extremeprey

Being the fifteenth main entry in a long running franchise is an impressive milestone however that does mean that it holds a lot of pressure. Does Final Fantasy XV live up to hype and do it's predecessors proud? Amazingly yes. I'm not saying that I had much doubt with all main entries hitting the mark with almost everyone that played them but with that being the new style of gameplay, using Kingdom Hearts as an example, was a little worrying especially with some early demos making the game seem a little simplistic. I can now confirm that my worries have been vanquished as this game really did hit a cord with me. Taking the action approach was a brave choice as it might've not sat well with longtime Final Fantasy fans and with the usual linear open world being upgraded to a fully open world could have missed the mark as well but once again I was not disappointed. All changes to the usual formula were welcomed. The driving is a particular favorite new inclusion for me as I love snapshot moments and my god does this game have plenty of those. The graphics are stunning as no other game has made me feel the weight and size of the world since Shadow Of The Colossus. The linearity of the story was a little troublesome at times but it was a feat overcome due to the amazing battles across this epic world. Another issue was the story's length as with Final Fantasy games you're normally engaged for an average of 40 hours and with this game being half of the time I only wished it went on for a bit longer. With that being said the much more noticeable side quests were appreciated as they added an element of fun to each area of the game. The characters that inhabit this world are also some of the most interesting in the series yet with Noctus being a definite standout among the others (good job he's the protagonist then!). My final concern was with the Kingsglave film as a lot of lore and story elements were revealed through there and a few twists that were spoiled by the film. I feel as if they released the film after the game the response would've been better and the surprises the game had to offer weren't highlighted in the film. Wrapping this up I rate Final Fantasy XV an 8/10. The game is truly one of the best this year and a welcome return to the franchise!

So nearly a 9 if it wasn't for a glaring issue that is, as far as I can tell, just for me. The frickin' characters are generic. I hear from people who complain about FF XIII for having generic characters with only one emotion throughout the game when this is just the same. I don't really know of a time throughout the game when Cloud wasn't angst or Barret wasn't 100% morally good but an arse at the same time. Gotta admit the story's fun but as always the critic in me, whilst playing, drifted towards optional things after all what's the point in having side orders if they don't look appealing. The result: I wanted more side quests! They were amazing and hooked me in big time. The main plot to the game starts off well but if you're like me and you're playing the PS4 edition however you've played the PSOne version in the past then you'll take notice of the lack of "insert disc blah" which actually works against the game. You see something big happens after the first disc which leads to a bit of chill out time at the beginning of the second disc which is appreciated however you don't get that feeling when it just continues. You don't get that brake, even for a few seconds, which adds so much thought into what happened and what's going to happen. I know you can stop after that point but if it just continues then you want to keep playing. The PS4 does add some cool features such as R3 which now speeds up the in game speed. When you sit through a slow 10 minute animation of several characters getting off of a train again and again it kind of gets tiring so this feature is much appreciated. We also get what I like to call the "why bloody hell would you want to press this button in any way whatsoever even if you were held at gunpoint that's a bad idea" button. Or R3 and L3 pressed together which turns off random encounters. Why is this a bad idea? No encounters=no points (xp)= screwed when fighting a boss. You also get a button that counters this by just healing you. All in all I enjoyed this game but not as much as FF X. Not the game's fault it's just that I grew up with X. Big question: would I recommend this game to someone who hasn't played an RPG before or the current strand of RPG games. Answer: No. FF VII is very much a veterans RPG. Don't know how RPG mechanics work? Welp then you're screwed. However if you've played FF games in the past then I do recommend this one! I'd probably say get your hands on FF X HD first to get used to the way these games work as the others sort of throw you in with no help. Unfortunately the line between traditional RPG and action RPG has been blurred since this game so those who are used to playing current RPG will definitely need some adjustment periods in order to get through this one however I enjoyed the crap out of it :D

