Battlefield V: WW2 Hero, or knock-off zero?

Hey folks! To preface this review ill give a bit of my background in the series; I have been playing Battlefield games since BF2 although I did skip 2142 sadly. BF2 to me was amazing and still is one of my favorite shooters of all time. Really enjoyed the Bad Company games, BF3 and 4 were solid, Hardline was decent but aside from the SP didn't really rise above its predecessor. With BF1 there came a big shift to the gameplay and while I did still put many, many hours into it, it just didn't resonate like the others did. Does BFV change that? Let's see!

Let's start with the obvious; the game looks and sounds amazing. The visual fidelity of Frostbite still amazes me with every new game DICE puts out - but the aesthetic is great too. I did have small reservations about how things were going to look after the initial trailers but they really have nailed the authentic WW2 feel here, and the customization options you can unlock don't really hurt this either which is nice. The bursts of automatic fire ringing out around you as you push through maps is fantastic too (maybe in part because it reminds me a lot of the old Command & Conquer rifleman sounds!) and really lends a hand to immersing you in the scene.

On the topic of customization, things are currently very limited, with there being some camouflage options unlockable for each of the classes through their proficiency assignments unlocked at class rank 10, and a complete set unlockable through mastery at class rank 20, as well as a selection of other outfits available for purchase with the company coins earned through general play. Guns have a similar host of cosmetics, with some being purchased with company coins, some being unlocked as you rack up kills with them, and others for completing the proficiency (gun level 5) and mastery (gun level 10) assignments. Overall I enjoy this system although there are small gripes with the sights being locked to certain cosmetic options (I would love to have the nydar sight in the mint color scheme on my Suomi, but alas all I get is irons) for example but perhaps that will change later on.

I guess next ill follow with the bad things, as I'm sure that's what a lot of you will be more interested in; a fair few things that were announced in media when the game was first revealed are still missing from the game, coming later as part of the 'Tides of War' content update philosophy (Premium DLC is gone, replaced with free content drops every few months). Chiefly among these is the Battle Royale mode, Firestorm, although also included in this list would be the Practice Range, the final War Story 'The Last Tiger' and the ability to drag downed friendly soldiers. I'm sure I've omitted some things but these are really the meat and potatoes as it were. I understand that it was done to show off their live service model, but for sure it would have been a better decision in my opinion to have just delayed the game til perhaps February or March next year with all of these features packaged in; but then they would have missed out on the christmas rush and the sales that brings so...

Aside from this, there are some other small issues I have. The first would be soldier visibility in the multiplayer mode - it can be very hard seeing stationary foes on some maps depending on their faction (axis on Fjell 652 do a very good job of blending in with the snow for one). Another issue lies with outfitting your classes in the Company menu. Having to edit loadouts for the same class on each faction is very tedious, especially when neither faction has exclusive class-based items that affect gameplay - having to change their appearance is understandable but then having to go in and set up my assault with the same gun customization and gadgets on both factions is not ideal. Finally, assignments currently cannot be changed while between rounds, requiring you to fully quit out to the menu. This isn't a major issue but it would be nice to not have to interrupt the flow of my game just to progress my cosmetic unlocks.

Moving on, let's talk about the gunplay. Put simply, its great. It feels more akin to previous games in the series like BF3 and BC2, with each weapon class providing their own strengths and weaknesses. Gone are the sweet spots for snipers in BF1, gone is the horrendous suppression effects too; its a joy to shoot people again and that for me is the biggest plus for this game.

What good is great gunplay without talking about maps? There are eight of them in game at launch, with more coming as the Tides of War rolls around - we currently have two snow maps, two sand maps, two countryside maps, and two urban maps. These provide a good mix of different gameplay, with maps like Fjell 652 and Hamada being great air maps, Arras and Narvik play super nice with tanks and Rotterdam and Aerodrome are superb for infantry focus. Each of them are beautiful and feel good to play on regardless of your bias for how to play the game which is great when compared to some maps like Galicia and Fao Fortress from the predecessor.

Server-side, BFV has been smooth sailing all around, aside from a few isolated hiccups. Net code is very smooth and games have been very stable. There were some issues with reviving sometimes breaking mid round for everyone, and with the planes not spawning in Airborne game mode when all three were shot down at once but these have been fixed with the patch today, as well as a bug with bombs not spawning in both Airborne and Frontlines.

