Discussion: Metal Gear Solid V, Too Erotic Debate. Sexism In Games?

Controversy has gripped Kojima as he came out on Twitter and said that he wanted his female characters to be more erotic. This sparked discussions on the topic, so I thought I would put in a couple ideas. Video games have always been the scapegoat of controversial topics, for example violence being blamed on video games. Eg, Grand Theft Auto. A quote from Forbes really summed up the whole thing for me "Models in a magazine might be just as scantily clad and sexed-up as a video game character, but we don’t really think twice when we see them." (Article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/09/06/metal-gear-solid-v-sexism-controversy-all-smoke-and-no-fire/ ) Now, we must realise, Kojima has been doing this in previous games. We must also realise, Kojima is a master at telling a story and delivering a powerful message in his games.

Point 2, Quiet, who is the character of controversy here needs these details added, she as we know, speaks very little, these characteristics make her identifiable for the audience. However, I would agree in ways she seems at the moment to be lacking in serious detail, so only time will tell.

I would also like to discuss what Halo designer, David Ellis had to say. Saying how he thought it was a disgusting design, how the industry should be better than this. I would like to start by pointing out, David should be careful at who he targets. As we know Halo features the character Cortana who was heavily sexualised, especially in Halo 4, I don't know what position he has, whether he has any involvement in designing that certain character. But all I must say is, why criticise someone if your company does exactly the same thing? Now I'm sure David Ellis will get into a lot of trouble for his contribution to the discussion, he makes a fair point though.

I'm a gamer who can accept these images, not because I agree, but it's something that won't change. Not just in video games, but in any form of media we see these representations. However I would point out that we don't need sex to promote characters. The recent Telltale's,The Walking Dead featured plenty of female characters who never needed this sex factor to become attached, the story was brilliant and easily attached us to them on an emotional level. We may see a shift in the future, not just for video games, but for media as a whole.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Review!

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is around about  4-10 hours long  (depending on difficulty). In that time you will be blown away fighting all kinds of brilliant enemies in spectacular style,  it's a tight action game whose campaign moves as quickly as its excellent combat.

With a boss battle on average every 45 minutes, you really are in some serious badass fights regularly. Traditional Metal Gear games have relied on the element of stealth, although this game does feature that, the main focus is melee combat. Combos gracefully fall together, with a combination of sword strikes, kicks and aerial attacks. The animation for these look stunning to say the least, I have never been this excited for a game like this which obviously had so much work put into it.

With unlockables you can easily get past that 4-10 hours and sink many more into the game. With a ton of moves, one of which answered one of my main problems, a dodge ability! Which I really enjoyed using.

Once Raiden slays enough cyborgs, he can enter the time-slowing Blade Mode and slice his sword in any direction, this will slice parts of enemies of in a jaw-dropping way. It also adds a new twist on the game in terms of strategy, slicing  weapons of cyborgs to leave them vulnerable, or slicing armour to reveal weak points.

This game's soundtrack is also one of the best I have heard in a game in a while, each boss theme is unique and makes fights even more awesome. Hands down the big winner for best soundtrack this year, simply put it's outstanding.

Other unlockables are available, in a way I love by defeating bosses you gain their weapon. The only thing is these weapons are rather bad, they replace some of your attaks and can restrict some combos.

The camera is the only real major problem that I have with the game, it seems to keep altering itself all the time in the worst possible moment. It can take away from combat and can actually get you killed from time to time. It is only a minor splinter in an otherwise fantastic game.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a brave move and certainly pays off, Raiden is finally back and more badass than ever. It's always entertaining, even if you are new to the franchise, I'm sure anybody can love this brilliant masterpiece. - 9/10

Gears of War Judgment Review!

Gears of War Judgement is certainly another Gears of War game. Created by People Can Fly, makers of Bulletstorm a fantastic game. It's a prequel to the first game with the player taking the role as fan favourite Baird, surely it's a recipe for success? Kinda.

To start the campaign has created an arcade feel to the campaign in the way of earning stars for your performance, these can be increased with the player using more creative ways of killing. The problem I have is the campaign is then split into sections because of this, the game truly suffers. It feels like I'm doing a series of challenges instead of trying to enjoy the game how I want. It also manages to put the momentum on hold every time you finish a section, at times I really struggled to become attached to the story at all. I really enjoyed Paduk though, his character did feel fleshed out. However the same can't be said about Sofia who I feel was the tag along woman in our squad who felt kinda left out at times in dialogue.

Judgment follows the tradition and treats its main villain poorly. General Karn's screen time is limited, his impact is barely felt, and his fight is kinda poor. He exists purely for the sake of a predictable and anticlimactic final boss fight. The squad AI is actually a bit better than previous games, I actually got saved from time to time and they actually killed the odd Locust.

Now onto multiplayer. It's a mixed bag really, I will start with what I liked. The attack-and-defend OverRun mode feels like an extension of  Beast Mode. Five COG soldiers do their best to keep incoming Locust from destroying their defenses and opening a new spawn point. If the Locust succeed, the COG fall back and try again until the timer runs out or their third and final base is destroyed. Then the roles are reversed.  The Locust classes add a variety of playstyles for people to play and learn to counter,  campaign-influenced skills for each COG character give it a distinctly Gears of War feel.

