3lusive

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Atrocious and not worth the disc its written on. Haven't played the single player because I consider COD to be a multiplayer experience, maybe the SP is better. MP has - terrible map design, non-existent directional sound (no footsteps or audio cues), poor weapon balance and weapons in general, and stupid unbalancing jumping moves that should NOT be in a COD title. All together makes for an incredibly frustrating mess ****. The COD4 Remake is somewhat playable but they decided, for no apparent reason, to drastically nerf directional cues, rendering gameplay unbalanced again because you cannot hear where enemies are coming from. A terrible decision that should not be forgiven considering they have now patched it multiple times but are missing this glaring elephant in the room. Not good enough.

Without going into too much detail, it set the bar for 3rd person action/adventure games. Storytelling, player control, exploration, stealth action were all leagues above what had come before. Totally gripping throughout and introduced many cool gadgets (codec, stealth camo, cardboard box). Incredible game and experience.

Simply put, it was everything a game should be. FFVIII is my all-time favourite video game (including all online and FPS games which I now play more of). I've never connected with a story and characters and spent as much time researching every aspect **** as much as this. It was so far ahead of its time in so many ways - character development, storytelling, visuals, sound, and exploration. All aspects were A++ and leagues above competitors. They managed to create (without being childish) a believably enchanting universe of characters, creatures, items, Gaurdian Force, junctioning system, battle system, Limit Breaks, and weapons. I still go back and play the game every few years but typically on PC where it has aged well. At the core of the game was a superbly executed story and backstory, with a myriad of intriguing characters (Squall the cold loner turned lover, Seifer the cocky antagonist, Laguna the intriguing and hapless solider etc). The game is split between a present time with Squall and his crew (a SeeD soldier), and the 'dream world' of Laguna's past time leading up to the events of the present. The CGI elements were breathtaking at the time and added a 'grandness' to the game. Couple this with a brilliant game design, which carefully and gradually allowed greater exploration with new areas/monsters/items to explore (and finally giving you the Ragnarok), and a rewarding battle and levelling system, and overall you have a fantastic experience that is rarely if ever matched on the RPG scene. Although somewhat complicated, the junctioning and levelling system worked fine for the most part, and allowed lots of customisation and rewarding levelling. Battles were fluid and tactical, in true turn-based form that we see little of today. Upgrading weapons was also done very well with some items requiring great skill and effort to acquire. The side-quests in this game and the towns to explore were nothing short of epic (Ultimate and Omega Weapon). You could easily lose a summer holidays (as I did) simply exploring the FF8 world as there was so much to do and explore, with an addictive side game called Triple Triad. All in all, the game is one of the greatest achievements of video game technology and will forever be my favourite game. Incredible, 10/10.

Could have been so much more. Engine, graphics and sound are very good. It plays very smoothly and is a very slick production. However, the unstructured gameplay and mission-based structure harms the experience instead of improving it. It needed a much more involving experience, such as those found in prev titles, rather than cold, disjointed missions that you select from a drop down menu. Because of this, you fail to become interested in the characters and story in the same way you would previously. The cutscenes and CGI, when they occur, are generally strong, but can't help it feel like you are playing a totally different game to the previous titles, and one that is nowhere near as engaging and addictive because of the change in structure. Snakes voice is dull and simply isn't the same as with David Hayter who is Snake and the only one who can be Snake (BAD decision to change this for no apparent reason or improvement to the experience). The missions also become 'samey' too quickly and a greater variety of tasks would be welcomed with a much more linear format, perhaps after half way through the game opening it up to have more freedom (but not individual 'missions' please). Boss fights are also less memorable, notable ones being the Skulls which are annoying 'alien' like creatures that teleport from place to place making the battles more luck than skill. Overall, it had the potential to be an epic game but they messed up and can only be a 6/7 due to the problems above.