Been ages so let's just get into it...
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood was picked up on The PS4 store for under a tenner. It is a prequel to the excellent Wolfenstein: The New Order and it packs a serious punch. As you can see from the pic above our Nazi horde are not staying dead and need to be dealt with undead style. My taste for killing Nazi scum has not diminished, indeed, given how things are in the world today it has actually intensified. The Old Blood gives chance after chance to do this and it's a blast!
As you might expect, fom a FPS the action comes thick and fast with all manner of weapons at your disposal. The Old Blood doesn't have the same sense of scale as The New Order but it is a blast. And while the end of game boss is fucking stupid, it leads quite nicely into the start of The New Order... Looks good, plays as it should but nothing took me by surprise: 7.5/10 Trophy Count: 34%
Look at the image above. It looks amazing, doesn't it. Looks however, can be very deceiving. Many fans of Tolkien hate the liberties taken by the "Shadow" games. One such liberty, Shelob is actually a woman who takes the form of a spider. She also hates Sauron. Of course this is stupid as we know Sauron looked on Shelob as a bothersome pet but given how feared she was he was happy enough to let her patrol Minas Morgul but it didn't really bother me as nothing in this game is canon... In Middle Earth: Shadow of War you, once again play as Talion. Together with Celebrimbor (your internal ghost elf who still won't let you die) and at the behest of a surprisingly affable Shelob you must take back the lands of Middle Earth from the dark hordes and defeat evil once and for all... It goes like this: Take over a load of weak minded orcs, attack a fortress with your army, capture it, uncover more of the story. Like its predecssor Shadow of Mordor, the grudge feature remains and it is both infuriating and genius because orc captains long disposed of will come back from the dead looking for revenge and their timing will drive you mad. You may be in the middle of a tough battle mid level and here they come all levelled up to throw a spanner in the works...
So we fight our way through Mordor and there is enjoyment to be had in doing so. Placing your captains in power is satisfying and you will get to know some of your orcs. As the game goes on it does get a bit samey and it's around this time that you reach a point where you fight Sauron (and others) and it feels like the game is over. HOWEVER, and this is a game ruining however, after your battle with Sauron the game inexplicably makes you take over every fortress in the game again. It. Takes. Forever. It's also harder this time round and all it did was make a game that was starting to feel too long anyway even longer. Honestly, it fucking killed it for me. When I started this game I was mildly entertained by it, then I started to enjoy it, then I wanted it to end and if it had ended at the logical closing point I'd have given it a 7/10 but they dragged it out and I still can't figure out why. As I said, a game ruining fuck up by the developers and if there is to be moredor (ahem) I'll be avoiding... 3/10 Trophy Count: 77%
After the crushing disappointment that was Shadow of Mordor, my good friend Oisin gave me a lend of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. I gave him Doom, we both did well out of the exchange... I had played this game on the PS2 but I was eager to have another go because back in the day it took a bit of stick for having flat characters but got a lot of praise for its battle system. I also wanted to compare it to more recent Final Fantasy efforts. As you might expect, FF XII fares very well in that regard.
So what's the what? Well story wise, FFXII while being quite dense has a more European vibe to it so it's far less bonkers than you'd expect from a FF game. Pricess Ashe of Dalmasca has apparently suicided after hearing her husband, Prince Rasler of Nabradia has died in the battle against the Archadian Empire. Said Empire have taken over Dalmasca and it is up to a few rebels to save the world... So Star Wars... Ashe, of course, hasn't killed herself and through several enjoyable plot developments she links up with Vaan, who lives on the streets of Rabanastre (Dalamsca's capital city) and his friend Penelo. Along with Han Solo wanna be and almost is Baltier, his side kick Fran and Basch who is on a quest to redeem himself after losing the war.
