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Sunday, 30 June 2013
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
The Last Of Us DLC: Whose Story Could It Follow?
Some spoilers for The Last Of Us will be featured in this article. Please finish the game and come back when if don’t want anything to be spoiled!
The Last Of Us has now been released for PlayStation 3 and, like me, many people, have finished the game. While this is in itself a sad prospect, the full emotional blow of the game’s ending is softened by the knowledge that there will be downloadable content. Story-based downloadable content. HUZZAH! Naughty Dog’s story in the main game has been emotional and pure genius, so I cannot wait for the next part of The Last Of Us’ narrative. In the typical style, the downloadable content will probably be kept under wraps until closer to release, which is also unknown. What we can do is speculate with mild spoilerific (yes, that is a word) discussion. What do we think will be featured in the story-driven DLC?
Joel and Ellie - After all of that work that Naughty Dog have put in to make Joel and Ellie look good and for the system that makes the duo-based gameplay work so well, would they really drop it so soon? I don’t think so. Almost all of our thoughts turn to the couple dynamic, so dropping this feature would almost be impossible. There are some possibilities for the main protagonists. Naughty Dog could bring the two characters to one of the cities in the game that we didn’t see them pass through. Concept art for the game featured areas that didn’t make it into the finished product (below) and they could have been cut completely for DLC purposes.
While this would happen in the same sort of time during which the game takes place, the developer could also bring to the table a sort of epilogue. While it would be hard to follow on from THAT ending, if anyone can it would be Naughty Dog. Could we see Ellie and Joel trying to earn their keep in Tommy’s society by undertaking tasks such as gathering food and supplies? Quite possibly. This also offers up the opportunity to expand the character’s abilities such as more items to craft or to find in the environment.
Tommy and Joel - Following on from the idea that Joel and Ellie must earn their keep, could we see Joel and his brother Tommy go out together to pursue enemies like Tess and Joel did in the first section of the game? A second more interesting idea is that we could see the two brothers surviving before the main part of the game begins, after Sarah dies. How did Tommy join the Fireflies? What really happened between them that they didn’t keep in touch? How did they get to Boston’s quarantine zone? Unanswered questions like these could be prime material to explore. These two characters, being brothers who have had a rocky relationship with one another, could set the developer up for even more emotional pull (If my heart can take any more after the Giraffe scene).
Marlene and Ellie - On the opposite side of the spectrum is focusing on Ellie before the outbreak and before her infection. The death of her mother is spelled out to us, which is why Ellie is so close to Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies. Ellie trusts her completely and doesn’t want to travel without her when we first meet her in Boston, and that would be an interesting dynamic. What effect did Ellie’s mom have on Marlene and even Ellie herself? It would be interesting to see how those events shaped the Ellie we met in the main story.
Even without Ellie present, Naughty Dog could weave the story of how Marlene reached the Fireflies and got to where she was before the fateful hospital finale. This would run simultaneously to the main story’s timeline and we could see her reach some of the same landmarks that we saw Joel and Ellie explore in a different way, and through different eyes.
Bill and Frank - Bill was one of my favorite characters in The Last Of Us. While giving us a badass introduction (cutting a zombie’s head off style introduction) he gave the sometimes somber tone a much needed break. The banter that flowed between him and Ellie was brilliant. We found a more sad side toward the end of his game time when Joel found a note from his partner Frank. Bills seemed to care about him a lot and as it turns out, Frank hated his guts. This sort of emotion could fit well within the realms of The Last Of Us’ tone and story. We could be shown them together and subsequently find out what finally made Frank try to escape and to take the engine. Anyone else think this would work?
Henry and Sam – The sad story of the two brothers we encountered while crossing the country. They were in the same situation as Joel and Ellie and quickly became good friends after some small troubles involving running off. Just as Naughty Dog allowed us to warm to the two characters, they were taken away from us in a heart wrenching sequence where the Sam turned. While they were more of a fleeting alliance, they were interesting characters and were given too small a part in our story. We could see them trying to survive up until the point where Joel and Ellie run into them, and playing as the brothers would give for a great lead up to their untimely demise and make it even more sad to see them go again.
