olrion

This year EA listened to user **** release the same broken football/pinball simulator with minor gameplay and interface 'improvements' as last year. Like previous iterations, the usual presentation polish is front and center, however the gameplay mechanics continue to plague the experience once again. What's frustrating - when you consider how much EA makes through packs in UT - is that EA FC could be INCREDIBLE! It should be a GOTY contender every year but yet, with little competition pushing the developers to make it better - it remains a stale and frustrating experience, plagued by repetitive gameplay and underwhelming campaigns. Whilst it sounds incredibly ungrateful and lazy to label EA FC 26 as 'the same as last year with minor changes', when you have a controller in your hand and you're conceding the exact same goal over-and-over again from EA FC24 (and earlier), you can't help but feel that EA need to go back to the drawing board. They've introduced play styles - every AI team plays Tiki-Taka Gengenpress, regardless of what play style the AI says has been applied Computer AI score the same goal over-and-over. Make human player play a poor pass, tiki-taka, one-touch passing to the penalty area, prevent the human player from being able to turn into the defender they want to, open up player defence and draw out last defender for no apparent reason. Pass to player conveniently stood on the penalty spot who's beaten the offside trap. Player one-on-one with the keeper. They painstakingly apply and update player stats each year and yet below Professional difficulty AI players are like zombies and above Professional they're super-human, mind-reading snipers They introduced a set piece system with multiple options yet you get one free kick a season. Every AI tackle is inch perfect They created a wing-play play style but made it impossible to score from crosses They update the game constantly and the game never feels the same one day to the next. One day it can feel liberating to play, then they update it and it's a frustrating, broken mess EA FC has so much potential but has proven once again why I shouldn't be investing in a game that hasn't changed for half a decade. Next year I will learn.....

After pouring 35 hours into the Demon's Souls Remake my takeaway is a contrasting muddle. Incredible visuals and undeniable potential **** action adventure game were largely marred by the grinding mechanics typical of From Software titles, which resulted in leaving the experience incomplete and unfulfilled. The combat feels heavy, where every blow lands with a devastating and satisfying crunch, however, the excitement is short-lived. For every devastating blow there's a counter blow far more devastating. I spent a majority of my play-through feeling under-levelled, revisiting the same enemies over-and-over again to slowly level up. As I started to become comfortable I was making progress I went to a new world to continue the grind. Rinse and repeat. As a casual gamer I appreciate I simply don't have the time (nor the patience) to truly appreciate a game like this. The 'you will be rewarded for your endeavour' trope that From Software prides itself doesn't suit the casual gamer and whilst I enjoyed the mechanics and 'feel' of Demon's Souls, I grew frustrated by the steep challenge that stood towering over me. Whilst the gameplay is solid and the visuals are arguably the best the PS5 has seen to-date, I simply couldn't motivate myself to grind through the experience. What I find sad about the From Software formula is that I didn't abandon my playthrough because I didn't like the game, I just spent the experience never feeling like I was making progress. I would have liked to have seen the end credits roll, but as a casual gamer I couldn't invest the time and endure the rinse and repeat nature of these games. It's unfairly difficult, the story-telling is vaguely cryptic and the visuals and game design just weren't enough to keep me playing.

I was new to the Dark Souls/Bloodborne realm when one of my mates introduced me to Bloodborne on the PS4 recently and I was immediately hooked. Hacking and slashing our way through the beautifully dark world, we passed the controller back and forth with every death, for hours. My first impressions were that the game-play was incredibly intense, exciting and surprisingly rewarding (despite being brutally mauled every few seconds) but sadly, as reality set in I soon found it to be simply too punishing for a casual gamer like me and the 'appeal' of dying became unnecessary. I understand that the unforgiving nature of the series is exactly what appeals to most gamers and its difficulty has become a signature of the series, but I would have liked to see a difficulty system implemented to give more casual gamers a chance to enjoy and finish the game. I've been a gamer for over 25 years and I still get the buzz when playing a new game. I will always try and beat games that I buy and enjoy, whilst being realistic about how much time I can dedicate to an age-old hobby. However, after being exposed to Bloodborne for several hours on a friends save - despite all it's potential and mystique - I couldn't see myself tormenting myself and playing through the entire game. Bloodborne is a great looking game, challenging and strangely addictive, but it's relentlessly difficulty left me grinding hours away only to be felled once again by an enemy that is seemingly impossible to beat. The enjoyment ceased when I found the only way to progress through relatively small sections of the game, was to repeatedly swipe at re-spawned enemies in order to level up and build up potions to navigate the evil lurking around the next corner. This process quickly becomes a fruitless pursuit of what I am sure is a rewarding climax, but the endless hours and patience required to beat the first boss, let alone the entire game, is just too much for a gamer with other pursuits, responsibilities (and a job) to tackle. Bloodborne and games like it will not change their formula over a few cries from casual gamers who 'don't get it', but I can't help but feel excluded from being given a fair chance of truly appreciating a title with great potential simply because the developers want to keep hold of the brand of gaming that makes their games unique. If players want a challenge that befits the Dark Souls mould then they would take it upon themselves to ramp up the difficulty to a level that suits them/challenges them and given the chance I would have done the opposite and lowered the bar a little so that I could appreciate Bloodborne in the way that a casual gamer should be able to. If you enjoy a story driven game that is aesthetically pleasing, dark, challenging and ultimately rewarding then Bloodborne will be right up your street. Be warned however, there will be evil lurking at the end of that street and it WILL kill you. A LOT!