This mode is jut as fun as anything introduced in any previous Gears of War game. Now to the bad, the class system. For some reason every shooter now believes we need a Call of Duty style class system. Guns have been introduced and the weapon selection has changed for the worse, no longer can you have a shotgun and assault rifle. Options really feel limited and to say the worst, generic.

Final Verdict - 6.5/10 Overall Gears of War Judgment is a GOOD game, but it's far from brilliant. I praise games for trying to bring changes, but for the most part changes were made that were not needed. OverRun is a stroke of geniss and brings some really fun moments, especially with friends. But the campaign lacks any sort of badassness that the other Gears of War games had, making it he poorest campaign out of any Gears yet.

Art of Castlevania Lords of Shadow Video Review

Just a quick video I put together for a book I received from the very kind Titan Books! Feel free to check them out and my video review to see if it's something you want to own!

http://youtu.be/SWDMm4-Y3xM

Update - 16/02/2014 - Changes

From bringing back my blog I realised (thanks to university) I don't have as much time as I would like to dedicate to this blog. I'm struggling to cope with covering film, television, books and games. I love all these forms of entertainment, however gaming is my number one passion. So from now on, unless I can find writers for other areas, this blog will only cover gaming and items such as art books or anything else related to gaming.

So sorry to those of you who aren't interested in gaming. However, I hope you stick around for some in-depth game reviews, news and just general opinions on issues in the industry.

Thanks again, and continue to spread the word.
- Jonathan

Killzone Shadowfall Review

The Helghast look amazing, shame they can't shoot

PlayStation 4 launched with a decent line-up, many new IPs, but also a couple older ones. Killzone Shadowfall is a great game at showing just what the PlayStation 4 is capable of, however is it just that? A shiny new game with brilliant graphics but nothing else? That's what I'm here to discuss in this review.

My experience was very odd with this game. I planned to review it the week of launch. However I couldn't bring myself to finish the game, stopping after the second mission, thinking to myself I've seen this gameplay too much in other games, just another shooter. I decided to pick it up again after a couple months and try again. This time successfully finishing the game, I'm glad I did finish the game, it turned out to be an enjoyable experience. Not one that was ground-breaking, but still fun.

I won't lie, this game won't be remembered in a couple years as more games come out for the console. As Shadow Marshal Lucas Kellan, you’re tasked with keeping the peace between the Vektan natives and the Helghast refugees.  It's actually interesting, we get more of a view of the Helghast people and their views on the situation. It's interesting to see the almost justified reasons to hate the Vektan.

Level design is varied, with missions varying from open forests to large space ships. However, it feels like the first half of the game had more attention than the second half, as the game began to feel like a grind as I made my way through. Enemy AI is awful, I breezed through the game on hard as the AI reacted like a snail to my bullets. By the end, the enemy are pretty much all the same, with the odd robotic enemy thrown in.

The OWL, which is a little robotic buddy which can do a variation of things, attack, defence, zipline and stun. All of these are used with the PlayStation 4 touchpad, which is a great use of the new featured on the new controller.

Onto the multiplayer. Multiplayer is a mixed bag, the gameplay can be rather bland at time. Not being better than some of the existing multiplayer shooters out there. It feels tacked on, with very little innovation. It's a shame, multiplayer can be a saving factor for many shooters. With very little unlocks, my choices feel very light for how I can customise my loadouts.


Final veridict - 5.5 - Altogether, the game's not great, but I would say PlayStation 4 players should give it a try. Certainly Killzone Shadowfall is a great example of the potential of the PlayStation 4's power. However I feel like the game was rushed out for the console's release, which is certainly evident of the second half of the game.  With tacked on multiplayer which doesn't do anything new for the genre.

Outlast Review

Run. Just run.

So Outlast was released a couple days ago for the PlayStation 4 (Free to PS+ users). This was my first experience of the game, never really hearing or looking at anything about it.

 Survival horror has been a strange genre for games. Huge franchises such as, Dead Space and Resident Evil have gone down a more action based path. For the worse as some would see it. With games such as Evil Within and Alien: Isolation, the genre is making a comeback it seems.

Visually, this game's amazing, taking full advantage of the new console. he game's the first game from new developer Red Barrels. Who are co-founded by me rather big named developers.

To start, the game takes place in an asylum, an asylum which supposedly was closed, but secretly reopened. Playing as a journalist with an anonymous tip-off, it's your job to report on this.

Visually this game's great, taking full advantage of the pretty new PlayStation 4. The game is mostly in darkness, using a nice mechanic of a camera for night vision viewing. You can't fight, instead you hide and run. I played with a group of friends watching. A woman who was present, commented on the game being like watching a horror film, this coming from a woman who had little experience of video games like this. So already we can see the game is doing a great job of creating atmosphere and danger for us as the player. The tension and fear is incredible, as I found myself whimpering under a bed for a great portion of the game, as messed up maniacs searched the room for me.

However the game can be very repetitive at times, with chases going on obvious routes. Level design is rather linear, featuring a bit of backtracking from time to time. The game's short, finishing it in around 3 - 5 hours, depending on how much of a coward you are. The game lacks in areas, this is certainly true.

However, the game more than anything, does what it set out to do, scare the pants off you, and damn does it do it well. The scares are expertly crafted, occurring when you least expect it. Alongside brilliant sound design, this really is a horror game not to be missed.

Final Verdict: 7.5/10 - Despite Outlast's problems, the game's fantastic, I've not had this many scares from a game in a while, it's a refreshing experience from the more common genres of gaming.