David – Now this would possibly be a more dark choice for a DLC side story. David is the man that captures Ellie in the Winter section of the game. Not only is he a cannibal, it is also hinted (according to the Wiki and some of the parts of the game) that he is a pedophile. It is not entirely clear whether this is how he has become a a result of the harsh and unforgiving nature of a broken world or if he was like this before the outbreak. If it was the former, it would be interesting to see how this person reacted to the fall of society and how his experiences compared to those of Joel and others.
Sunday, 23 June 2013
The Biggest Problem With The Last Of Us
There are some major spoilers regarding The Last Of Us in this article.
BEWARE OF SPOILERS.
Don’t say you haven’t been warned.
The Last Of Us is a game with many, many positive points in favor of it being one of the best games of all time. The sheer emotion that you feel when you watch the animations and hear the voice acting play out in front of you in both the cutscenes and sometimes in the gameplay is something that I have not felt in a game for a long time. Just like with Uncharted, Naughty Dog created a truly amazing game that is rivaled in its story by very few. With this comes a large problem after the completion of the game.
As soon as I had completed the main story on Hard mode, I wanted to start it again on Survivor or New Game+, which I did. Booting up the game a second time, I did not feel in any way as attached to the game as I had been before. There was none of the magic and gloss that I found to make the game amazing. After the first playthrough, when you have seen all there is to see of the main story, to replay the game means that there is no more wanting to see what was next. This is obviously not an isolated incident, but the way in which The Last Of Us was marketed to us, building up the hype till we got the game and played through with a certain amount of curiosity, was what makes this stand out from other games.
If you have played the game through the first time, I would guess that some people would agree with me that it is not like other games. The characters really enthrall and many lots of the artifacts and scavenged supplies are fun to find and are unique. The second time is when it gets more like a game. I played through the first time searching for the right equipment and if I happened to find a collectible along my travels, great! When playing the second time I found myself more inclined to search for the collectibles and that was because it was the only thing that was unknown to me anymore. Gone was the sheer terror I felt when Ellie ran away, with me thinking the worst, only to be confronted by that giraffe which was a touching moment to say the least. There was pure indifference. Gone is the emotional pressure that you feel when Joel lies right to Ellie’s face in the last cutscene.
One of the worst parts of this experience was the realization that this was just a game. On a second playthrough you are less invested and less excited to see what is next, you already know. The combat is no longer fun and the stealth is no longer tense. You know what is round every corner and what is happening as Naughty Dog’s closely crafted masterpiece has already hit you at all of the right notes. I thought about the ending, of Joel’s selfish choice of saving Ellie over the possibility of saving EVERYONE, and I also thought about how the game made me feel at various points (such as the Firefly lab, the disappointment when they are no longer using the facility is overwhelming and, while it is a small section in a large game, the fact that it pulled at my emotions was the interesting part) long after I finished.
The disappointment in knowing that the second playthrough will never render me the same feelings that I did through the first is a problem that is not Naughty Dog’s fault. They have crafted a perfectly pitched story and left me wanting more.
Watch Dogs Multiplayer Video Leaked
Watch Dogs, Ubisoft’s ambitious open world game for current and next generation platforms has been shrouded in secrecy since the announcement at E3 2012. Only a handful of presentations have been showcasing some of the game’s best features but one part of the game that is completely mysterious is the multiplayer segments of the game.
We have already been told that other players can help you using the second screen features that the next generation consoles use however there has been allusions to things much larger and complex than we have seen. During the demos, occasionally another players name will appear and will attempt to hack the main character. While you can counter hack the person in the demo and stop them from gaining access, the excitement that this potential brings is massive. A video has been leaked which shows one way the multiplayer mode works. It could be one of many features or it could be the only mode that is available.
The video above shows the player being hacked by a separate player somewhere in close proximity. Your task is to find the hacker, creating a line of sight with them so that you can identify them as being a hacker, and eliminate them or get them to run fa enough away from you that they can no longer hack your character’s phone. After the chase in the video, the tables are turned and you must try to hack another player, following them until you are close enough to hack their phone. Once the hack has started, you need to hide for a long enough period of time until you have finished a download which “expands your hacking network.”
