E3 2016 - The Good, The Bad, and the Downright Awful

       E3 has come and gone once again, and the impressions are still very much fresh in many of our memories. As usual, there were some fantastic press conferences and some not so fantastic ones. Although, this year the difference between the best and the worst was a lot more significant than usual...

Much like a good majority of the gaming community I am not the biggest fan of EA although, I absolutely adore BioWare. That being said, I have always been able to look past my preference to make objective criticisms. So understand that this is coming from a complete level of professionalism when I say this: they had one of the worst press conferences I have ever seen. Not the worst but one of the worst.

For one thing EA puts a lot of heavy focus on sports games. I know there's an audience for that and I'm not part of it. I'm not saying it's bad just because they show sports games but what I am saying is the way they go about it is just awful. There is no presentation whatsoever. This year they came across very lazy and like they didn't even want to be there. It was like a business meeting that they just wanted to get over and done with. They even took the early slot on Sunday. I was glad to finally see some Mass Effect Andromeda footage but then sorely disappointed when it turned out to be a bunch of behind the scenes footage and maybe like 2 or 3 clips from the actual game. I honestly feel like if that's all they were going to show they should have held off and just waited until they had more. Literally the best thing about their press conference was the Battlefield 1 footage and then the 64 player Battlefield 1 match after the fact.

There are a lot of highlights from that moment including Wiz Khalifa destroying the other team and Snoop Dogg Just casually smoking a blunt in the middle of the game. That entire section was far more entertaining than any press conference EA has ever held.

Bethesda had a pretty decent showing this year. Not as good as last year with the surprise Fallout 4 announcement but still pretty decent. They definitely brought the house down with the announcement of Quake Champions. That made a lot of people happy. Skyrim Remastered is a juicy bit of news for some people. I honestly feel like they put too much focus on Fallout 4 DLC and, well, some of it looked good, some of it looked not so good and I think the fans were hoping for something a bit more substantial. It was nice to see that Fallout Shelter is coming to PC though for those that don't play mobile games.

Also, Bethesda announced that there is no more level cap for The Elder Scrolls Online which could be good or bad depending on where you stand with MMOs. The announcement of the Prey sequel was also a huge bit of news for some people. The thing that stood out the most to me was that we finally got to see some gameplay for Dishonored 2 and man, does it look good.

Overall I would say Bethesda did exactly what you would expect out of a company for an E3 press conference. They didn't do a bad job but they also didn't go above and beyond. It was a slightly above-average press conference that had a lot of great announcements and a few not-so-great ones but overall very satisfying.

Microsoft had probably one of the better press conferences they've had in awhile. The announcement that pretty much every Xbox game is going to work on Windows 10 was definitely the high point but also kind of bittersweet because it means that most people are now going to fall under the mindset of "if that's the case why don't I just get a PC?" There will always be those less financially fortunate, however, or just people that prefer console who will opt for the Xbox One version anyways.

Another highlight I noticed was the launch of a website where you can create your own custom Xbox controller and have it mailed to you. I thought that was pretty neat.

Some of the definite highlights from the press conference would obviously be the exclusives like Gears of War 4 and Halo Wars 2 but if I'm being honest the things that caught my eye the most where the gameplay for Scalebound and We Happy Few. The addition of Final Fantasy XV in  Microsoft's press conference was a surprise seeing how Square Enix usually shows up during the Sony conference. However, they had another trick up their sleeve for that...

Microsoft also announced the Xbox One slim and then almost immediately made it redundant at the end of their press conference by announcing the Xbox One Scorpio. A more advanced version of the Xbox One capable of 4K with better parts. Microsoft is still being hush-hush on the specifics of the hardware but they had no problem repeating "6 teraflops" over and over again. Although impressive when compared to the 1.32 teraflops currently in the system, 6 teraflops is ultimately useless information without knowing the rest of the hardware specifications. It was just big fancy words to appease the feeble-minded. A marketing tactic.

All of that aside Microsoft had a pretty solid press conference and almost the best press conference this year. Almost.

