Galactic Diary 20/01/3301

Name: CMDR Tickle

Date: 20/01/3301

Location: HARTSFIELD PLANT, POTRITI SYSTEM

The day began like any other and as was becoming the norm I perused the contracts board only to find nothing suitable, I'm not some terrified hauler waiting for my cargo to be jacked by pirates I'm the guy waiting for the pirates to come so I can claim the bounties on their damn heads. Like I said though there was nothing for me here so I headed back to my trusty sidewinder, did my pre-flight checks and took off towards Tuan Orbital hoping that the rumours about there being work were not unfounded.

It never ceases to amaze me how empty space is and yet every time I venture out into the void there's always something new to be found and hey if it means I can sell my scan data to the people in cartographics then I'm more than happy to help. One uneventful supercruise later and Tuan Oribital was within my sights, I opened up my comms to get docking permission because the last thing I need is to be blown out of existence by some two-bit station. It was only after I had docked that I discovered this place was controlled by The Gold Mafia and that only ever means one thing, money to be made here. It seemed the rumours about work were true, not long after I landed I received a message about a gang of pirates in the Apoyota system that needed eliminating and the pay was more than worth the risk so I didn't waste any time, I left the station and made the jump to Apoyota. 

I don't quite recall what happened next but the long and the short of it is that I may, MAY, have drifted a bit closer to a Red Dwarf star than intended and damaged my hull, not wanting to risk fighting the pirates with an already compromised hull I needed to find a place to repair. My Nav told me there was a place not to far away in the sector that I could get my ship fixed, Hahn Relay, so I throttled up and went on my way. When I arrived I discovered I wasn't alone, there were a decent amount of other CMDRs at the relay and I can only assume they too were looking for the pirates, while I was docking I scanned a nearby pilot and found he had a bounty on his head, the hunter in me wanted the money but that plan went out the window when I came to my senses. If I even so much as fired a warning shot this close to the Relay I'd have every federal ship on me withing seconds, this guy wasn't worth that much so I just let him go and headed over to repair and refuel and once again set off in search of the pirates.

Review - Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - PC

- Press F to review -

What is it?

I'm sure by now that I don't need to explain what Call of Duty is but just to be on the safe side it's a Modern Military Shooter (MMS). Advanced Warfare as you can probably guess is set in the near future and revolves heavily around both future tech and Private Military Contractors (PMCs). Personally I'm pretty certain that this entry in the series also serves as a potential season 5 maybe season 6 for House of Cards. The biggest question about Advanced Warfare is whether or not it's a step forward for one of the more stagnant franchises or is just another Call of Duty game?

Story

As with all Call of Duty games you have but one name that will be shouted, barked and screamed at you throughout the campaign and today that name is Mitchell! Anyway, you and your bestest bud in the whole world, Will, are out on a mission in North Korea and inevitably shit hits fan and your friend dies and you have your arm crushed as well as all your future military dreams. At the funeral you meet Wills dad Johnathon Irons aka Kevin Spacey as Kevin Spacey who feels this is the best time to ask you about your career plans for the future and in turn offers you a place at ATLAS, his own personal PMC and even hooks you up with your own bionic arm.

After joining ATLAS and going to war with the terrorist group KVA for whatever reason ATLAS emerge victorious and become the biggest and most powerful PMC in the world as a result, it's about now that the cracks begin to reveal themselves and once again shit hits the fan and by now you can probably predict what happens for the rest of the game, if not I'll remind you once again that Kevin Spacey is in this game and owns the largest PMC in the world...so yea.

Gameplay

Call of Duty isn't exactly known for it's innovation given the fact that they've used the same formula since the original Modern Warfare so you know what you're getting when you buy into it, shooty shooty deathbang boom. Credit to Sledgehammer (the developers) as they've definitely left there mark on this game with some of the additions they've made and frankly some of them are pretty bold given the effect they have on the multiplayer, and god help you if you change that and feel the wrath of a bunch of angry kids.

Since we're in the near future of 2054 then we're going to need some appropriate future tech so without further adieu I present to you, the EXO-Suit!!! *Fanfare applause fireworks women fainting* The EXO-Suit is your one stop shop to go from man of the land to man of the land wearing a bit of a metal frame on your body, what does this do I hear you cry well let me tell, the EXO-Suit allows you to super jump, super punch, super kick, boost from side to side and many more things. The suit also comes with a built in grenade launcher because it's 2054 and who wants to be throwing grenades in this day and age? Nobody! Throwing is for chumps! If you're going to throw something then make sure it's one of the new Multi-Grenade, this allows you to switch between flash, stun, threat and even an EMP with a flick of the wrist. I'll stop the sales pitch gimmick now I promise.