There seems to be a large area to play with in the multiplayer, which seems promising. Could the whole city be included? This would be very exciting.
Watch Dogs is being released for PlayStation 3 and 4, Xbox One and 360, PC and the Wii U.
Nintendo: Should They Go The Way Of The Segasaur?
E3 has been an exciting one this year. New games and consoles were paraded in full, flexing their imagination and uniqueness to the gaming industry masses. That was describing Sony and Microsoft. The other giant in gaming is Nintendo and where were they? Hiding on their Nintendo Direct presentation with nothing to show that was unique or imaginative. Could Nintendo go the way of Sega, who descended into making purely games for other consoles rather than create their own? Quite possibly.
Here’s the story, Nintendo’s Wii U has been troubled since its announcement. There has been a confusion in what the console actually offers over the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 while Nintendo seems unable to give a real plus point themselves. VGchartz has the total global sales of Nintendo’s Wii U at only 3.12 million and while that number may be off by a slight amount, there is no doubt in anyone’s book that the console is struggling, much like Sony’s PlayStation Vita. There is a difference with the Vita as the handheld will soon have a larger purpose, being used as a sort of second screen for its bigger brother the PlayStation 4. Quite in contrast, the Wii U seems to be doomed to continue with no real purpose further than to churn out identical Mario games and multi-platform games with gimmicky touch features. Which leads us nicely into the games.
Especially difficult to pinpoint is Nintendo’s focus on games. E3 brought us news on the exclusive Bayonetta 2, hardly a killer game for the system, and games that will likely be better and sell better on other platforms such as Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag and Batman: Arkham Origins. While it seems that Wii U has the most exclusives on paper, the reality is far from promising. Mario Kart 8, Wii Fit U, Wii Party U, Super Mario 3D World, New Super Luigi U, Game & Wario, Yarn Yoshi and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Breeze are far from different from anything we have seen before. Nintendo are floundering, kept alive by the nostalgia of their biggest franchises. Seriously, Call of Duty makes no changes to gameplay, only adding in new guns every time while Nintendo releases identical Mario and Mario variants every year with only different suits setting each one apart. Who gets slaughtered by the media and which continues to be loved by everyone and their mother? I don’t need to tell you the answer to that do I?
Sega dropped out of the console business after poor sales and hefty competition from other sectors of the industry. This is something Nintendo are facing right this very second with their Wii U. Let me interject something, I am not talking about the 3DS as despite the poor start, the console pulled back and is doing wonderfully, the difference here is that the competition in the home console market is getting bigger and better by the week. Could Nintendo pull a Sega and start creating their biggest titles for other companies? I know it is a difficult idea to come to terms with, but if successful, the Japanese company could start seeing some really nice numbers.
Nintendo own some of the biggest selling games in the world. Pokemon, Mario, Zelda and others all sell extremely well in the past and only time will tell whether they will sell systems alone. Nintendo would ship many more copies of each games were they available for other platforms such as the upcoming PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles. One particular area that Nintendo would be wise to expand into is the mobile market with Android and Apple waiting. This way, the games that many know and love but are not enough to force them to buy whole hardware for it.
What do you think? Would Nintendo be wise to expand into other consoles and leave their home console division behind them?
E3 2013: PlayStation 4 Price Is Official
Finally, we know the price of the next generation console from Sony. It severely undercuts Microsoft.
At E3 2013, Sony announced that their PlayStation 4 console will debut at a price of $399/£349. This compares against the Xbox One as being $100 below the price of Microsoft’s console, which will really hurt the console manufacturer even more as Sony already took a shot at them when announcing that there will be no DRM implemented in the console.
There is no concrete date for release as of yet, but a Holiday 2013 is all we are going to get for now it seems. Don’t expect it too far apart from Microsoft’s November release date for the Xbox One.
Is this a better price for your next generation needs? Let us know in the comments below!
E3 2013: Destiny First Gameplay
Sony has revealed the very first gameplay footage of Destiny, Bungie’s new game.
