clean and well designed interface with details on equipment, weapons, aids etc as well as quests and your stats. There is little to complain about in this department other than it would be nice to have a smaller font with more lines of content for you to see instead of the constant scrolling you do with the device.
Along with your stats and S.P.E.C.I.A.L. comes the new and improved perk system that closely resembles that of Skyrim.
The perk chart features 7 columns for each SPECIAL stat each with 10 rows of perks of which each perk may have multiple levels that can total up to 229 ranks if you wish to max out the chart. The new perk chart ultimately makes your SPECIAL decision at the beginning of the game more important in terms of choosing which kind of character you wish to play as there are requirements you must meet from your SPECIAL stat to your level (of which there is no cap).
Obviously to achieve the ability to get perks you'll need to level. Gaining experience is similar to the other Fallout games in that you just do things be it from killing enemies, completing quests or discovering locations to crafting, every action will usually grant experience.
One aspect of gameplay that has been immensely improved upon is the crafting system. You can craft/mod weapons and armor. You can also work at Chemistry Stations to craft Stimpaks and/or other drugs/aids that can provide you an advantage in combat. Even power armor can be modded which in Fallout 4 is a vehicle of sorts that provides large amounts of defense and it actually makes you feel like you're in a suit of power armor.
Note: I do have a mod that removes some of the HUD from the Power Armor.
Even with the large amount of customization options in Fallout 4 you won't have access to all the mods as they will be locked behind perk requirements such as Armorer for armor mods or Gun Nut for ballistic weapon mods.
In Fallout 4 you can craft or create your own settlement. Every item in Fallout 4 will now have some use in terms of scraping the item to provide crafting materials for you to use. For example, you will need large amounts of Duct Tape or Adhesive in order to craft a lot of the armor/weapon mods.
There are multiple settlements across the Commonwealth wasteland and each settlement has miscellaneous items that can be scraped for materials. You'll find yourself scraping trees for wood or building structures for steel of which are two of the main materials used in crafting building items.
With settlements, you'll need to bring in Settlers that will need beds, food and water to live. They will also need you to provide them with defenses to stop raider attacks and along with turrets and barriers you can personally equip Settlers with armor/clothes and weapons if you so wish.
Music/Sound Design
The music in Fallout 4 was composed by Inon Zur who also composed Fallout 3 and New Vegas' soundtrack. He has truly outdone himself in Fallout 4. I find myself struggling to keep the ingame radio on because I just want to hear the invigorating and tense combat music to the calm bagpipes during the more subtle moments.
The themes employed throughout the soundtrack fits the world so perfectly. In moments of calm or exploration the music has string instruments playing a somber melody but it is complimented so well by an ever so hopeful tune of a piano in the background. In areas of forests or large natural landscapes, flutes can be heard playing fitting the area well.
The combat music in this game is tense and unnerving. The deep banging of drums makes the combat and experience feel really scary, as if you're never safe in the wasteland.
From the combat to the calm to everything in between, the music blends really well. Sometimes it's hard to tell when it starts or when it ends and, to me, it just felt like a continual soundtrack playing through the life of my character as I played.
And just for good measure, probably my favorite song so far from the soundtrack.
The sound design in the game is also another aspect that Bethesda got right. The screams the ghouls make to the roars of the deathclaws just sounds right and at the same time frightening. The buzzing of bloatflies to bloodbugs to the explosions of turrets and mini nukes. The pitter patter of rain outside as well as inside as it hits the wooden or metal roofs. The ambiance to the conversations just makes the world feel alive. You can also hear the shooting and battles in the distance adding a subtle but greatly appreciated effect that the Commonwealth is alive and doing stuff on its own.
There isn't much to complain about when it comes to the sound design other than that the ballistic weapons could have done with more tuning to differentiate or give more oomph to the impacts. The laser weapons and plasma weapons sound great but some would disagree with the laser weapons but the way it does that sound effect after the shot is just so satisfying.
Graphics/Presentation
Even though Fallout 4 may not be technically advanced in terms of animations or general graphics fidelity, Bethesda still manage to make a beautiful game.The new dynamic lighting system truly brings the world to life. The lighting is honestly one of the best aspects graphically in Fallout 4. The texture work could still do with improvements as most are still relatively low resolution and a lot of inconsistencies when it comes to texture blending. The animations are honestly pretty bad, for a 2015 game the animations don't blend well at all. Although there are improvements, the animations in the engine are starting to show their age.