Before I conclude, I will say that the single player war stories are all very good too. Under No Flag and Nordlys give you a few different ways to play - I elected to play very stealthily as I was on the Hardcore difficulty where you will be downed by enemies incredibly fast - on one part of Under No Flag I was tasked with blowing up several objectives on a map, the idea being that I do that on foot with dynamite or some other explosive contraption... except I first made my way to the objective on the airstrip and noticed a vacant Stuka. Of course I hopped right on in and after a comical dialogue with a german traffic control officer I was in the sky and dogfighting before laying down bombs on all of the objectives from the sky. Nordlys has similar options (though not with planes sadly) and while Tirailleur is for the most part a more traditional linear jaunt through france, there are sections towards the end where you have the option of going stealthily too. For those of you that can grab all of the collectibles and finish the challenges, you can unlock a trio of unique melee weapons for the multiplayer; one of which is a rather dashing cricket bat wrapped in barbed wire!

To conclude I will say that BFV isnt a perfect game; there is a fair amount of content that is currently missing that would have been here in prior games, however with the exclusion of a premium pass like the others of recent history I would say that its a fair compromise. The gunplay is great, the single player is a nice chunk of gameplay if you are into that, the variety of weaponry is excellent and the new gameplay features are all fine additions to the battlefield formula. If you are a fan of shooters this game is definitely worth the asking price, and if not you can always grab it a year down the line with more content on sale.

For me, this game scores a solid 8/10.

The (re)advent of the Tank - Renault FT

Hi guys! Welcome back to my blog - its been a while since I have covered anything tank related but I am finding myself more and more recently with free time to fill so why not talk about tanks? As before I will be covering largely tanks from World War 2 through to the Cold War, with the odd modern tank perhaps thrown in (What? The Abrams is sexy...). To begin however, I thought it would be apt to go back to what is possibly the birthplace of the modern tank as we know it - the Renault FT.

--Specs--

Lets rattle through its technical specs first shall we? It weighed in at 6.5 tonnes, was 5 metres long by 1.74 metres wide by 2.14 meters high and seated two crew - a driver and a commander (who doubled as the gunner). The armor thickness was between 8 millimetres at its thinnest point to 22 millimetres at its thickest. It was initially designed to be armed with an 8 millimetre Hotchkiss machine gun but was later equipped with a 37 millimetre Puteaux cannon. Its engine was a 4 cylinder Renault design that gave it a power-to-weight ratio of 5 horsepower per tonne - with a full load of fuel (95 litres) it had an effective operating range of 60 kilometres.

--Construction History--

The FT was Renaults first venture into tank design. Louis Renault was approached by a Colonel in the French military in late December 1915 with plans for a tracked armoured vehicle - Renault initially declined citing that there was no way they would be able to spare the machinery/man power to create it. After a chance meeting 6 months later however, Renault reconsidered and jumped straight in.

Renault essentially changed everything in the Colonels original plans - he proposed that the FT should not weight more than 7 tons as he was certain that no engine produced at the time would be able to give it a sufficient power-to-weight ratio to give it the mobility requested of the Military. Its tracks were permanently under tension to reduce the chances of them coming free from the drive wheels, and a tail was added in order to allow it to cross trenches without becoming stuck.

Its initial turret was a rounded cast steel one, which as mentioned was designed to carry an 8 millimetre Hotchkiss machine gun - early on in 1917 however it was made clear that a 37 millimetre cannon would suit it better. This gun wouldnt fit in the turret though, so various designs were tested before settling on one designed by Paul Girod - this version was mostly cast with a few rolled parts. This updated turret could mount both guns and was generally an improvement in every aspect.

--Service History--

The Renault FT was used to varying degrees of success long after it should have found itself in the scrap heap. After its introduction late into World War I it found overwhelming success due to the war shifting from a stagnant trench war into a war of movement. They could swarm their enemy due to the vast quantity of resources the allies were massing in a bid to outproduce the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottomans) too which proved very effective indeed. By the time the war ended France had manufactured almost 3000 of them. Wow!

After the war many were exported to various countries, who then used the FT as their main tank. They saw combat in the Russian Civil War, Polish-Soviet War, Chinese Civil War, Rif War, Spanish Civil War, Estonian War of Independence and of course, World War 2. Not a bad track record eh?

--Wrap Up--

It was clear the French were onto a winner with the Renault FT from the start - the design was so starkly different from any of the other armoured vehicles of the time, so different that it proved incredibly flexible causing it to become the standard; Driver in front, Turret in the middle and Engine to the rear. Indeed it was the first tank to have a turret at all! I wonder if Louis realised how much of a game changer that would become, if he did his ego must have been huge...