Playing on a PlayStation 4, Sony showed off first images from the game including combat and certain special features including a Ghost which flies around lighting up areas and fixing things. The Ghost did however bring attention to the players, meaning that enemies had to be dealt with ending in a boss battle which, after being defeated, left a tonne of cool loot.
The gameplay showcased the MMO aspect of the game with the main player meeting up with friends and allies along the path and helped each other fight off the enemies. Towards the end of the gameplay, a “public event” was triggered which brought together many different players to defeat larger numbers of enemies of larger sizes. This particularly looked exciting. Look forward to a preview on Leviathyn in the coming days.
A short trailer was also released:
PlayStation have also entered into an exclusive partnership with Bungie.
E3 2013: PS4 Has NO DRM
It is official, Sony’s PlayStation 4 has NO DRM restrictions. AT ALL.
To rapturous applause, Sony revealed that the PlayStation 4 will not stop anyone from selling, lending, renting or keep it forever unlike the Xbox One.
The console does not need to be online to play your games, meaning single player continues to be single player. It will also not ask you to check your games every day which means that if you do not check your games every day, the console will not stop you from playing your games like the Xbox One currently does.
This is a massive hit out at Microsoft’s restrictive access on their next generation console.
E3 2013: Elder Scrolls Online For PS4
Sony announced today at E3 2013 that they would be having Elder Scrolls Online for PlayStation 4.
Elder Scrolls Online will be in a new partnership with Bethesda Softworks for the PlayStation 4 next generation console. The Elder Scrolls Online will also have an exclusive Beta that will be on PlayStation FIRST before the PC.
This is a major deal for Sony as The Elder Scrolls Online is one of the most anticipated games coming up in the future.
Check back here for more when we get it.
E3 2013: Kingdom Hearts III Revealed
Sony has continued to reveal exciting new games by announcing the next Kingdom Hearts game, Kingdom Hearts III for the PlayStation 4.
Sony announced Kingdom Hearts III after showing Final Fantasy XV from Square Enix. The game does not have a release date but is said to be “Now In Development” at Square Enix and Disney. It was shown off with a short teaser followed by even shorter gameplay section. There were no real details except for that the game exists.
We will update the story if we get any more information on Kingdom Hearts III. Rest assured, it is coming.
E3 2013: Sony Reveals Indie Games Plan
Adam Boyes, Sony Head of Third Party Relations came on stage to announce the introduction of an indie game created by Super Giant Games, creators of Bastion, followed by a raft of other indie developers supporting Sony’s next generation console exclusively.
Two of the employees of the company came on stage to show Transistor, a new indie game for the PlayStation 4. A stylized looking game that plays from a top down perspective. From the trailer, the game looks quite exciting.
Indie developers can now also publish their own games to the PlayStation Store. There is also a new section for the PlayStation Store specifically for indie games.
Klei Games, Tribute Games, Young Horses, Switchblade Monkeys, Red Barrels and 17 Bit Games are among the many indie developers being lined up for exclusive console debuts on the PlayStation 4.
E3 2013: Santa Monica and Ready At Dawn Reveal The Order: 1886
Today at Sony’s E3 presentation, a new IP created by Santa Monica and Ready at Dawn Studios.
Announced through a trailer, the video featured a combination of old time London and new weapons and transport systems. The game, called 1886, showed off the in game engine running the trailer of a group of heroes battling creatures who were obscured by fog. This seems to be an exciting new game by a great group of developers.
30 new games were also said to be in development for the PlayStation 4 next generation console by the Sony Worldwide Studios. 18 of these will be new IPs. Both of these numbers are impressive to say the least. The Order: 1886 is one of these 12 promised IPs. This is a difference to the 15 exclusives promised by Microsoft and makes next generations bid for dominance all the more exciting with many new IPs coming our way.
Keep with Leviathyn for more as we get it on The Order: 1886.
http://leviathyn.com/games/news/2013/06/10/e3-2013-santa-monica-and-ready-at-dawn-reveal-the-order-1886/
Xbox One: Insomniac Games Reveal Sunset Overdrive
Ted Price from Insomniac Games came on stage to reveal an open world game from the company for Xbox One.
Sunset Overdrive is a third person action game set in an open world. The trailer showed a very stylized graphic choice along with a free running element overemphasized to make it slightly silly looking, as per Insomniac’s previous games like Ratchet and Clank.