Okay so you can see they've tried to spice up the usual formula with these additions but this is Call of Duty and change is frowned upon so even though with things like a mech-suit section you'll still have to go through the motions and nods back to All Ghillied Up from Modern Warfare with the usual "hey follow me but only when I say so and HEY DO YOU REMEMBER THAT MISSION WASN'T IT GREAT?!?!HUH!". Yes I remember the damn mission and it was great the first time but just stop making me replay it!

Graphics

I think after the huge disaster that was Call of Duty: Ghosts we were all a bit apprehensive about Advanced Warfare when it came to the PC port but surprisingly Sledgehammer really pulled out all the stops with this one and delivered a solid PC port with one of the more in-depth graphics options menus I've seen recently with things like supersampling and shadow preloading for the beefier PCs out there.

The textures are decent enough and while it's by no means Crysis 3 it's a vast improvement over Ghosts, though at this point that wouldn't take much. Shockingly Kevin Spacey looks better than every single thing in that game, I mean lets face it if you've paid him to be in your game you better make damn sure it looks like him.

Audio

Audio is a huge part of games for me but I can honestly say that I couldn't even remember if this game had music because it's just so forgettable, it's not like Call of Duty is known for it's epic memorable scores but it's still disappointing to come away from a game and not want to listen to the soundtrack (for me). The sound design is the same stuff we've been hearing since Modern Warfare really, it's not Battlefield levels of commitment but it's serviceable at least.

I'd like to make a plea to Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer and Treyarch, please for the love of god either stop using the same voice actor to play the only English guy in every game or just stop putting an English guy in your games. I'm sick to death of hearing the same gruff Ross Kemp style southern bloke playing the same damn character every damn time! Spice things up a bit, use a pure blood northerner or something, or a Geordie! Imagine the scene, you're following along on a stealth mission waiting for patrols to pass like you do and all you can hear through your speakers is "Wai-aye pet it's just ooover errree haawayyy".

Yay/Nay?

One of the main questions I had when playing this game was "am I going to have to wait 3 more years to have jetpacks again?", this is definitely the most fun Call of Duty game I've played for years and it's the EXO-Suit mechanics that make it that way because when you add things like strafe-boosting and verticality to your multiplayer maps it makes the game feel fresh and new. The problem for me is that when the next Call of Duty comes out in November and it's from Infinity Ward I'll have no desire to play it because odds are it won't have these fun new mechanics and most likely won't be future based.

I like the near future idea but I wish they would have gone further with it, I'm sick of assault rifles, why can't we have something a bit more interesting, it can't be for the sake of realism because we've got bloody mech-suits, my guess is that this game was meant as a proof of concept for the next one and hopefully by then they push it further, I want lasers and railguns already.

Like I've said previously this is absolutely a step in the right direction and even managed to breathe some new life into the franchise, sadly they're still using the same basis for all their campaigns, let's be honest when has a story involving PMCs not ended in betrayal and blood, it didn't work in Metal Gear Solid 4 and it didn't work here. Overall it's a solid game and while I know people only really buy these games for the multiplayer if they continue to ship a singleplayer campaign with it then it has to stand up on it's own as an experience. If you want the newest multiplayer and aren't afraid of change then definitely pick this up, it's not perfect and we're still waiting on dedicated servers because lets be honest we need them because peer to peer hosting is just stupid, but it's still enjoyable which is an achievement for Call of Duty at this point, though I definitely wouldn't pay full price for it.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/209650/
http://www.callofduty.com/uk/en/advancedwarfare

Review - Shovel Knight - PC

• Retro Platformer
• Pogo Simulator
• £10.99/£14.99 with the glorious soundtrack  

- FOR SHOVELRY -

*Disclosure - These screenshots are from the press kit on Yacht Clubs website because mine got corrupted in a HDD issue*

What is it?

Released back in June 2014, Shovel Knight is an 8-bit 2D platformer in the vein of old Castlevania games for PC, 3DS and the WiiU from Yacht Club Games. It began life as a Kickstarter campaign and is one of the few things we can safely call a success when it comes to Kickstarter.

Story

One day whilst out adventuring with your favourite gal pal Shield Knight you stumble upon the ominously named Tower of Fate where you both fall prey to a cursed amulet, when you wake up Shield Knight is gone and you're left feeling quite upset by the whole thing and sack adventuring in favour of early retirement. Big mistake really. During your extended vacation a formidable team of nasty chaps make an appearance and begin terrorising the realm, including the all powerful enchantress and as you might guess she's not too friendly. When news reaches you about all the bad things that have happened since you've been gone the decision is made, time to once again pick up shovel and put a stop to it all.