Previously I was working on these once a week but honestly I dont even know if I can promise that (we all know how side tracked I get with things...) but I will try to keep these coming at a semi regular pace for you all, providing you enjoy them. My next piece is up for vote - pick a nation and let me know. Currently its a tie between Germany and Britain, so get in there!

Pick one!

Dark Souls - Prepare to die. A lot.

Dark Souls, unlike the previous games I have reviewed, is an older game. Much older, in fact. Why am I reviewing it? Simple. It is, in my opinion, the perfect RPG experience. That isn't to say it is without its flaws, but as a whole it managed to capture me like no other.

As you might have realised, I am a sucker for deep game experiences. In that regard, Dark Souls pushed every single one of my buttons. Ask anyone to sum up the game in three words and they will likely same roughly the same three words: 'You Have Died'. Dark Souls is a difficult game if you aren't familiar with its combat style, but I do feel the stigma around it being 'the hardest game evurrrr' is vastly blown out of proportion. It is designed to punish those players with no patience to learn how enemies attack, or the patience to explore.

The beginning of the game is as you might expect - a tool to teach players what mechanics they need, letting them practice combat on some fairly harmless hollow enemies, before plunging them into a pretty brutal boss encounter. This would be one of several points where a player might quit the game - the others that I can name off the top of my head would be literally just after arriving at Firelink Shrine after the Asylum Demon, the Capra Demon a short way past that, and Ornstein and Smough at the half way mark. I mean, every boss has that potential, but these parts are places where I think people will have the toughest times.

Either way, after arriving in Firelink Shrine, things get much tougher. The primary reasoning for this is the lack of signposting! This is a double edged sword - on the one hand the game tells you pretty much nothing unless you pay attention to the often cryptic clues the NPCs give you, and on the other it leaves you feeling super satisfied when you go into an area blind and clear it. It can be super frustrating to find yourself in an area with nigh on unkillable enemies (or in the case of a new player venturing to New Londo first, literally unkillable enemies). For example when I started playing, I thought my only options were the previously mentioned New Londo, and the Catacombs - both full of enemies that kicked the shit out me. It wasn't until I complained on facebook a friend hinted at another area I could go to.

You know what threw me off in this game though? PvP. To take part in any online activity in Dark Souls, you need to reverse the hollowfication process at a bonfire - be it co-op or pvp, as well as summoning NPCs and such. Anyway, my first invasion was just before the Bell Gargoyles atop the Undead Parish while venturing forth to summon Solaire. At that point, I had no idea what an invasion was so naturally I just dropped everything and ran to try and go into the fog gate - only to be greeted by a glowing red player dropping on my head and cursing me before my screen flashed up with 'You Died'. Upon spawning anew I was greeted with a nice pulsating egg sac on my bonce and a health bar that wouldn't fill past 50%. Needless to say I stopped playing for a few days. On my return I made a new character and powered through to the Capra Demon with the intention of never reversing my hollowfication again out of fear of another angry red ghosty slapping my shit around.

Essentially though, this double edged sword philosophy is carried throughout the game as a core principle. It teaches the player to be cautious and patient, not only with enemies but treasure - much of the game is filled with traps just waiting for you to place a foot wrong before sending you packing to the last bonfire you stopped at. Mimics really left me kicking myself for being so stupid too, so often I would blindly open it only to be swallowed like a bitch.

So, Marc, why haven't you talked about the story yet?! Well. Similarly how you are dropped into Firelink Shrine and largely left to your own design, the implementation of plot feels like an after thought. You get vague objectives but not much explanation for them unless you really start digging - NPC conversations and item descriptions are your biggest gateway to plot. Nonetheless, you do learn enough to make the final boss encounter very meaningful.

To wrap up,. I definitely feel that Dark Souls ranks as one of the best video games of all time, because of the combat, memorable boss encounters, deep and interesting lore (I just wish it was more readily available and I didn't feel I had to trawl a wiki to even begin to scratch the surface!) and the rush of excitement and satisfaction you get when you finally kill a boss you were stuck on, only to have that wiped away in half a second when you venture into a new area and get curb stomped by its rather angry residents. The difficulty curve, while somewhat steep, is perfect (assuming you leave the DLC for just before the final boss) and pretty much everything feels like it was designed with love and care. If dictionaries had pictures to describe their words, I think Dark Souls would certainly be the image below the RPG entry. Its a shame that Dark Souls 2 wasn't very good in comparison, eh?

Dark Souls is one of a few games privileged enough to earn a 10/10 from me - after finishing it, no other game has given me the sheer satisfaction that Dark Souls has. No other game has me simultaneously feeling in control while knowing if I make a mistake I will be punished severely for it. No other game has a final boss encounter mean so much to a player. And that soundtrack? Oh my god.