If this is an exclusive, it will mark the first time that Insomniac release a game that isn’t released on a Sony console, turning full circle from being a Sony exclusive game company.
Click BELOW for the announcement VIDEO:
http://leviathyn.com/games/news/2013/06/10/xbox-one-insomniac-games-reveal-sunset-overdrive/
http://leviathyn.com/games/news/2013/06/10/xbox-one-insomniac-games-reveal-sunset-overdrive/
Xbox One: Ryse: Son Of Rome Revealed
Revealed intially with a stylish CGI trailer ending with a Roman Soldier, Microsoft showed off the close to completion version of Crytek’s Ryse: Son Of Rome.
First revealed to the public at E3 2011 with a debut trailer but no gameplay, many had thought that the silence since was telling. Now they have revealed full gameplay and it looks pretty nice.
Following the initial trailer, Microsoft showed off a gameplay video showing off gory deaths such as a man with an arrow through his eye, explosions and lots of Roman soldiers storming a beach while hacking down enemies. The graphics shown on the game were very impressive, lighting and character models being a standout and the gameplay was interesting showing QTE close-quarters combat and utilizing the age old combat technique of the Roman phalanx (look it up, it was cool). According to the developer, the game will allow you to control your army of Roman soldiers on the battlefield as you are their General.
The game is being created by Crytek Games, the developers of the Crysis series of games and also the creators of the CryEngine technology. The newest CryEngine will be utilized in Ryse: Son Of Rome to bring cutting edge visuals to the next generation Microsoft console.
Playable at E3 2013, the game will be coming to the next generation Xbox One console at launch in November.
Is this an exciting game to you? Would Crytek entice you with a Roman soldier based third person game? Let us know in the comments.
RUMOR: Battlefield 4 Alpha Screens Leaked
Another month and yet another batch of Battlefield 4 screens. This time around however, there is no official release by EA or DICE, instead they have been leaked onto the site imgur. Images of the game’s alpha stage were among the leaked images and are quite interesting.
The images popped up over 14 hours ago on the picture sharing site and has since been viewed over 29,000 times (at the time of publication). In some of the leaked images, there is gameplay and different settings to be seen. There is also shots of the current home screen for the game which looks incredibly similar to the Battlefield 3 home screen, with the same options including Multiplayer and My Soldier. Gameplay wise there is not much to be said for the screenshots as they are very early builds of the maps and only feature certain blank areas such as offices in a sky scraper and a place that is next to the sea. There is the inclusion of tanks, a Battlefield favorite, returning according to the screens and multiple vehicles such as trucks and jeeps. Basic damage also features in some of them.
Also detailed in the shots are some of the possibilities for customization. There are the familiar dog tags which have been used before in Battlefield games, a side arm (labelled the QSZ-92 for anyone that wants to know) and other familiar primary weapons such as the SV-98 sniper rifle. Each class comes with a presentation of how your character looks in game alongside the chosen weapons and specializations.
For the full 59 images go here.
As we do not know for certain where these images have originated from class this under rumor for now. The settings and user interface lend themselves heavily towards Battlefield 3 so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that these may have been faked. Stay with us at Leviathyn for more news as we get it!
Here are a selection of some of the images:
E3 2013: 3 Great Sequel Reveals That Would Make It Amazing
E3 2013 is right around the corner and as usual, everyone in the industry is looking forward to the newest games and technology. This year’s E3 is one of the most exciting of recent memory as Microsoft and Sony must back the next generation consoles with new and exciting games that will help to make their respective consoles the must-have piece of hardware for the next few years. Naturally there are numerous games that different fans would love to see be revealed that would make this the best E3 yet. And while next generation consoles are built upon their new IPs, sequels must be released in tandem with the new games to keep the industry moving. Here are some of the games that I would love to see revealed!