If EA wasn't trying hard enough then Ubisoft had the opposite problem. One thing Ubisoft has always been good at is a cringe-worthy press conference where they try too hard to be funny and entertain the viewers. I understand that E3 is supposed to be entertaining but you can entertain the masses by showing off the games, not Musical dance numbers and trying too hard to be edgy. Literally the best thing about Ubisoft's press conference was the moment with Matt Parker and Trey Stone talking about South Park: The Fractured But Whole. The swearing isn't a problem as far as I'm concerned because censorship is currently outdated and most cable channels let you say the s-word uncensored now so it's honestly just part of everyday conversation these days. No one really cares anymore. The problem isn't that they swear too much, no, the problem is that everything they do comes across scripted and like a bad play. I do love Aisha Tyler but E3 is not a cartoon musical comedy.

That being said some of the games that Ubisoft showed off did look interesting. I am excited for Watch_Dogs 2 even though it looks like more of the same. That actually seems to be Ubisoft's theme this year; "More of the same". Wildlands looks like The Division in the jungle for example.

I am excited for the VR game Eagle Flight. You can definitely tell it was Assassin's Creed inspired. Speaking of Assassin's Creed, probably one of them the down points for me was when they talked about the movie. It is definitely a movie I'm going to see but I'm not exactly looking forward to. Movies based on video games have a solid history of being horrible even though I enjoy some of them; like Resident Evil. But from what I've seen and heard of the Assassin's Creed movie so far, I don't like the direction they're taking with it and this is coming from huge fan of the franchise. But I will save that for another article.

I was also disappointed to find out that For Honor is turning out to just be another Dynasty Warriors clone. The nail in the coffin for the Ubisoft conference in my opinion was when they said they had a new IP and then revealed snowboarding/paragliding game Steep. Technically it is a new IP but, it is far from a new concept. Making a new sports game and calling it a new IP feels lazy.

Now we get to the coup de grâce of E3 2016.

This year PlayStation came out of the gate super strong with a live Orchestra playing what I immediately recognized as God of War music. Then lo and behold a new God of War game gets announced and I'll be damned if it doesn't look like The Witcher. From there it was only uphill for the most part. The VR Kitchen demo was revealed to be a tech demo for Resident Evil VII which is now opting for a more horror setting with first person visuals, limited combat and VR support. Although I did hear that the show floor demo for the VR version of the game was making people sick but come to find out that was mostly due to user error. You cannot use the right stick and your head as a camera at the same time you have to pick one otherwise you will get sick.

We also found out that Crash Bandicoot is getting the Final Fantasy VII treatment, as in it's getting fully remastered from the ground up for PlayStation 4, and not just the first game but all three original Crash Bandicoot games for the PlayStation 1 are coming back. That announcement got some of the best reactions that were immediately stifled by Skylanders, but people are still excited none the less. Days Gone also looks pretty good although I'm getting kind of tired of zombie games if I'm being honest. It looks like it will slate a lot of people's Last of Us thirst until Last of Us 2 is officially announced.

The definite highlight of their press conference was when Hideo Kojima emerged from the Shadows to announce his triumphant return and a new game starring Norman Reedus. Unfortunately it looks like this new game which is going by the title Death Stranding (a reference to when whales beach themselves and die) isn't going to necessarily be a horror game like Silent Hills was although it looks like it will have some horror inspired (or at the very least sci-fi thriller) elements. Kojima said he's shooting for a new genre all together. Regardless of what it turns out to be it looks pretty interesting.

Horizon: Zero Dawn also looks better and better every time I see it. And some of the VR games they showed up looks really cool like Farpoint for example. The addition of a VR mini game in Final Fantasy XV is also a welcome treat. I think one of the huge surprises came when I was watching gameplay of this game in space and I thought to myself "wow this looks pretty cool" and then it turned out to be Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and I was astounded. It was the first time in probably the history of ever that a Call of Duty game looked even slightly interesting to me.