Star Wars: Battlefront (2015) - Why you shouldnt board the hype train

Star Wars Battlefront. Ask any 20-something and they will tell you it was one of the highlights of their childhood. Popping that disk into the PS2 and living their Star Wars fantasy, be it the Republic vs the CIS battling on Coruscant, or the Empire vs the Rebellion on Yavin IV, or blasting their way through the Imperial fleet above Hoth in an X-Wing. Battlefront 2 was a game that I could have played through the night for a week straight and still not get bored. It might shock you that after hearing that, the EA reboot is absolutely disappointing.

Lets start with my gripes, of which there are many, shall we? The obvious elephant in the room would be the distinct lack of content. Currently we have 13 maps, that doesn't sound too bad right? It doesn't until I mention that these 13 maps are on four planets and they are mode locked too. We have Tattooine - lots of sand, Endor - lots of trees, Hoth - lots of snow, and Sullust - Basically Hoth except its not snow and theres tons of lava. While the maps on each planet ARE different, they really don't feel special like the old Battlefront games maps did. They had far more soul than the Battlefront reboot, here they feel like fighting on a knock-off movie set. Did I mention that game modes are locked to different maps? Walker Assault uses one from each planet, and being as its essentially the only game mode that feels good to play, you get tired of the maps super quick. I have put about 7 hours into the multiplayer and 4 of those were spent in Walker Assault. I am tired of seeing an AT-AT trudge through sand and snow already.

You might be asking - why do I only rate Walker Assault as worth my time? Honestly, its the only game mode that I cant play a better version of elsewhere. Supremacy (the reboots version of poor version of Conquest) plays like Team Fortress 2's Symmetric Control Point mode. Why they decided this was a better choice than Conquest, I have no idea. Team Deathmatch is little fun due to the shooting mechanics (not to say they are bad, but they *are* too simple to enjoy TDM). Fighter Squadron was something I was super hype for until I discovered that the flight controls are LITERAL ASS. Seriously why couldn't they just use the Battlefield flight model? At least that worked... Can you see where I am going with this? And that isnt even touching the completely fucking backwards spawn system, its so frustrating when you get a hero character like Boba Fett or Darth Vader camping your spawn in Walker Assault and literally being unable to do ANYTHING.

The single player/co-op mode (Missions, as they call it) is also rather lacking. There are five short training missions that teach you various mechanics. These are probably the most offensive to me - they took the time to voice act these and give them their own unique maps only for them all to be done in 20 minutes? What's the point of that? The survival mode gives each planet its own map to hold out against 15 waves of gradually more difficult imperial troop and honestly if it didn't drag itself out for as long as it does it might be somewhat enjoyable. I would have liked customisable loadouts and something more than just popping a pod every couple waves for some RNG bullshit pick-ups that 9 times out of 10 are completely pointless. The last part, Battles is completely yawn inducing - you have what is essentially a Kill Confirmed game mode in either regular soldier version or hero version - you can do these against a friend which is nice I suppose - but ultimately its just a cute waste of time.

Thankfully it isn't all bad news. The game honestly looks gorgeous. Endor is stunning, as is Sullust. The attention to detail on the weapons, vehicles, characters.. hell *everything* is spot on. Not only does it look Star Wars, it sounds Star Wars. Nothing would be out of place in the movies and that is absolutely fantastic.

On the whole though I am, as I said, super disappointed by the game. I could excuse the lack of Space Battles, the lack of Galactic Conquest, the lack of prequel trilogy IF THERE WAS A GAME TO BACK IT UP. There is so much wrong with this that they had nailed with the previous installments that it just feels like it has no soul, no purpose other than to be a big ol' milk machine. DICE have said they will be supporting the game with free maps and modes (the Battle of Jakku content sounds nice) but I dont think it will last for long. When a game has fewer players than EVOLVE you know they fucked up.

I struggle to give Battlefront a 7/10, purely on merits of its audio/visual design. I think it was Totalbiscuit who said this game has the depth of a puddle, and honestly I dont blame him.

Black Ops 3 Review - THE FUTURE MASON, WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Welcome folks, to the first review on this blog. This time we are covering a very polarising game franchise indeed - Call of Duty. Its no surprise that most call every new release the same as the last with a new lick of paint - releasing yearly will do that to you - c'mon Activision, stop it already. In any case, that isn't strictly true. While many laud CoD 4 as the top dog, three stand out to me as being innovative. Modern Warfare 3, for its Strike Packages (why did they get rid of these? They were awesome. Score streaks are almost as good so its not a *huge* deal), Black Ops 2 for the 'Pick' system, and Advanced Warfare for the Exo mechanics. These are proof that Call of Duty ISN'T the same every year, and the main reason I get so peeved when people try to say it is.