But it is in the battle system where this majestic game truly shines... Preparation is key because your gang, on getting in range of enemies do not wait (unless you specifically set it up that they do beforehand... like I said, prep) and will attack at pace immediately. As with previous FF games you have your warriors, your thieves, your mages, your healers and variations on all of those. You will assign one of these skills to each player and as you progress through the game your skills open up on a skills board where your precious battle points will be spent "buying" new abilities and opening up all sorts of limit breaks and spells etc. It's a fine system that encourages you to fight. And fight you will... often because the battle system is a holy fucking delight! Tweaking your characters different challenges is enjoyable. At times it almost feels like a football management simulator. Bear with me. In a footy sim, you spend time with your team. You may even set up easy games for them to see what they can do. Once you see each player's strengths you utilise that for the betterment of the team. Final Fantasy XII is exactly the same. Set your team up and send them out into the world in front of you. A few easy battles to get you into a rhythm and build up battle points to unlock more abilities... when bosses come along your team will need to be tweaked. Similar to a footy sim if you're playing Dundalk FC you might feel well equipped to beat them but if Juventus FC are in town you'll need to tweak it. Watching your characters do as you set up is immensely enjoyable. The story is engaging and curiously, the "bland characters" some critics moaned about back in the PS2 days feel positively Shakespearean compared to the damp squibs and frankly eye twitchingly annoying (remember Vanille from FFXIII) weirdos we've endured in later fantasies.
I can't speak highly enough of Final Fantasy XII. It's a challenge but you can decide to finish it quickly enough. Or, like me, you can decide to explore and track down every single Esper, side quest and secret of which there are shedloads. I eventually gave up looking for secrets after I dunno, MONTHS of gameplay. It looks incredible, it plays perfectly, the voice overs are top drawer and the story is not as bonkers as you'd expect. Minor quibble? If you want to fully explore you will have to grind, but hey, it's an RPG. BUY. THIS. NOW: 9/10. Trophy Count: 60%
I picked up The Evil Within for a steal at a tenner on the ps store. I wanted something short and horror filled. I got a bit more than I bargained for. The Evil Within was directed by Shinji Mikami who is responsible for Resident Evil and that really was enough to peak my interest. While this is certainly a survival horror type of game it actually felt a lot closer to Silent Hill than Resident Evil.
Story wise it's absolutely bonkers. Seriously Japan, what the fuck is in your water? Here goes: You play a detective investigating a murder scene at a hospital with two colleagues. About a nanosecond into your investigation you are thrown into a nightmarish alternate reality where you are stalked by a nut wielding a chainsaw. Once you escape the hospital you and your colleagues try to escape the city which is literally falling to pieces all around you. It's very dramatic. Of course you are separated from your friends and you are left to try and navigate the city by yourself. It leads you to a nightmarish world in forests, small towns, hospitals (all the classics from the survival horror back catalogue) and you are pursued by creatures and possessed people who stop at nothing to disembowel you. It is unsettling. They all seem to be doing this at the behest of a starnge hooded character who clearly has a gripe with the world... The plot gets more and more bonkers, the more you play. I didn't care for it to be honest. I did care for the gameplay.
The Evil Within starts out quite difficult. I found the early chapters really tough but as I got used to the gameplay I navigated latter chapters quite well and disposed of bosses with ruthless efficiancy. The bosses are quite enjoyable battles and indeed, disposing of the creatures in different ways is always a delight. It's gory, it's scary and it's fun.
Another absolutely bizarre addition to this game is the upgrade scheme. At various points you will hear Clair De Lune, yes the piano piece by Claude Debussy which signals an upgrade room is nearby. This being the fucked up game it is though, it's not a standard go into room, get upgrade and leave. It goes like this. You hear the music, you find the room, you go into a mirror within the room and there you meet a creepy nurse who leads you to a chair and the upgrade takes place in a pretty violent way... as you progress through the game the upgrade room falls into disrepair and there are plot clues to be found within also. It's a really strange way to do things but that's this game summed up. It's fuckin' insane... and that's the point. I'm sure someone out there cane explain the plot to me but I don't care. I'm sure it's very clever...
