Lamoi

IGNORE these complete twerps that are review bombing this game! Why I do not know…Pathetic. This is one of the best games of the last 15yrs. If you’re a fan of Feudal Japan, Samurai’s or Ninja — and are tired of the usual over the top fantasy that usually comes with this setting and has saturated gaming for years e.g Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, Onimusha, Nioh etc the list is endless… But yes, if you we’re crying out for something more authentic, realistic — then this is the game you! If you have always dreamed **** that gives you that Samurai / Ninja fantasy — you will love this game! This game doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s highly polished and been made with a lot of love for the subject matter. The combat is excellent, incredibly well animated and skill based. The stealth is satisfying, with a decent collection of items that can be employed giving that player a good number of options. Ultimately the stealth is let down at times by some poor AI. It’s not the worst, but it can be pretty dumb at times. I’ve played alot of stealth games my time and am along time Tenchu fan and I enjoy the stealth in this game. But don’t go in expecting Splinter Cell. Story is decent, held up mostly by some significant performances. Could of used fleshing out a bit more but some pretty strong emotional beats along the way that are noteworthy. The DLC — is worth the money. If you love GoT then IKI Island is a no brainer. Perhaps a wee bit light on actual new features or mechanics, but then this is not a sequel, it just a story expansion.

Folks, let's be honest - this game is scrappy. It's a scrappy game, that feels like if it were to have some more time to bake it could have been certified as special. Just to put fears to rest, the framerate is not as bad as some have reported. It feels mostly smooth-ish, clocking what feels like 25-30fps most of the time. But this has to be one of the best open world games I've played in a while. The level design is fantastic, truly. The Ai is actually pretty decent, I'm a stealthy player myself and the stealth is good. The gunplay feels good, and actually more realistic than most shooters. There's also a lot of variety to the gameplay, with the different districts, making tasks you completed before feel fresh! There are lots of tools available to the player to get creative and to overcome the odds. As the deck IS stacked against you. There's a lot of very cool things in this game. And frankly I've enjoyed it more than FARCRY4. Which I did enjoy. The game i feel was oddly trashed by the critics and it seems strange, as I've played worse that has been rated higher! Just goes to show, the critics ain't always right. It's certainly not as polished as it could be but I think they will mostly likely patch the game. One of the better games I've played in the last 12 months. Highly recommended.

Firstly I would like to say this game has many fantastic qualities. And it's one of the few games that I can safely recommend as being a quality product and it's clear a lot of love went into making it. It's plays relatively smoothly. The atmosphere is amazing, and the details the game has is very impressive. However, anyone thinking about buying this game I would simply suggest considering a few things. I have found this game to have a really plodding pace. And it's been difficult to get over it. I would say so far my experience has been, travelling the world, talking to folks +++ (there's ALOT of talking!), looting items which there value and usefulness is not clearly explained. The menu system and crafting system are not clearly explained at all... I spend my time walking around, looking at stuff, trying to read books and notes (quest items) so as not to miss stuff.. But the thing is - this is 70% of my time spent with the Witcher 3. All this is then bookended with action about 30% of the time. Now the action is straight combat. There's no stealth, no bow and arrow, so no long range combat really. And it gets a little repetitive especially against humans. But the combat is good, but considering apart from talking a lot, and exploring, this is the only thing there is to do. However, the boss battles mostly are absolutely epic! I'm just saying this for anyone who gets a bit inpatient with cutscenes and a lot of talking in games, I would be hesitant to recommend this game. And I've played the heck out of games like Skyrim. So I was ready for a lot of talking in this game but was not prepared for how much talking and the slow pace that cannot be deviated from. And dare I say, at risk of being fire bombed by fans, a good portion of the content isn't terribly interesting. I'm simply saying this game often requires of you hours in a single sitting to get to something worthwhile. And in between there's alot of walking about and gassing to the locals and not doing much that's interesting.