Now, I realise a lot of people were put off from Call of Duty after the horrific mess that was Ghosts (Seriously what were they thinking? IT HAS A DOG GUYS. GAME OF THE YEAR) and the futuristic setting of Advanced Warfare - I have some good news and some bad. It isn't a shit heap like Ghosts, but it does still push the future spin. It retains the Exo mechanics somewhat, stripping away the abilities from it but still letting you boost jump and power slide, while also letting you wall run - it removed a lot of the upwards mobility but let you use the new features to attack from unexpected angles - its so fantastic to come blitzing around a corner on a wall and taking someone by complete surprise. It does take a bit of getting used to though if, like me the last Call of Duty game you played was Black Ops 2, so I do recommend hopping into single player first unless you don't mind getting stomped on for the early part of your multiplayer career.

Does Black Ops 3 pull Call of Duty back from the depths of despair? I think it just might.

I will start with covering the single player experience. You do get the choice of playing any mission right from the get go if you like, but I played through from the start, on Veteran, in co-op with my younger brother (Yes! Treyarch have brought back the co-op campaign, letting you smash through it with up to three buddies). It took us maybe an hour and a half to complete each mission, we weren't rushing particularly (he is a bit of a hoarder so we took the time to get most of the collectibles) but we didn't dally either. The single player game has a levelling feature similar to multiplayer now, letting you unlock different guns for you load-out in the pre-mission 'hub', along with new abilities for each of the three different cores available pretty early in the game. Each one focuses on a different aspect of combat, and these are explained in the second mission when you get access to them. Along with that you do get to customise your character with different armor and headpieces awarded after each mission as well as its gender (which you can change whenever you like by the way). The survival 'mini-game' has been included in the campaign hub too, accessible from the terminal with four seats near to the deployment area - I will be honest and say I didn't touch this but I figure it does what it says on the tin. Good for testing your new weapons and abilities I suppose if that's your jam.

Mechanics and systems aside, lets talk story quality. Personally? I think it is one of the best Call of Duty campaigns to date. It is nice and self contained, with plenty of twists - I thought I knew who the baddie was fairly early on - needless to say I was wrong. Kinda. Twists guys. It was a pretty emotional ride as you plow through, especially around halfway through the campaign - once you start getting to what you assume is the main plot point. Its hard to say more without spoilers but trust me - you really do start to feel pretty shitty. There were two missions that stood out as good fun for me - the first is about half way through the game. It contained a sequence where you have the option of going in guns blazing, or with provided suppressed sniper rifle, you can take everyone out stealthily and walk through without a care in the world. The other mission is towards the end of the game where you fight through an imagined World War 2 setting complete with American and Nazi soldiers, Tiger II's and giant dire wolves (wait what?). They also throw in a short Zombie sequence in here too - I must admit it did feel a bit tedious with how long that seemed to drag on for but it didn't really detract too much - and it *did* fit in with the narrative so I guess I will let them off. But yeah. The ending? Very good, and certainly not what I was expecting only hours before. And that's not to mention the nods to the past Treyarch entries - Nova 6, a poster of Mason, a nod to Menendez all lead to a nice and cohesive timeline throughout. Props Treyarch!

Once you complete the campaign you unlock the 'Nightmares' mode - essentially this completely changes the narrative of the campaign and throws zombies at you instead soldiers. I haven't had the chance to try this out yet, but its definitely something I plan on tackling when I have some time!

Speaking of Zombies, it wouldn't be a Treyarch game without a Zombies mode! Now now, you didn't think the Nightmares mode was all you were getting did you? Oh no. You get the same Zombies mode you know and love, barricades, mystery box et-al. The map you get on ship is set in a prohibition era Midwest America from what I can tell, with very unique characters - all with excellent VO lines, again as ever. This is by far the hardest launch map yet, with tight corridors, a handful of new enemies, new mechanics and a tough easter egg. What makes it special this time around? Well, the addition of gobblegum is nice, giving you pseudo-perks (depending on the color - some last for 3 rounds for example, some on a timer and some take action when you die or respawn) that do really change how you play in the later rounds. You start out with five unlocked, and you unlock more as you level up in the Zombies mode (yep, you level up in Zombies too!) as well as being able to gamble for single use 'mega' gobblegum which offer much more powerful and unique effects with a resource you get for playing - you can change your pack of five gobblegum from the lobby and activate them from machines in game for 500 points - the activation is random however so you don't quite know which of the five you are getting! Aside from the gobblegum unlocking as you level up, you do also get the option to customise the weapons you pick up from the wall or the box at different levels - starting with camo but later being able to add various attachments. Some might complain it makes the game easier but honestly, later waves get very tedious so a little extra in the early game isn't too bad. Again, a nice feature in my opinion - besides haven't we all wanted golden guns in Zombies?