Beyond Good and Evil 2: One of my favorite games of all time was the first Beyond Good and Evil game. Set on another world inhabited by many beautiful creatures, you were tasked with controlling a photographic journalist through a web of alien conspiracy and saving Hillys (the main area in the game) from the DomZ. The concept was unique, the graphics at the time were good for a PlayStation 2 / Xbox era game, and the gameplay was interesting and fun. Unfortunately, the game did not sell nearly enough copies as Ubisoft had hoped for a game with such lofty ambitions, putting the planned sequels on a shelf somewhere. Flash forward to 2008 at Ubidays and the publisher released a pretty teaser trailer. In the years since then there has been relative silence, with the exception of a few leaked images and videos while Ubisoft and Michael Ancel, the creator of the game, kept stressing to the press that the game was in no way cancelled. With Ancel free to pursue the game, as Rayman Legends has essentially finished development, I hold the hope hat we will at least see a tease of real graphics from the game for next generation. The original concept for the game sounded a lot like Mass Effect, hopping around a galaxy, however the final product was limited by the technical abilities of the time. Could next generation give Ubisoft the power needed to build a fully realized world? E3 2013 would be the perfect time to let us know!
Mirror’s Edge 2: This is a game that has been teased for a while now, and various outlets have spilled a possible announcement of the game, making it entirely possible that there will be such an announcement at E3 2013, maybe even with gameplay footage. A sequel to another brilliantly unique game that didn’t live up to expectations, Mirror’s Edge 2 would do wonders if it became a launch title for next generation using the new Frostbite engine created by developers DICE. Blending first person perspective with free running across a city skyline was breath taking, as well as a little sickening at times. Another unique point was that the game was released in the time when every game wanted to emulate the Call of Duty success while Mirror’s Edge was a first person game with very minimal shooting! Maybe that is why it went under the radar at the time. I have already written an article onhow DICE could make the sequel great, and now all we have to do is wait for the reveal.
Uncharted 4: While this would certainly be a PlayStation exclusive, Uncharted is an undeniably high quality franchise that many people would love to see return on the next generation console. Following the likable Nathan Drake on globetrotting adventures, the games reached a peak at the second game, meaning the third game saw a marked drop in fun and story but still kept that spark that interested many people. A fourth entry to the franchise would undoubtedly turn heads towards the PlayStation 4. E3 would be the perfect time to announce this game, as Uncharted games have always led the way on the PlayStation 3 in terms of the graphical abilities. And to lead the way into next generation, giving the same jaw dropping vistas and action as the Killzone: Shadowfall demo or even surpass it would be awesome. Even just a teaser image of the title of the game would be enough to set crowds going wild and set imaginations free with ideas about what Naughty Dog could tackle next to innovate yet again.
OUTSIDE BET – Half – Life 3: HA.
Benicio Del Toro Will Be In Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy, the final piece of the Marvel film universe ‘Phase 2′, has been searching for actors and actresses for a while now and, in addition to many other high profile names, has cast an actor who is respected highly in the acting world: Benicio Del Toro.
Deadline reported the news that Benicio Del Toro (Traffic, Che) will be cast in a currently unspecified role in the film which is set around a group of superheros in space. The website reports that “They are keeping his role under wraps, but he’s playing a character that is built to be part of future Marvel films, which means he has signed a deal with options that put him into multiple movies.” Meaning the role he will take will be a significant one that, if successful, will show up in cameos and full films for the next phase.
Guardians of the Galaxy will feature Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, the leader of the Guardians who is part human and part alien, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, a human who was reborn as a green warrior, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, an alien who is a skilled assassin and this time she will be green and not blue as in Avatar. The cast of the film also include Michael Rooker as well as Lee Pace and Karen Gillan.
With the film being a totally new direction for the Marvel film universe and the film presumably having low prior knowledge in comparison to films such as Iron Man and The Avengers, this depth and quality of the cast will be sure to attract even the most casual of audiences.
Guardians of the Galaxy releases 1st of August 2014 and is directed by James Gunn.
Are you excited for Guardians of the Galaxy? Who will Del Toro play?
http://leviathyn.com/entertainment/movies/2013/06/04/benicio-del-toro-will-be-in-guardians-of-the-galaxy/
Games That Garnered Too Much Praise This Generation
This generation has thrown up both great games, good games, bad games and utterly terrible games. There is also an even worse category, however, and that is the overrated games. Games that are hyped up by their respective players and journalists to the point that many believe in their very hearts that the game was amazing and genius. While some of these games are not bad games, they may be good games that have had their good parts overblown to make it seem so great that nothing compares. Others meanwhile, are just bad but due to various reasons, are thought to be great nonetheless, with their bad points being ignored.
