Friday 28 June 2013

Top 3 Games That Got Me Excited at E3

E3 was a rather bizarre event this year, with Microsoft being trashed by the public and Sony being declared the people's champion. But all that aside some brilliant games were shown at the event and these are 3 games that got me really excited!

The Division

 The Division was a really big shock to gamers, but right after this trailer was shown I was sold, I needed this game. The idea of an open world run down city which I'm allowed to explore with a squad of friends is brilliant. The constant dangers of opposing groups performing ambushes wherever you are is genius to me, it creates suspense and gameplay that will always keep you at attention.

The game also looks stunning, the graphics are beyond beautiful and I can tell this game will be a real winner for Ubisoft. Being a fan of many of the Tom Clancy games for their realism also helps. However I always saw Tom Clancy games as being a tad underappreciated with the rise of modern day shooters cluttering the market and leaving little room for games not considered as blockbuster like Call of Duty. Hopefully this will be the mark of an era of Tom Clancy.

Destiny
 
I grew up with Bungie delivering huge hits with the Halo franchise. Since then Bungie have departed and a part of me was sad to see them leave such an iconic franchise, however with the stream of news coming from Destiny I was more than happy that Bungie were allowed to move onto new things and create new ideas. The trailer and gameplay from E3 solidified my thoughts, the game is beautiful and I love what we have seen from this new universe Bungie has built. With Bungie saying the game will have a 10 year life cycle I am excited to see how this game progresses as time goes on. Bungie could potentially be sitting on a goldmine here.
 
The game of course visually looks incredible with a real futuristic feel. People are already comparing it to the gaming equivalent to the Star Wars franchise so already people are setting expectations high. If anybody can live up to the hype, it's Bungie.
 
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
 
 
Metal Gear Solid has always been a franchise I've loved, the story, the characters, it all adds up to a brilliant experience overall. In the past Kojima has commented on the dark story that this game will have, certainly from the trailers we have seen the story really fills me with interest. Speculation has already begun of course, as with any Metal Gear Solid game, such as Eli being Liquid Snake.
 
 It's all exciting stuff and the idea of a open world Metal Gear Solid game is interesting, it will be interesting to see how exactly the game will work like this, what will populate the world to keep players interested? It's all questions I'm sure will be answered, but the mechanics shown and the gameplay we have seen all seem to be great additions to the gameplay, I can give nothing but praise to the genius that is Kojima.

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Small Update on What to Expect!



 
So if this picture isn't obvious enough, I'm really excited for Pacific Rim! The image above is a Jaeger that I made on this link http://apps.warnerbros.com/pacificrim/designer/us/ 
 
So expect a review from me when I eventually see Pacific Rim and lets cross our fingers that it lives up to my expectations! So I've now finished school until September in which I will be going to university (yey?). So expect a lot more frequent blog posts now that I have no exams to worry about, expect a couple reviews of newer games and I'm also looking at reviewing a few classic games!
 
Please do keep reading and spreading the blog would be a huge help to me with a simple share of this blog to Google+ or other sites!

 

Tuesday 25 June 2013

Top 10 Games of This Console Generation

We have seen some brilliant games from this console generation, some games that stood out from the crowd and left many happy memories.

Number 10: Dead Space 1
Although I'm a huge fan of the rest of the series, Dead Space 1 created a terrifying new universe that had me jumping from start to finish. It was a game that set out to breath life into a genre which needed some love. Having rich atmosphere, the brilliant Necromorph threat and what I consider one of the greatest uses of sound in a game. The fact you were simply an engineer, Isaac Clarke, not your badass soldier we see too often today. Just a man and his tools fighting a terrifying threat. It's truly a science fiction horror that rivals the Alien films.
 
Number 9: Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect is the Star Trek or Star Wars of the games industry. Mass Effect 2 improved in every single area from it's first game in the trilogy, cleaning up the technical issues of the original and adding one of the strongest narratives I've ever seen. Choices feel like they had impact behind them and left me with regrets when I made a harsh decision, showing just how powerful this game actually is. With no spoilers about the end, the final mission is brilliant, so much emotion and narrative add up to a powerful and well deserved ending to the game, in no way underselling the many hours we had invested.