And with that we come to the meat and potatoes - the main reason a lot of people purchase Call of Duty. The fast paced multiplayer arena spectacle combat. I used to hear so many complain about people camping - well the good news is that its pretty much GONE. At least, I haven't noticed any in the couple of hours I have put in - there is a much bigger focus on moving all the time what with the exo 2.0 as it were. It feels a lot faster than Black Ops 2 did, and definitely has a bigger skill gap - being able to snap shot someone while doing a thrust jump or a wall run is pretty difficult if you haven't used these mechanics before but when you master them you will feel great and your scores will really sky-rocket. The maps also have a much bigger vertical aspect to them than previously, gone are the days of Modern Warfare's flat, rectangular obstacle strewn maps, replaced by the pitfall laden up-and-down cluster fucks of Black Ops 3. Its really hard to put it into words, but essentially I'm telling you it is VASTLY different to the Call of Duty you know and love (or hate!) while still retaining a lot of the familiarity.

It does away with Advanced Warfare's character customisation in favor of tying an ability and signature weapon to each character - there is a huge selection (half unlocked at the onset, the others unlock as you level up) of characters, men, women, a robot... each have their own VO too which is nice to hear. I have played with Battery pretty much exclusively, as my first unlock token went towards unlocking her Kinetic Armor - an ability that deflects bullets from her torso but still leaves her vulnerable to head shots and non-bullet damage (Semtex will mess up your day). I did unlock the Gravity Spikes for Ruin, a rather gruff looking fellow - the Spikes do a ground pound style attack where you leap forward and slam down for often devastating damage which increases for the distance you travel before hitting the ground (both vertical and horizontal). Sadly I didn't really enjoy that too much so promptly switched back to Battery for a bit before unlocking Outriders Vision Pulse. This is a short range radial burst that highlights enemies through walls and obstacles - very handy indeed.

All in all the multiplayer feels pretty new and exciting to me, with a lot of depth, customisation, and opportunity for a high skill ceiling. All great stuff! Couple that with a fantastic campaign experience, stellar zombies mode and the reintroduction of mod tools for PC - something we haven't seen for a while and honestly a dearly missed feature, this will definitely keep the Zombies mode alive for plenty of time to come. All things considered you get a fantastic complete game with plenty of new and interesting content to keep you occupied for at least the next year when we find out whether or not the next instalment is worth your money - because honestly this one definitely is. My only criticisms of the game are the aforementioned tedious zombies sequence in the main campaign, the complete switch to futuristic weapons (I miss my AK and SCAR dammit) and while it doesn't particularly affect me, the last generation releases (PS3 and Xbox 360) are VERY bare-bones, launching with no campaign, nightmares campaign, vast amounts of missing multiplayer features and a lack of split screen in addition to a very downgraded visual quality have led to some people questioning why they even bothered. To note however, Treyarch didn't have any hands on with this version, it was developed jointly by Beenox (of Skylanders fame) and Mercenary Technology. Either way it is still inexcusable when compared to previous instalments on those consoles.

Overall I would say the PC version is very much deserving of a solid 8 out of 10, thanks to its solid features, narrative and the inclusion of mod tools.
The current console generation releases getting a 7 out of 10 because of the lack of mod support.
Finally, the last generation version earns its self a disgusting 5 out 10 because honestly there was no need for it. Nobody asked for it, especially not in that state.

I hope you enjoyed the review, if you did (or didn't!) I would appreciate some feedback! Next week we will try and get around to Fallout 4 if I can pry it away from my brother for a while. Otherwise look forward to a Battlefront review as I did just pick that up on Origin. Take care guys!

The Review Reboot

Hi there! I have been pondering whether or not tI should do something with this blog for a while, and well now is the perfect time to get it back up and running. Instead of looking at tanks, we are going to be focusing more on games, similar to my last post - this time we are strictly reviewing a single game at a time. I decided this is a decent idea, because friday nights (game night with the JPF guys) we tend to talk about games when people are too drunk/high/tired to carry on gaming - that and the recent fallout release - both of these prompt a lot of thought and usually too much for me to explain on the spot. So? Reviews.