Gameplay

When you hear the words "8-bit 2D platformer" you know what you're getting and admittedly that isn't always a good thing since this is a genre filled with quite a lot of shitty games. Shovel Knight stays true to the genre and it's levels are laden with holes to fall down, spikes to fall on and secrets to be found, oh and enemies that will go out of their way to get you killed. You even get a Ducktales style pogo jump when you jam your mighty shovel into the moist brains of enemies.

When you do die, and you will a lot, you lose a portion of your money which you have a chance at reclaiming by getting to the spot you died and collecting the bags ala Dark Souls. The controls are incredibly responsive and whilst I prefer to play with an Xbox 360 pad (despite it having one of the worst D-pads in the world) using a keyboard will not be a hindrance on you.

It's worth mentioning that if you're playing on PC check your V-sync settings because I went through over half the game before I realised turning it off made the game run much better and made me run much MUCH quicker, or rather run at the speed I'm supposed to.

Graphics

Again, you know what you're getting when it comes to 8-bit. Yacht Club have gone above and beyond when it comes to the stylistic feel of Shovel Knight, even using a colour palette nearly identical to the original NES and their effort shows because the game is simply stunning to look at. The character design is incredible and each environment is varied and conveys the theme of each level so well. The 8-bit style isn't for everyone and it isn't always done right but you would have a hard time looking at this game and not thinking it looks beautiful.

Audio

Before I gush about how good the music is I want to touch on the sound design because it's really good and has a lot of satisfying bit-crush throughout, okay music time. Oh it's so good, seriously it's just so damn good! Jake Kaufman did outstanding work on this game, truly inspiring. I love chiptune music and this is no exception, it's so well written and an absolutely perfect match for the game, it even has 2 tracks written by Manami Matsumi who wrote music for Mega Man! How amazing is that! Go to Jakes Bandcamp page and listen to it, just, do it. Now.

Yay or Nay?

There's a reason I like this game a lot that I've yet to touch on and that's the character of Shield Knight, she's not the usual woman that needs saving, she isn't a love interest she's your partner and the two of you are a well oiled machine together. Much better than whining about being in a castle or some other plot device. The games biggest failing is its length, I got a lot of enjoyment out of my first playthrough (which would've gone faster without the V-sync issues) and while you have the option for a new game plus it feels artificial since all it does really is make things a bit harder. That having been said I really do like this game and find it hard not to recommend it to anyone and everyone because it's just a really enjoyable experience and who doesn't love that?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/250760/
http://yachtclubgames.com/shovel-knight/
http://virt.bandcamp.com/album/shovel-knight-original-soundtrack

Review - Watch_Dogs - PC

 

What is it?

THE FUTURE OF GAMING!!! Pfft not even close. Watch_Dogs is the highly anticipated new IP from Ubisoft, an open world, third person action game which lies in a similar vein to GTA though with less emphasis on fucking shit up and instead on hacking things like some passive aggressive nerd on the Internet.


Story

So in this rendition of Chicago you are Aiden Pearce, notorious hacker and terrible person. The game opens with you scouting out a hotel or store or something that isn't made incredibly clear but as you're doing it something goes wrong and another hacker is on to you and orders a hit on you. Cut to you driving through a tunnel when some guy on a motorbike comes along side you and blows your tyre out causing your car to flip and killing your poor little niece in the process, after that it's all just a revenge story at the core. A few twists here and there but nothing that will completely shock you. There are some likeable characters, or one at least (Jordi) though there are plenty of unlikeable expressionless sacks of meat...

Gameplay

Watch_Dogs is another sandbox simulator from Ubisoft. The big selling point for this game was the ability to "hack anything" which in this case actually means: cars, phones, ATM's, traffic lights, bollards, helicopters, radios and bridges. There are more things to hack of course but the anything part of the earlier statement is way off the mark. Your time in sunny/rainy Chicago will be spent doing one of 3 things: Driving, hacking and getting involved in the games terrible combat mechanics. Driving isn't the best of times, the cars feel very loose and the way they take damage is just bizarre, you can plough a sports car at full speed into a pick-up truck and drive away from it, we're a long way from the damage modelling we saw in GTA:V that's for damn sure. The hacking is...shit. If you remember the plumbing/hacking mechanic from the original Bioshock it's basically that but with current and nodes, needless to say it's a little uninspired and every time I was presented with one a little piece of myself died. As for the gun-play...Terrible. No customisation options for things like silencers which make life a lot easier since you can pop a guy in the head with the silenced pistol you get at the start and nobody even bats an eyelid, be prepared to die a lot in gunfights as you aren't exactly wearing Kevlar so you're going to be hitting those checkpoints a lot.