Even with all the technical downsides the game has Boston still looks spectacular.The rain effects on everything is amazing. The physical based rendering in the game makes objects look like what they really are. A metal wall looks like metal, a wooden wall looks like wood, complimented by the lighting system, Fallout can look truly amazing sometimes. Especially the effects of rain on the environment and objects, everything gets a shine and there are reflections and it just looks great.
Ultimately, graphics is a subjective matter. I feel as if Bethesda have done an adequate job with Fallout 4 but they could honestly do a lot better.
Here are some screenshots of various locations for you to decide for yourself.
Conclusion
Fallout 4 is the biggest and most detailed world that Bethesda have ever created but because of that it falls short in some aspects of dialogue and detailed branching storylines. It's a more linear experience in the regard that you aren't given complete freedom of choice but are narrowly funneled down a path of righteousness as seen in Fallout 4. There was a decent amount of quests but more quests would've been nice. The storyline splits according the faction you choose making for multiple playthroughs as well as playstyles possible.
I do have to say that the combat in Fallout 4 is fantastic. It feels fluid and responsive although it would've been nice if the grenade button and heavy attack button wasn't the same button.
A lot of improvements here and there and I do have to give props to Bethesda for trying something different with the voiced character but even so, they could've done better in terms of dialogue options.
I've spent 175 hours playing so far and I'm going to keep playing as long as mods keep coming. It's a good thing that the Xbox One and PS4 are getting the mods but what mods come out for those platforms is the real question here. But even then, the modding community will keep this game alive until the next Bethesda title comes out.
Fallout 4 is a great RPG game just not a great Fallout game.
Battlefield Hardline is somewhat of a tie-in into the Battlefield series and is touted as a full standalone game with features and gameplay elements that are worth the same as a full priced AAA video game title. Contrary to what the developers and their PR staff say, Hardline is ultimately a full priced 'expansion pack' of sorts and I believe the only reason for its full price tag justification is because it's got a singleplayer story made tacked onto it.
But regardless of singleplayer, I'm here to review the multiplayer. I felt as if I've invested enough time into the game to warrant a full decision on the whole experience.
Hardline follows the unique formula of cops and robbers. The concept itself of having a cops and robbers theme is something that no game developers have done. To take upon this unique endeavor are the team who brought you the Dead Space series, Visceral Games, who were tasked, by EA of course, with the job of milking the Battlefield franchise.
Let's start with gameplay. The gameplay Hardline employs is a copy paste formula of what Battlefield 4 had. Same movement, same animations as well as some of the problems present in the old game into the new. Now granted the movement isn't completely horrible, DICE's use of the Frostbite Engine to create bad movement controls and animations seems to be a staple that the developers don't seem to want to fix. The majority of players are content with the movements but as someone who's played Call of Duty a ton, movement and control is a major factor of a first person shooter.
The movements in the game seem to want to 'realistic' more so than efficient. The reliance on the vaulting system to traverse different levels of terrain is my biggest gripe with the movement. It's inefficient and stupid. My player can't climb a wall because they're incapable of hauling themselves over causing me to have to take the long way round. Sometimes in cases where the next level up is an acceptable height and yet your character can't seem to traverse the terrain. It limits the movement and gameplay possibilities and damages the overall experience more so than improving it.
Another issue I have with movement is the unnecessary animations that occur inbetween other animations. The prone to stand, prone to crouch, falling to land to name a few. Each one of these movements will cause the player to do a unnecessary animation that causes a slight delay in the use of your weapon which can sometimes result in death. In most cases it's not much of an issue but it is an issue carried over from previous Battlefield games.
On the bright side, running around is great. Hardline takes into effect the need of rechambering bullets after you've expended a whole magazine but you don't need to do so if you reload whilst the bullet is still chambered. I've had this happen in Battlefield 4 where you would chamber a sniper rifle even when you've already chambered a bullet. Small things like this can greatly improve gameplay.
Because of the fast paced action present in Hardline, streamlining the gameplay experience is a must. Having inefficiencies with gameplay mechanics can cause frustration and I just think it's a poor design choice, limiting the player through uncontrollable instances within the game.
Now the map design present in Hardline is mediocre at best. The maps aren't large like the previous Battlefield games but the maps aren't as small as Call of Duty maps. They fit into the middle ground. In regards to the size of maps as well as the amount of players, it can sometimes get extremely clustered in some locations and the bad map design doesn't help in these cases.