Will be scheduling one a week, to go up on Sunday in the afternoon. At first I was just going to do text but I need screenshots anyway so I figure I could record gameplays and what not and do a voice over on top. This will be the same as the text version for those who prefer to listen/watch . I might do some extra ones here and there in the week if I get time etc, but I will be putting at LEAST one up a week for you on Sunday.

With that in mind, I have a handful of ideas for games to review already - the first (going up on sunday) is a Black Ops 3 review - I can hear you groaning already but please give it a fair shot. After that I was toying with Fallout 4, Dark Souls, Resident Evil 2, Starcraft 2 Legacy of the Void and Warhammer End Times: Vermintide. If you have suggestions also, please let me know and ill see what I can do!

Before I leave, I will let you ponder this image - gee I wonder which I will be using as a basis for my reviews?! Take care folks!

Lets Look: Dynasty Warriors

Dynasty Warriors. Just saying those two words can spark a variety of reactions from people. Some wont know what the fuck you are talking about. Some will laugh at you. Some will want to hug you tight and fangirl with you. Im in the last of those categories; I absolutely love it, its a series that I have followed since Dynasty Warriors 3 - I recall my first real encounter was on a PS2 Demo disk that let you play as Huang Gai, Guan Yu and Xiahou Dun on a Yellow Turban stage, many hours were spent trying to get as many kills as humanly possible :') Anywho, seeing as I promised stuff that WASNT just tanks, I decided to give you all an insight on this markedly niche game in the hopes some of you might be interested enough to pick it up and share in my appreciation :3

Lets start with a brief history, shall we? Dynasty Warriors first launched as a PS1 2D fighting game in the style of Soul Edge/Soul Calibur. It featured 14 characters that would go on to become mainstay characters for the rest of the series, along with two that would end up starring in a spin off series - Samurai Warriors (more on this, and other spin off titles, later!) - and was, all things considered, incredibly technical and required a lot of skill to be good at.

Humble Beginings for the mighty Warriors.

The sequel (used in the loosest possible way, all things considered) made the game into what it is today - a 3D hack-and-slash fun fest. The player assumes the role of one of 28 characters - each with their own weapons and fighting style - and fights battles. These would be selected from either Musou Mode or Free Mode, with the former being the characters story mode and the latter being a way to play any previously unlocked stage as any character. The main bulk of the game is in its Musou Mode however, as this is where you unlocked characters and stages. I think now would be a good time to point out that each of the games follows the same storyline; now hold on a second, I know what you are thinking - is this Call of Duty?! The simple answer is no. While they are all based on the same events as the 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' novel, which is in turn based on real life historical events, Tecmo-Koei do a pretty good job of making it feel fresh each time around, with different stage layouts, small changes in order of events, and the inclusion of more characters as the games go on.

Dynasty Warriors 2 - Even nostalgia cant make that UI look nice

Ok, so Dynasty Warriors 2 laid the foundation for the Warriors games as a whole, but aside from the hack-and-slash gameplay is there to keep me occupied? Well, for one the soundtracks are LITERALLY AMAZING. As in, probably some of the best in all of gaming. From the iconic 'Theme of Lu Bu' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcYaZLsjQwI to the simple but catchy 'King of Sadness' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AskzCj5brpg and even to the upbeat 'A Great Giant' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWVlWCVQnt4 - No matter the track, they all bring back so many memories of hours wasted away mashing my square button...

From 14, to a whopping 82, the Dynasty Warriors Roster is full of personality

For a little more background on the story, each game typically begins with the Yellow Turban Rebellion; the event that marked the end of the Han Dynasty and plunged China into what was known as the Three Kingdoms period. The rebellion introduces you to the leaders of the Three Kingdoms - Liu Bei of Shu, Sun Jian of Wu, and Cao Cao of Wei - along with the leader of the Coalition, Yuan Shao. After the battle is done, the leaders of the Kingdoms (at this point they dont actually *have* kingdoms, but its easier to refer to them as such) all return to their homeland and ponder of what is to become of China now the Han has crumbled away. This leads Cao Cao to devise a plot to unify the land under his rule - however many others thought the same. And so, the three kingdoms clashed, forged alliances, broke alliances, and just generally fought amongst themselves for decades. The older games gave you the gist of the story, but only since the 6th installment have they really tried to give any meaning to it. Dynasty Warriors 7 also introduced the Jin 'Kingdom' which isnt really a kingdom at all, but the Wei faction under Sima Yi's guidance after the death of Cao Cao and Cao Pi - the Jin kingdom also marked the franchises first venture into the latter half of the fighting, and of course the end of the war. Phew, so much fighting!