Like most "next gen" or rather current gen games Watch_Dogs comes complete with it's own iPad (or Smart Glass if you prefer) app and through this you can engage in some of the multiplayer systems of the game. Playing with your particular brand of tablet device will allow you to take on the roll of the police as you try to prevent people in game from getting to a certain waypoint, to do this you follow them with your helicopter whilst sending in various levels of police power and altering traffic lights etc., it's a nice new experience that actually feels like something "next-gen". The other interesting part of the multiplayer is the invasion style mode where somebody enters your world (disguised of course not just running round as Aiden like you are) and the longer it takes you to find them the more the hacking bar fills up and when it's full they win, you lose, the usual. Don't worry yourself too much thinking you'll have to drive round the whole city to find the scum who's stealing your shit, all these events take place in a finite radius which gradually gets smaller making it easier to find them with your magical Macguffin phone and well if you don't want to be part of any of this new age multiplayer nonsense then you can just turn it all off and be alone in your city with no-one to play with just like in real life.

It's not all doom and gloom and people stealing your hard stolen cash though, you can take a Digital Trip and become a giant spider tank and basically destroy Chicago and all it's inhabitants for points, it's one of the few "fun" side-quests or mini-games to take the edge off the gritty revenge story you're dealing with in the story which is always nice.

Graphics

Now...I am reviewing the PC version here which at the time of writing is...shit. Besides the poor optimisation the game just isn't as pretty and shiny as it should be, it's definitely not even close to what was show at E3 and in various trailers etc. It all reeks of something that had to be toned down to run on consoles which is just a little sad at this point as it happens far too often, Ubisoft have said a patch is coming but unless they add in another 30gb of textures it's still not going to look as good as we thought.


(Waters nice though)

Ignoring all of that however the game does have it's moments, the water textures are incredibly nice and you will occasionally find yourself staring at a beautiful sunset with just one too many lens flares. Don't get me wrong it's not an AWFUL looking game but for a game that was delayed for as long as it was it should look better than this.

Audio 

Why don't open world games like this have metal in their soundtracks anymore? That was the best thing about Saints Row 2 and 3, driving round like a mad bastard listening to heavy ass guitars and bands screaming about whales or something. Suffice to say Watch underscore Dogs doesn't have any metal which to me is a bad thing, though I could forgive them if the rest of the soundtrack made up for it but it just doesn't. To clarify I'm talking about all the in-game radio music here since that's what you'll listen to 90% of the time. It's a mishmash of songs of varying genres that must have been pulled from Guy Blands iTunes account in the office because there's just no logical reason for half the music to be there, especially something as unpopular and insignificant as an Alkaline Trio song, I wasn't aware that being from the area the game is set in grants you a spot on the soundtrack...I'll remember that next time a game comes out of Warrington (my hometown).

It's not just a bad choice of songs though, the sound design is a real let down for the game. The guns sound fairly poor and the voice acting is Ubisofts usual brand of terrible, I'm not sure but I'm fairly confident some of the main characters were random people plucked off the streets. When I was playing an announcement came on over the radio in the car and was a good 400% louder than what was previously on, now I understand that the dialogue contained in that broadcast was at least somewhat relevant to the games lore but I really didn't need it to be so deafeningly loud. By contrast another news announcement was barely audible (and no I didn't lower the volume). Audio is one of the most important things in a game to me and they really missed out with this one I'm sorry to say.

Yay or Nay

I think I've talked enough shit about this game already so I'll just sum up my main problems here:

• It's on Uplay and that is a terrible terrible thing
• Needs a lot of work (future patch may improve things)
• Story is a bit bland
• Something of a let down after all the hype
• Poor audio assets in places
• Can't jump over a small gap

 
 (Damn small gaps ruining my sweet parkour)

HOWEVER I do think the game has some good things going for it, the hacking is new and interesting and could definitely have potential depending on what they choose to do with the game down the line and the multiplayer has definite potential and definitely removes some of the monotony of going from mission to mission to mission. We were all so excited when this game was announced and the hype got well out of hand which is a shame because I really wanted to enjoy this game but I just couldn't overlook some of the issues that were staring me in the face.

The game is not bad by any stretch but it definitely lets itself down in a good number of ways, if you're after a sandbox to dick around in because lets face it that's what they all become when you finish the story, then buy GTAV. At least in that you won't lose reputation for covering all the cars in stick bombs and blowing them up..if anything you'll be loved. Probably. OH one more thing, there's too much damn DLC, okay I'm done.


http://store.steampowered.com/app/243470/
http://uplay.ubi.com/en-GB/game/watch-dogs