Gears of War – This was one of the games that I found myself jumping on the hype train for. After owning a PlayStation 3 for long enough, I went and got myself and Xbox to see what everyone was raving about and join in on the fun. Disappointed was the first word that came to mind. There was not one thing that I can put my finger on as being unique or interesting enough to warrant a sequel, let alone two sequels and a prequel. Characters seemed very monotonous and the same could be said for the plot of the story. It occurs to me now that, had this been a first person shooter primarily, the game would have been panned by critics and gamers alike, however the game was in third person and received much acclaim. Chainsaws and a gun combined seemed to be the most memorable part of the game and even that isn’t exactly revolutionary, someone blatantly listed cool and gory combinations and chose the best one. Everything seemed a bit ‘meh’ from the game and it certainly didn’t deserve the hype that many an Xbox player gave it.
Gran Turismo 5 – Just down right boring. Seriously, this game was not worth the amount of money I had put down for it. While the graphics were stellar and there were a large range of cars on offer, there was always an air to the game that it lacked interesting features. Sometimes, winning a race did not feel rewarding regardless of how difficult it was due to the sheer numbness that I felt at the virtual wheel of my virtual car. I kept thinking, “Why did I wait so long for this game?” I then responded with “Because I am a sucker for graphics.” On release, there was not even damage to the cars which made you almost invincible! The multiplayer on the game was exactly the same and could not save the game any more than the range of cars could. There was no soul to this game that I could speak of and it astounds me to this day that it could sell millions of copies worldwide.
Dishonored – Don’t get me wrong, this was a good game by any standard, but not as good as many people were making out. Dishonored gives the player a large amount of freedom to do what the game wants you to in the way that you want. So Corvo must go and assassinate one person, which you can take many routes to get to in a relatively big area, but no matter what, you have to get there and dispose of (or save) that one person with little to nothing in between. A more open world game would have suited the powers and decision making more than what is on offer here. Add into it a very predictable plot and supposedly numerous endings, which equates to about three which each have minor variations which apparently means there are more than three. The gameplay and powers of the game were to be commended and there were times where I felt that it did things that no other game has successfully given me (swimming up a pipe to enter a building… AS A FISH) but the story took me out of the world.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – This should not have been a game. Put quite simply, while the graphics, story and gameplay were very good throughout and there were nice additions such as camouflage and other toys, there was far too little to DO. I was increasingly frustrated by the cut scenes. OK, this is not an unheard of complaint with Metal Gear Solid 4, but seriously, it impacted the amount of fun I could have had drastically. If Kojima had wanted to tell me things in his most bloated and unnecessary way I am quite sure that a film studio would love to take him up on it. Leave it out of games. There has been an argument focused on whether story is the most important thing within the games we play, and I agree that story should be one of the first things that is put into the game ahead of graphics, but not when it comes at the cost of actually PLAYING the game. I payed for a game and not a film, I want to be in control of the game and not watch it pass by. That is what YouTube is for guys.
This was my reaction too after the third hour of cut scenes
Resistance 3 – This game has been one of my pet peeves since its release in 2011. Why may you ask? Well, upon playing through the game, I found myself gradually feeling more and more annoyed at it. While on comments across the internet, many gamers lavished praise on the game, I sat and tried my best to like the shooter. What I kept finding was ridiculous enemy spawning, which was noticeable in the first few levels when I found myself relieved at beating a second large group of identi-kit enemies only to be set upon by a third group dropped from a ship, the same ship as the past two times, and a generic shooting experience overlayed with a decent story that was seemingly explored through various cut scenes and not in the gameplay itself. There were some saving graces in the game, the variety of guns and their specialties felt interesting, even if there were times when they ended up aiding the mindless shooting, in addition to generally good graphics in both gameplay and cut scenes. One of my most memorable fails from the game was during the giant spider boss fight (which in itself isn’t even unique) where, upon landing the killing shot to my enemy, the game glitched and prevented me from doing anything but exploring the small boss area until I got bored and reloaded my save from before the fight.