Right look EA we all know you can make a game look pretty and we known you can make a shooter. Care to ever expand upon these very basic and widely known things. Star Wars Battlefront has few flaws but like with so many other titles out there refuses to exceed beyond the very basic traceable template you've made. This 'reboot' does nothing but repeat the exact same mechanics and properties of, surprise surprise, a Battlefield game. Actually now that I mention it this game has more in common with COD (activision) then a Battlefield game. It's repetitive and gets boring fast. Look here EA if you're going to buy your way into a big franchise like Star Wars and say you're going to reboot a beloved video game franchise... well then bloody try. The closest this game gets to Battlefront material is by looking and sounding like Star Wars. That's about it. EA have accomplished what thousands of indie developers starting out with a game engine for the first time could have done. For that I am truly disappointed. For the people that find enjoyment out of this game: good for you I'm glad. I don't find it hard to believe that someone can love this game but for the facts which they are using to defend this game are appalling. "This game is meant for MP players", "You need to level up more in order to gain enjoyment out of this game" well then excuse me and thousands of other people who assumed that the game would follow in its predecessors footsteps by including a legit single player campaign, some form of big scale single player battle mode and an easy and fun leveling up system. The joy of the previous Battlefront games were from the fact that everyone was equal with the same equipment so everyone stood a chance. Now I spawn next to someone who is above level 20 and I haven't made it passed 5 because I keep getting killed. Everything I wanted in this game that was in the others were torn out and replaced by nice graphics. Yesterday I played Tales of Zestrilia and that game proves that you don't need to have fancy graphics to make a game enjoyable. Hell the predecessors are still fun now with early stage PS2 graphics. Final words: 10/10 people- get out of your pit of denial and look at this game compared to a) it's predecessors b) any other game. It is massively disappointing and will never, not matter how much free DLC they throw in my face, will progress passed 5/10. Developers- delete that stupid template you have and think of something new that doesn't involve a rinse and repeat formula. The free DLC is a step in the right direction but it's a small one. Focus on your games first then move passed that.

To be fair to Square Enix Just Cause 2 is hard one to follow up. Did they manage it? No not really. The game isn't bad though it just sort of hammered my expectations down. When I heard there was going to be a JC3 I was mildly excited and continued to be mildly excited until the game was released when my look on the game changed to moderately impressed that they didn't just flunk it. They gave this game a solid try so I'm happy with that. A lot of the faults in the game comes simply down to Square Enix playing trail and error. The wingsuit is a good example: You see the map was designed for distance for the wingsuit to glide from one side to the other whereas JC2's map was designed for the parachute which hasn't been toned down in this game but rather ignored. Because of how much the parachute was used in JC2 they assumed that adding another traveling mechanic in the same fashion would add brownie points but it sort feels weird. The parachute was designed so we can travel vast distances and climb with ease whilst soaking in the environment however the wingsuit fires you past the environment that you don't really get a chance to stop and look at it. The other mechanics have the whole "if it ain't broke don't fix it" attitude which is fine but the game suffers from it. Without some attempt at improvement a sequel will fall not matter how good its new mechanics are. Fallout is a good example of this as the reason why I gave that game more praise then what it deserves is because there was at least some attempt to improve mechanics. Keeping the old ones and not touching them up makes any sequel feel more like a late expansion rather than a feature length game. Good try guys! Your heart was in the right place but without some form of improvement on the next entry to this franchise then I'm afraid it may die.

To be honest the hate for this franchise is outstanding. Listen I know this game has flaws but they're tiny compared to the overall appeal of this game for me. This game for me held my attention from beginning to end and whilst the story did have moments where it was all over the place I was still intrigued. The gameplay, whilst toned down, was still as fun as entries like X. The characters could be dull at times but to me they're realistic. "Hope is sad and moody all of the time"... dude did you play the first hour of the game! "Lightning has no emotion" which they address in a really cool way. "Snow is a hot head"... that's the point. All of the flaws with each character are addressed in a really cool and real way that it was the reason I kept playing. Saying that each character is generic would be like looking at a page but not the writing on it. For a FF game it's quite dark and deals with real problems in a real manor instead of pretty much every other entry in the franchise where a character's death equates to the main cast as much as a spec of dust on their arm. Don't get me wrong I love the other FF games it's just that they all shine in different ways and this one is no exception. I'm glad I played this and happy I still own it!

I have a rule when it comes to reviewing games like this: if it does everything I expected it to in a positive way then it gets an above average score leaving room for improvement however this game pushed the score up a bit. It was everything I expected in a weirdly addictive way. It has the same appeal to me that games like Flappy Birds and Temple Run did. The gameplay was fun and simple enough but because the game was so short I found myself replaying the game over and over again. When I see the word replay-ability when it comes to games I will now mention this. The physics and overall mobility of the game feel not far off from the rush I got when playing Spider-Man 2 on my old PS2. The game is very simplistic and easy to learn within a few minutes but has enough charm to hold me for hours at a time. As for the flaws I believe it is too short and could of benefited from a endless mode or something along those lines (for single player). The characters included are good but I feel like there were more that could've been included along side a few more missions out of them. In the end I enjoyed this game and will continue to flip my 3DS open and give it a go whenever I'm next in an airport or waiting on a bus.