Maps filled with 64 players can make the game feel like you're always walking through a mine field, not knowing where enemies spawn and such. The placement of flag points in Conquest are more inline with a square with a flag at each corner and this causes extreme chaos in the middle. This also forces the outskirts of the maps to be rendered obsolete unless you're a sniper in which case it's the best place. But because most infantry won't head in that direction, the snipers usually get a slight advantage in this case.
The maps do employ a small amount of destruction coupled with pace/game changing scripted moments such as a hole being blasted through the floor or a crane falling through the middle of the battlefield. These events do change the pace of the game but it doesn't mask the bad map design. The small amounts of destruction usually amounts in walls being blasted through soft walls such as the ones inside buildings but concrete walls 95% of the time stay up. This is especially bad when you're playing a map where vertically is key and you can't get to the higher levels of a tower because the only way up is through a choke point elevator that can easily be camped.
Maps are designed to have major points of interest at each flag spot with tons of choke points and camping spots. The inbetween pieces of land has a few pieces of cover but is usually not where you want to be. This sets the pace of the game to occur around the flags and at choke points between flags. Sometimes the choke points are linear in that one team plays a tug of war to push to the other side. Other cases it's an open battlefield with choke points on all sides making it hard to concentrate on one objective and makes deaths feel cheap when someone shoots you from an angle you weren't paying attention to.
The guns in the game feel great but their performance is otherwise. The game seems to want to reward players with the faster firing gun in most cases. I found myself being outgunned many times by a high fire rate weapon compared to my weapon which had a decent fire rate but much higher damage. Because the maps are so small, the damage to distance ratio is extremely small and assault rifles, even at 100m range, struggles to land shots on accurately or do any form of decent damage.
I do appreciate the fact that side arms are extremely useful in this game as they do pack a punch. You also have equipment to your disposal based on the class you choose. The medic class allows you to heal and revive teammates. The mechanic class lets you repair vehicles and take out vehicles with your grenade launcher. The sniper class lets you snipe, obviously, but set annoying trip mines at the doors so no one can reach you. And the support class which supplies ammo to teammates. Granted you get more than the designated class items. (Not quite sure what they are honestly, never really checked).
One thing that is a bad game design choice is limiting weapons to each faction, either the police or the robbers. A weapon you purchase and unlock from the cops side can't be used by the robbers and vice versa. This means you, in most cases, would need to purchase two weapons from each side in order to level the playing field with both factions. An example would be that each side has only one other sniper rifle you can buy and they both cost around $54000 which takes, maybe 3 or so hours to acquire. This makes it 6 hours to unlock two of the same weapons but different models for each faction. It just puts a strain on unlocking and really limits what you want to try out and purchase.
It also doesn't help that there are so little weapons in the game. Each class has no more than maybe 8 weapons for purchase of which are split up into for example, the sniper class has 3 snipers, 2 semi autos and 1 WW2 weapon. This is one of the biggest reasons people were upset with Hardline, the amount of weapons were so limited that you would usually buy one gun and stick with it throughout the game.
A quick rundown on some of the gamemodes; (I didn't get to play them all mostly because no servers were running them)
Conquest is your basic conquest of capture the flags and hold them for more points.
Blood Money has you verse the other team is trying to grab the most cash from a pile in the center of the map and bringing it back to your base. An OK game mode, nothing to special but nothing too bad about it other than most players just camping the cash stash for kills.
Heist is where the robbers are trying to steal 2 packages and get them securely back to a specified destination. In most cases the police will always have one placed locked down so hard that it's near impossible to win because there is usually one choke point to the objective.
Team Deathmatch, self explanatory.
Hardline isn't worth the price it's asking for. It's basically filler content for players until the next Battlefield game comes out, it being Battlefront. I do believe that there are still more players playing BF4 than Hardline on all systems. Hardline ultimately, to me, feels like a tacked on experience with minimal effort to improve on the given formula but instead treads towards the deep end of shit of somehow making an OK formula slightly worse. The price it's asking for is shameful at best. With the amount of content you are given at release, the game isn't worth the time unless you're FPS starved like I was. Through all the complaints I will say the game works and it runs well on PS4. I don't think it has gotten any support in terms of major patches to fix bugs and glitches but we'll have to see.