Zhao Yun, from Dynasty Warriors 1 on the left, and Dynasty Warriors 8 on the right

Character Development is one of the main draws to buying new Dynasty Warriors games - seeing the transformation of Zhao Yun is one thing, and the rest of the characters follow too. Now, this didnt really kick in until Dynasty Warriors 6 - before then each character was unique, yet still lacked their own... originality? For the most part it was hard to tell an officer apart from the regular footmen. 6 brought that originality to the forefront, giving each character bright and vibrant outfits, and gave us the characters we see today (the roster shot will show you what I mean) - every character is distinguishable by their face, their build and their outfit now, which is nice. Each factions characters sports a different colour; Green for Shu, Red for Wu, Dark Blue for Wei and Light Blue for Jin, with characters falling into the 'Other' category having no set colour scheme. Every character has a signature weapon too - there have been some switches here and there (again, mainly with 6 - I will talk about this next) but on the whole each character has kept the weapon that makes them... them. Zhao Yun with his dragon Spear, Cao Cao with his long sword, Zhang Liao with twin axes and Lu Bu with a Halberd. There is a weapon and move set for every kind of player.

Dynasty Warriors 6 time! They cleaned up the UI and focused on making the game flashy, woo!

Mentioning Dynasty Warriors 6 to any Dynasty Warriors fan will likely score you a scolding about how it was the series darkest hour - however I think it was probably the turning point at which the game went from merely *good* to *absolutely fantastic* - as I said before it gave each of the characters so much more personality with their new costumes and looks, and graphically it was stunning (although that was probably due to it being the first of the *then* next-gen consoles) compared to those that came before. It drew together a lot of good things in the series, but also threw in some bad. The combo system that we were used to from the old games was gone in favour of the 'Renbu' system - effectively a momentum gage that built as you attack that let you string together longer combos. This is probably why a lot of people hated it - it felt awful and made a lot of characters feel kinda bad to play. It also switched out some of the more iconic weapons - Lu Bu was given a wheeled pike in place of his usual Halberd, which left many fans sour in the mouth, but others were changed too; some for better, some for worse. However, if you can look past these two glaring faults, the direction this version took the series was exciting - maps were bigger and more varied, the story was a lot more woven in to the game and allowed players to empathise with some characters better than before (I used to think Cao Cao was a massive dick before this game, but afterwards I kinda saw his point and applauded him for it). The music also kicked up a notch, featuring a wider variety of styles and instruments, Dynasty Warriors 6 was a very rich, albeit different, approach to the series.

Dynasty Warriors 8 - wow, such graphics, many enemy, much musou, very kawaii

That leaves us with the series current release - Dynasty Warriors 8. It followed in the previous installments footsteps of allowing characters to bring two weapons to battle, with move sets being tied to weapons now and not character - so you can see Liu Bei running around with Throwing Knives and using Wang Yuanji's fighting style. It also improved this by adding a Rock, Paper, Scissors element to weapons in the form of Heaven, Earth and Man, with each being respectively effective against, or weak against the others. Costumes were more defined, more characters were added to the rosters, and stages are as good as they have ever been, although this versions Hu Lao Gate battle isnt as climactic as previous versions. Story mode offers the player a choice of several characters per stage, instead of the previous games set character, or even further back giving each character their own set of stages - this way the story is very cohesive and easy to follow for the player, while also not forcing them to play a character they may not like (although this is a non issue due to the weapons being universal now). Out for PS3, Xbox 360, PS4 and PSVita, and coming soon for PC, this is the perfect time for anyone to jump into Dynasty Warriors!

Remember kids! Do NOT pursue Lu Bu!

On a final note, I want to expand a bit on the spin-off games. The first and most notable would be Samurai Warriors - unlike Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors was set in feudal japan and featured, obviously, samurai. The likes of Tadakatsu Honda, Nobunaga Oda and Shingen Takeda all battled for control of Japan. This leads on to Warriors Orochi - this game saw characters from both Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors come together to battle a new and mysterious faction led by Orochi, an evil Demon God. Other than these, Bladestorm focused on the 100 Years War between England and France during the 14th and 15th centuries, and Warriors: Legends of Troy showcased the Greeks versus the Trojans. For anime fans, both Gundam and One Piece have their own Warriors games, featuring characters from their respective universes tied together with the Warriors gameplay I have come to love. Also announced recently was 'Hyrule Warriors' - a Warriors game set in the Legend of Zelda universe. Look forward to that!