Number 8: Last of Us  
Last of Us certainly deserves that Naughty Dog name on the box, living up to the high standards set by their past games. A breath-taking story mixed with gritty and super realistic combat mechanics, all this lead to an unforgettable experience and one of the best of this generation. This may be one of the final memorable games that closes this chapter of this generation, ending it on a high note. Naughty Dog has taken past experiences and thrown in a new twist to their storytelling and gameplay, boy does it pay off big time.



Number 7: Grand Theft Auto 4
Grand Theft Auto V is getting close, we can't forget the fantastic game that is Grand Theft Auto 4. In the past Grand Theft Auto had a much less serious tone, with jetpacks and model planes. However this tale following Niko Bellic was much darker than anything we had seen from GTA. It provided an immersive world and loads of fantastic fun to be had. With 2 brilliant DLC expansions:The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and Damned. There is plenty of content to be played.  However there was a bit too much bowling with Roman for us to handle which many gamers still love to laugh about today.

Number 6: The Orange Box
This game kept with Valve's tradition of giving the gamer one hell of an experience and bargain. With Half Life 2 and the brilliant episodes, Team Fortress 2 and Portal, there's a lot to play with here. Combining Valve's best games into one package was a brilliant move on their part and it's a shame we don't see such great packages like this from many other companies. Getting three incredible chapters of one the best single player first person shooter ever created, a unique puzzler, and an incredible multiplayer game has never been so satisfying.



Number 5: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
MGS4 is the perfect ending to Solid Snake's story. It successfully ties in every games plot to create one of the most emotional and beautiful endings to a game ever. It answers the questions that had been set by previous games and provides one of the coolest final boss fights I can think of in this generation of consoles. The game has an attention to detail which is rarely seen by any industry, pulling everything off and producing a work of art in gaming.

Number 4: Uncharted 2
If there's one game that makes me want to own a PlayStation it's Uncharted 2, sadly I was forced to use my friend as a source to play this fantastic game.  At the core of Uncharted 2 is an action-adventure masterpiece. A game that provides a brilliant mix of narrative and action that Naughty Dog are well known for. A game that sends Indiana Jones home with his tale between his legs. What more can we say about this game? It's truly an adventure from start to finish, one that gamers should be ashamed of if they have not played it.

Number 3: Halo 3
The long awaited finale to the original trilogy of the story of Master Chief. The series that is seen as the flagship of Xbox. The series ended and left gamers both sad and happy. Sad because the trilogy was now over and Master Chief's story had been told (For now) and happy because gamers received the game that they wanted. A package so rich on content, with Forge allowing for creativity and creating some unforgettable moments with friends, a campaign which had so much brilliant moments it left us wanting more. But the biggest revolution from this game was the multiplayer experience, providing one of the most competitive shooters for gamers.

Number 2: Fallout 3
Nobody really knew what to expect from this game, it was a fresh take on the Fallout games. It turns out that this would become one of the most addictive and interesting games out there with a huge scale. It's a thrilling, all-consuming experience that will absorb you for weeks, with hours of new experiences. Having multiple playthroughs I can say, every time I play I discover something new and crazy, something that I need to tell my friends about. If you have not had a chance to explore the wasteland yet, you really are missing out on one hell of a fantastic ride. It's a game that gets better every minute and with 4 DLC packs for this game, them hundreds of hours already in the game are made even better.

Number 1: Skyrim
Bethesda successfully bag the top 2 spots. Some may not agree with me that Skyrim deserves this top spot. However never before has a single player game had me gripped and immersed like Skyrim. With over 600 hours played on Skyrim, to this day I still regularly turn on my Xbox 360 in search of new adventures. Bethesda really have a talent when it comes to creating a brilliant single player game. Anyone can pick this game up, both the casual and hardcore gamer, as you're free to play the game how you like. Skyrim is a charming game which never fails to make me smile as I discover ancient ruins or find a crazy talking dog (Yes the game has one). To people who have not played this game, I demand you go out and buy yourself a copy, I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed with what you buy. With 2 DLC packs furthering this experience, most notably the Dragonborn DLC, which in my opinion is one of the greatest pieces of DLC out there. I can not praise this game enough as it beyond epic. Despite minor technical flaws and rather funny voice acting, Skyrim holds up as a masterpiece.