THI- The Witness When I first heard of this game I was generally excited. It was meant to be a sort of spiritual successor to Myst however in the end it didn’t really come off as that but rather a sort of fan boy waving his no. 1 foam hand at Myst’s general direction. Whilst it manages to pull a few brownie points here and there it still suffers from trying to be something that it’s not. The Witness takes place on a mysterious island with various sections you can go over to and explore. Sound familiar? Well here’s the problem: whereas Myst had the advantage and amazing idea of making each section the puzzles The Witness falls flat on its arse and cracks the ground. All of the puzzles consist of line mazes on monitors scattered about the place and the only variation between each section are the environments and the symbols used in the puzzles. You see depending on the symbols shown in the mazes the rules of the maze change e.g. if there’s a tetris like block then you have to go around the block in the shape of the tetris image on it. After solving the first 12 you begin to wonder what over exciting puzzles there are on the island and stat exploring to find some only to be brought with the unfortunate car crash that is reality. All the puzzles are the same. The map is fairly large and beautiful to look at but it doesn’t make up for the lack of other types of puzzles making the game more comparable towards the talos principle. The main objective is to complete seven major areas in order to unlock the area’s beacon. With this the beacons’ rays point towards a central mountain which you climb up to reveal a small box with seven locks on it. So your objective is to complete required amount of puzzles to unlock the final area of the game which fair enough is better safe than sorry territory. One of the things I was looking forward to most is the finding out this game’s story as Myst had quite an inventive one which you have to read up on or look at things with more detail in order to theorise what could have happened to the island’s inhabitants. The Witness does gain some points by giving you bonus puzzles you can complete in order to find a puzzle solution. You can take these solutions to a windmill in the game and underneath it there are a series of vaults. Each vault has a video and in order to get in you must apply the solution to a puzzle acting as a lock. The reason why I like these videos is because they don’t actually give you lore but rather suggestions on how to see the island. Using the first video as an example it tells you task questions and not theorise until you are sure about your answer. As far as I can tell all of the inhabitants haven’t left but rather were turned to stone. Why? No idea but I would think that it would have something to do with the windmill due to several statues across the island seem to be facing it. I haven’t finished the bonus puzzles yet but this idea that the truth is in there has enticed me to continue playing. With lots of hours put into the game I can say that it’s meant to played in sessions rather than in one go which to be honest goes against my code for this sort of game. You see I expected to be captivated by the game and whilst the graphics alone do this it doesn’t take long for boredom to kick in. I got pissed at a few puzzles for not introducing the rules in a simple manor but rather throwing one at you and seeing how long it takes for you to look up the puzzle rule online. Overall I was disappointed but not unhappy with the game. Let’s just say it underperformed.

I really, really enjoy this game however there are too many lost opportunities for me to rate this higher.Bare in mind a lot of this is down to personal preference. Fallout 4 managed to catch my attention but only a small way into the game. I started with low expectations hoping I would be surprised once it starts and well it hits common ground fast. That's good for me. I believe that if you're making a sequel you should keep the good mechanics of its predecessor and build upon them. After finishing the first major story quest an elderly woman mentions the words "Diamond City" to me so I brush it off as the location I will eventually get to by following the main quest line. Five hours and a bunch of quests later something hits me: that vague hint was the main quest wasn't it... The game had me believe that for the past five hours I was doing repetitive familiar quests over and over again with the hope of progressing the game's some what at this point unknown plot. The reason why this annoyed me was due to the previous entries making clear what was a main quest and what wasn't. With the full intention of finding out what the hell I should do I journeyed to Diamond City to find some plot. My instincts were right and from that point onwards the plot never slows down again. This is unfortunate as the tone and general urgent feel of each main quest I began to ignore the side quests. In the end the plot was okay but nothing spectacular. They try to pull of too many plot twists towards the end that make earlier plot points seem pointless to have. Side **** boy the side quests. This game boasts at how much you can do and how alive the world is as each NPC has their own little story you can get involved with. Unfortunately the creative team must have only worked on the main quests as around 75% of the side quests are rinse and repeat the same. I especially find the Minute Men almost pointless to help if it wasn't for the big faction war Fallout games have at the end of them. The new mechanics are mainly for the Minute Men quests which I got bored of fast so they were pointless for me. What made this worse was the fact that other mechanics were taken out making this seem like a waist of time. Things that helped so much like the repair mechanic have been removed and instead I have 7 10mm guns in my inventory taking up space. Making matters worse Fallout's currency becomes pointless in this. I don't remember one time I had to buy anything in the game because everyone kept handing me crap. The power armour is another complaint of mine as I only had to use it twice during mandatory points I needed them: 1. when I got it 2. when I walked into the Green Sea (covered in radiation). Besides from this I completely abandoned it with power cores building in my inventory and no desire to use them. NPCs in this game are a joy to talk to with the voice acting and AI being on point for the most of it (even though I mainly use them as body shields). Fan and personal favourite Piper has been a fun companion and rivals Serena of Skyrim and Veronica of New Vegas. Didn't like the single companion capability when previous entries had around 3 companions at a time. Rounding it all off with the graphics and scenery: the graphics are beautiful but at times seem waisted on a forgettable bland and mix of the settings from Fallout 3 and New Vegas. You will have the occasional moment where you want to just stop and stare but with those moments far between I never bothered to remember most of the locations. A highlight for me was the Brotherhood's airship appearing