Returning customers - beware! I love this game, but be warned, I have encountered all of the same bugs and glitches (and a few new ones)! Same framerate problems. It has sharper textures now, better HUD and UI... The game seems harder which is a good thing! You now have a knife, and knife combat is very good! It's just disappointing that this is no 'Remastered Edition' - besides the small improvements here and there, it's essentially the same experience, the same buggy experience. I would recommend it to die hard fans alone. It's a really great game if you can get past all the bugs! They're not game breaking but it's hard to stomach on XBOX ONE for goodness sake!!

I think already I have an idea about what this game does right and what it doesn't, at least at its core. Single player? Well firstly, it's clear that this game was not designed really to be played by yourself. If you do then the repetition of the games gameplay becomes far more obvious than it would if played with your buddy(s). That becomes evident quite early on. What this game does well is it's basic core gunplay, which is lifted wholesale from the Halo series, if it ain't broke why fix it? It certainly reminds you why Halo's gunplay was and is head and shoulders above the competition. The weaving and dodging, the fluidity and weighty feel it has translates into harmonious dance around the battle field that has simply not been bettered. To put it another way, if shigeru miyamoto made shooters, this is what it would feel like. It just feels right. But then Halo: Combat Evolved got it right, way back in 2001. That was 13 years ago. So what does Destiny add to the mix? Well early on Destiny feels like a stripped down Halo. Grenades are no longer picked up on the battlefield, they are an ability that is unlocked and when used has a cool down time. Exactly what this new limitation on grenades adds to the overall combat experience I'm not sure, apart from forcing periods huddled behind a crate wishing you had a grenade to hurl at a group of enemies pinning you down (who also happen to be revelling in the fact that your grenade now has a cool down time!). Where the Halo franchise and games like borderlands have added interesting abilities and items like hologram decoys, sentry guns even stealth kills, Destiny's tool box seems strangely far less interesting in comparison. There are no stealth kill animations (which I personally was sorry to see absent). There are power buffs, but no hologram decoys, theres a flaming golden gun... But nothing as tactically interesting as placing a sentry gun allowing you to then flank a pinned down enemy. Then we have the Ai. Which is ok (not great) but does the job, when allowed to do it. Unfortunately Bungie has seen fit to tether enemy groups to an exact location and will not venture further than a few metres away from said location. This means enemies shooting at you from 100m across the battlefield will never move from that spot or attempt to move in on your location and flush you out. So combat only seems work as it should when in close proximity (a few metres, or same room) with an enemy group. When you are, enemies are able to behave far more intelligently, and move around, take cover and sometimes flank you. Mid to long range battles are more a case of the enemy taking cover or moving position within the boundaries of their assigned position on the map. There are no patrolling enemies in this game unfortunately. One example that stuck out for me was in Old Russia, I came across a Hive 'Knight' who was standing under a bridge in a small pond. No matter how threatened or what was throne at him, he barely moved a metre from that location. The most apt analogy I can think of is a Rottweiler chained to a post in a field whilst you stand at a distance taking pot shots at with your gun! Thankfully not all boss, or mini boss encounters are as painfully dumb as that experience. Wizards move around (at least a little!)! Another BIG problem comes from a lack of randomisation. Enemies no matter what mission you are doing spawn in the exact same locations on the planet map you are playing.... Every single time you play! This inevitably leads to a feeling of repetition. So far I would have to say that this is one of the key problems Destiny has. Random placing of enemy groups could have made the world of difference in keeping things fresh and less predictable and less repetitive. Let's hope Bungie will perhaps fix this in an update? I haven't been able to fully explore the customisation of my character yet, but seeing other players around the Hub world leads me to believe that there's is an adequate range of options available. The beautifully realised sandbox environments are excellent, and genuinely atmospheric. Although they sometimes do feel rather empty. Exploration seems unnecessary when theres so little loot to find out in the open! So far Destiny's core gameplay even with the problems I've mentioned are what see's you through and compels you to play on. When combat works as it should, there's few shooters out there's that can really hold a candle to Halo's and indeed Destiny's gunplay mechanics. But Destiny's experience remains a continuing juxtaposition. It can sometimes come off feeling a little too thin, various components that make a convincing whole are lacking, but then the game kicks again and you are pulled back in, forgetting why only moments ago you were feeling like the whole thing was a becoming a grind.