These are my examples of the games, I accept that some may disagree and complain but this is my opinion. Give your most overrated games in the comments below!
Mirror’s Edge 2: How To Make The Game Great
Mirror’s Edge was one of those games that was amazing in a very unique way but failed to sell to the same standards as other franchises. This has been the story of many games and films over the years which, despite their genius and fun, the larger world failed to so much as notice. Probably, the first thing people saw was a first person game being released in a swathe of COD clones that didn’t feature a gun as the main weapon. VGChartz lists the game as selling 1.09 million in total as of 18th of May 2013 and while that is no small amount, by many standards and especially DICE and EA’s lofty standards, the game was not the mega hit they might have been expecting. The game did garner a large fanbase enough to heckle EA into considering the game for a sequel and recent rumors have suggested a next generation sequel will be coming. What would make the game good enough to draw in a larger group of players and make it great enough for the fans to view it as a worthy successor to the first game.
Keep to the same style of graphics – The very unique and initially jarring graphics of the game were astounding. Vivid colors, reds and blues, contrasted the bright whiteness of the city, which says that a constantly watching society ends in a ridiculously clean society. There was a subtle use of these for hints as to where to go, where to jump, where to wall run and climb in the environment which made it more than just stunning eye candy. While DICE uses their new Frostbite engine to market Battlefield 4′s new graphical prowess, they may be using the same tech to blind us with the next generation of the bright, clean city. This should stay the same for the new game as it is one of the main reasons that the game was unique, it sets it apart from the Battlefield franchise without even playing it. It is synonymous with Mirror’s Edge now and for a sequel, changing the style would result in confusion between the first and second games, unless the change was explained in the story (for example, the city has rebelled and people are putting graffiti across the city and the clean has become dirt).
Barely use guns, or NO guns at all – Mirror’s Edge was the a first person game that avoided guns unless you went out of your way to find them and even if you did stand and fight, chances are you or your ammunition would not last very long. Much of the time running was the best possible optiona nd made the game fast paced and breathtaking. When guns were introduced in the final third of the game for large sections, there was the sense that the game had become just another FPS, a shooter just like the others. There was probably a way to get through the game without one use of a gun but to be honest it was difficult to resist using them in the final moments. For the next game there must be the same martial arts style fighting with more finishing moves to add depth to the gameplay while simplifying the disarm technique (I remember it being insanely difficult to disarm enemies with harder difficulties). If guns must be included for certain sections, why not make the environment feature things that when shot, hurts enemies or distracts them when shot rather than being forced to head on run into confrontation.
A longer story, less trial runs – The story of Mirror’s Edge was notoriously short. You could run through the game once you knew the paths in a few short hours as you find quicker and quicker ways to traverse the world. Now, while this was an interesting mechanic, there was no reason to find these quicker ways except for improving your time on a leaderboard. This lead to many people purely playing through the game once and finding it an unfulfilling experience. In the second game, there could be separate paths or dynamically changing environments every time during the story mode, like fences that are present one run through and not the second time, that feature upgrades or more info about the world you inhabit as an incentive. This would extend playing time. Or, if the game was to be really adventurous and do an open world or semi open levels, the game would be much more fun. There should also be the arcade style timed runs as they turned out to be very fun with the intuitive control system in place.
Better boss type battles – One of the main things that stuck in my head to criticize the first game was that the guys you had to stop that were vital to the story were beaten by pressing a single button at the right time to push them off you and… that was it. Seriously? I don’t know why it was chosen to tackle battles this way but it ruins the pure immersion that I felt while inside this wonderful world that DICE created. Why not try to actually have a battle that consists of more than chasing and pressing one button once you catch them? Even if the developers wanted us to still defeat our enemies in the same way, why not implement a small stealth element that allows us to climb our way around them in silence and take them down as long as they don’t see you. If they do, THEN we could chase them.
What would you like to see in a future Mirror’s Edge game? Was the first a fond memory for you? Let us know in the comments below!
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