Where this game lives is in the destruction of hideous creatures and creepy visuals. It excels at both. I recommend this game at a sale price. I haven't had any urge to download the dlc or play the sequel but that might change down the road. Score 7/10. Trophy count: 24%
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain: And there I was thinking I simply couldn't get any weirder than The Evil Within, MGS V takes weird to entirely new levels. I wanna preface this by saying I've enjoyed most of the MGS games. The PSone classic still makes most games seem lazy by comparison, part 2 on PS2 was also great (despite its bizarre last act) part 3 also on PS2 was a cast iron classic with one of the mos beautiful endings I've ever seen in a game. MGS4 on PS3 however was a fucking chore. Too many cut scenes that were far too fucking long and a plot that is just too mad for me to fully get my head around. I stopped caring pretty quickly playing that game and simply couldn't wait for it to be over. Such was my dislike of MGS 4 that I had no interest in anything MGS related so when a new MGS game came out on PS4 I zoned out. I did hear that it was a really expensive demo that would act as a lead in to the new MGS 5 but that irritated me even more. MGS V: The Phantom Pain came out several years ago. It was expensive but it was also well received by critics. I still wasn't sold until last October when I picked it up for €8 on the PS store. I mean, €8 is fuck all so I thought why not.
You start the game in a coma because of the happenings in the "lead in game" and with the help of a guy who sounds just like Snake (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland) with his face wrapped in bandages you begin your escape when the hospital is attacked by a bunch of badass soldiers who want you dead... big time. One is a very attractive lady who your snake sounding buddy sets on fire. Anyway, you're both attacked by a bloke who is a walking inferno (see pic above) and while you're dealing with that, every staff member in the hospital is murdered. It's pretty graphic stuff.
Once you make your final escape you are met by Ocelot who is dead set on helping and protecting you. This is right at the start of the game and it's where my confusion began. I remember thinking to myself, "didn't I FIGHT this guy in an earlier game?" So it turns out it is the early 80's and you are in Afghanistan fighting the Russians. Charlie Wilson's War anyone? Anyway, at that point I thought, wait, is this a prequel to the events in Metal Gear Solid on PSone? I'm still not sure. Anyway, Ocelot tools you up and it's off you go.
The game plays like this: You start out at Mother Base in the middle of the ocean. You call for a helicopter and check your "idroid" for missions. When you decide to take one you you grab your weapons etc and a "buddy" a dog (great dor sniffing out enemies) or a horse (great for getting around) and there is the option of taking another buddy depending on how you end a particular mission. I'd say be merciful and you'll benefit. You'll know it when the time comes. The game itself is actually really fucking good. Snake has shrapnel in his head after the events of the "demo game" and he also has a prostetic arm. This only adds to his badassery. He infiltrates, he silently kills or he goes in all guns blazing. The choice is yours and I never felt like I was being judged for doing things "my way". There is also the option of knocking out enemies and sending them back to mother base via fulton balloon. This is fucking hilarious but also kind of important for building up your army and base. You steal materials and diamonds, also crucial for base building and after a while I started to think I was maybe building the very army I'd be fighting against later in my life (in earlier MGS games) I was really fucking enjoying the game and on Christmas Eve a good couple of months after starting, I got to what I thought was a the final battle against a giant Metal Gear. After literally hours of trying I beat the fucker. As you'd expect there was an epic cut scene but it wasn't the end. And not only that it pulled a Shadow of War on me by making me replay earleir levels on harder modes in order to unlock the end of the game. This is fucking absolute bollocks and I developers must stop doing this. If I want to play a game in hard, I will put it on hard in the settings. I always play games on medium as I'm just not that good a gamer and I like to be able to have a fair chance of beating the games I play.
Despite that absolutely horrendous flaw I'd still recommend MGS V. When you're in the thick of the missions it flirts with genius. It looks truly incredible and despite me not understanding a lick of the plot or indeed the ending I still enjoyed the journey... If it didn't force you to replay already incredibly hard levels on harder modes it'd be a near perfect game. Such as it is though it's a rock solid 8/10. Trophy count: 49%
Until next time... enjoy your games and always wait for a price drop!!!
Cheers,
G.
