CosmotheSloth

Year in, year out I see the same comments on the franchises such as CoD and FIFA, where people's main criticism is 'more of the same'. Whilst this is an entirely valid comment, I'm not sure what people expect from a well established franchise that sells millions of copies every year. If the formula is kept the same - people complain about repetition. If the game is changed too radically - people complain that the game is no longer the series they know and 'love'. This is where CoD: AW get's the balance brilliantly. Without straying too far from the well trodden path of the CoD franchise, there isn't much wiggle room for a new developer to innovate. However, Sledgehammer have found the gap and exploited it beautifully with the new movement mechanics of the exo suit. Make no mistake, the new changes in movement style results in a much harder FPS experience for the standard, casual gamer. The pace of the game is fast, and mastering the dashes and boots to effectively traverse maps and areas is difficult to become accustomed to. But with some persistence, the game becomes very rewarding, but most importantly FUN. I find the word 'fun' to be the key one here. For me CoD has not been at all enjoyable since Black Ops, with Ghosts being the lowest troughs the series has seen. AW on the other hand, drags the series out of the muddy valley and at least onto the hillside of a peak, if not quite the apex. Note this game is far from perfect. Still Activision have decided not to provide dedicated servers for the franchise (which I find completely astounding), and so issues with lag, connectivity and the much-hate 'bendy-bullets' persist. Sadly, this seems to have become somewhat of a trademark to the CoD series. There are some odd implementations from the developer (which are being patched) such as equipment that can only be used for a limited time, and incredibly hard to attain camos (now patched), but overall, many of the new implementations work. You may have noticed that I have been almost exclusively dedicating my writing towards multiplayer here, however, I have completed the campaign and there's not much to say here. It's the standard story line of most CoD (and modern FPS for that matter) games, with token missions and segments aplenty. One major point in the favour of the campaign is the cutscenes. The next gen power takes these to an entirely new level and they look incomprehensibly realistic. The game as a whole (including in-engine) looks nice, but this is to be expected of a AAA title nowadays. The sound and music are solid and fairly immersive; especially when in an intense battle online or solo. In spite of the glitches, mild gripes and standard online issues, CoD: AW is a well built FPS with a new edge for the series. Don't be fooled, this is not a revolution in gaming in any way shape or form. But it does what it says on the tin, it's Call of Duty, and all-in-all, CoD: AW is fun. For me this is the most important thing; after all, isn't that what games are meant for?

With all the hype surrounding this game, and the talk of a film being made, I was worried then when I finally got to play 'The Last Of Us' it would be another AAA flop. How wrong I was. The gameplay itself is a standard 3rd person shooter mechanic, however, in this game there is a large emphasis on stealth and, like a true survival horror style game should do, you feel the need (on many occasion) to avoid contact with the enemy to save your valuable supplies for another, possible harder, encounter. This level of tension and immersion is one that I have never truly experienced with any other game (possibly my attachment to my squad in the final mission of Mass Effect 2) and it's this that takes TLoU to another level of gaming. The script and voice acting is sublime which aids with the immersion even further. The atmosphere (music, sound effects, lighting, etc.) of this world created by Naughty Dog is set wonderfully and the gameplay is fluid, effective and exciting. The gameplay is one I would describe as easy to learn - hard to master, which is the kind of gameplay that is few and far between nowadays. The game overall, can be quite difficult, especially for someone of a short attention span who would rather run and gun, but if played correctly, is incredibly rewarding and intense. The characters are not only likable but lovable and really make you feel as if you're part of the game. There were parts of the game when I would be shouting at the TV for Ellie or Joel's sake. Although having a PS3 when TLoU was release originally, I decided to wait for the game to be rereleased on PS4. Whilst this was probably a good choice with regards to the visuals, I noticed a few glitches that I assumed wouldn't have been present in the original version such as enemies running in circles, falling through the map, and dying instantly when getting stuck on a ledge. However, none of these ruined my experience of the game. In addition, DLC and multiplayer actually add to the game for once. The multiplayer is good fun and well built and balanced which is something I wasn't expecting. The DLC builds up the back story and fills in the gaps as brilliantly as the game told the original story. All-in-all, TLoU is an experience. An experience that you should not deprive yourself of having. I gave this game a 10/10, not because the game is flawless, but because I haven't enjoyed a game this much for a very long time (and I don't see me doing so for a long time in the future), and in an industry that is awash with repetitive, recycled, bland AAA titles, The Last of Us is a nice reminder that games have the potential to be as brilliant as any other art form.

I'll try to keep this review to the point whilst giving a very unbias view point as I came into this game with little to no expectation, having not played borderlands or halo, and not really kept up with the hype (as much as a person can do in this day and age). Game time as of writing this review: ~10 hours PROS: + Beautiful graphics + Solid, robust FPS shooting on a well built engine + Vast array of weapons, armour, customisability + PvP online play is fun (as you would expect from a Bungie game) CONS: - Very poor AI (enemies will stand by walls, run into each other, stop chasing you if you leave the room, etc. It's possible to defeat a lot of the 'bosses' by simply standing in an area outside of their designated 'arena' and pick them off slowly; almost like PS1 old school game-style) - Bland, repetitive, formulaic mission (consist of going to an area, shooting the enemies until they're all dead, move on, rinse & repeat) - Poor versatility in gameplay (adds to the previous point - Bungie's idea of bringing a new gameplay dynamic seems to be to give you the same objectives but half way through the mission make respawning less available. Other options include using vehicles and using a sword but as soon as you get involved and start enjoying these varied mechanics, Destiny stops you and tells you to get back to shooting the infinite waves of carbon-copied enemies. In addition, missions often send you back to the same areas over and over. Dull.) - Poorly written storyline - Poorly written characters and, as a result, dull voice acting - The need to be online for the story mode seems completely arbitrary and near enough pointless, with people just wandering around your mission doing their own thing, not really affecting you or helping you in the slightest - Multiplayer can be difficult due to much higher levelled players with much better equipment playing with you - Buying new equipment is difficult as most vendors only hold items that are out of your level bracket or too expensive (usually the former) CONCLUSION: These a few other **** but these are the glaringly obvious ones that have annoyed me thus far. It's unfair to give the game 0 - 3 ratings as this game is very well built, playing perfectly well and for me games that don't work should have these scores. I feel as though a lot of people are being overtly harsh and upset with Destiny, however, on the other hand, those giving the game 10/10 need to reconsider their definition of 'perfection' as this game is far from that. The user score (at the moment of writing this) is 6.4 and I believe this is a representative score for the game (however, the means by which the average score has been obtained with very high and very low scores is something I don't agree with). Destiny is a solid, if not boring, FPS that does not revolutionize the genre as many had hoped. The MMO aspects are few and far between and don't have much effect on the game, with most sections being boiled down to the basic 'shoot-these-aliens-move-on-shoot-more-aliens' mechanic of what is a standard, run of the mill, very good looking, FPS.