Possibly one of the best things about the PlayStaion conference was that we finally got a release date for The Last Guardian and it's coming sooner than we could have anticipated; October.

There were so many announcements during the PlayStation press conference I can hardly remember all of them but I know that I was happy with most of them. Sadly, the press conference didn't exactly end on a solid note. I thought it was weird they just opted for gameplay of a game they already announced butt I found out later that rumor has it they planned on announcing the third game in the Red Dead series but unfortunately the gameplay demo they had ready to show off too closely depicted the events of the Orlando shooting and they had to pull it last minute. I imagine we'll hear something during Gamescom or even PlayStation Experience this year.

I would say PlayStation had not only the best press conference this year but one of the best press conferences I've ever seen since I've started watching E3 in 2009. I am primarily a PlayStation fan but this is coming from an unbiased standpoint. Believe it or not I thought PlayStation's last two press conferences were not that great. Definitely not worth a two-hour drive to the nearest movie theater that was airing it. After their fantastic showing in 2013 they got big headed and lazy started making it more about business and numbers. However, this year they took the entire concept of an E3 press conference and turned it on its head. They did exactly what people want out of an E3 press conference. Hardly any talking and just nothing but consistent reveals and gameplay. No fluff just video games. The multi-camera angle concept was pretty cool too. That's a great way to show off everything at once without having to constantly jump cut. I would say if every company started doing their press conferences like this, E3 would become an entirely different thing and it would improve everything tremendously.

It's worth noting that Nintendo did not have a press conference this year, but instead opted for a full-day live stream where they showed off Poke'mon Sun/Moon and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Both of which are looking fantastic.

Overall I would say this was a pretty enjoyable E3. E3 2016 will forever be imprinted on my mind as one of the most memorable. The people who usually do okay did pretty well this year with one of them even going above and beyond and the ones that usually suck continue to do so. This is most definitely considered one of the most wallet breaking E3 to date. I am both super excited for and dreading the holiday gaming rush this year.

Here's hoping to even more fantastic E3 and maybe next year the others will take a page from PlayStation's book, but only time can tell. 

Final Fantasy VII Remake - The Episodic Controversy

Earlier this year the Final Fantasy VII remake was announced at E3. Even more recently, we got to see some gameplay footage at PlayStation Experience 2015. Fans all over the world have been rejoicing, however, there are a few who remain skeptical of Square Enix. To make matters worse, it was recently shared on IGN that the remake will be episodic.

This, of course, has stirred up some some negative reactions from the fans. Even after Square explained why fans just cannot seem to shake feelings of doubt. Some are afraid Square will cut the game in 3 parts and charge full price for each one, others are afraid they'll make Yuffie and Vincent DLC. Personally, even though Square has made themselves a target in the past few years, I don't see them making such outlandish decisions. Although I suppose anything is possible. 

The main thing I'd like to point out is that FFVII is a game that was ahead of it's time when it originally came out, it spanned across 3 discs on the PSOne and paved the way for 3D graphics in Final Fantasy games. The game contains a lot of content even by today's standards, I have easily clocked in over 70 hours of gameplay on one playthrough alone. If Square is to be believed, trying to loyally recreate all that content and fit it on one Blu-ray disc is basically impossible. 

At the risk of playing devil's advocate I will say pleasing everyone is impossible. Take a look at the combat for example. Some are upset that it's not the traditional turn-based (although FFVII technically has an ATB [Active Time Battle] system, turn-based is more along the lines of FFX) while others would be upset if it was. Square opted-in for what looks more like a Kingdom Hearts style battle system with the ability to switch characters. No matter what, people will always complain but the middle road is usually the best option in these cases. 

While I don't necessarily condone it, I can understand people's skepticism. I wouldn't put it beyond Square to chop the game into 3 parts and charge full price for each release, but at the same time I'm holding out hope they'll do the right thing. Especially considering they said they're trying to keep all the original content while adding more (areas you couldn't explore before and whatnot). 

At the end of the day, any interpretation of Square's more vague statements is nothing more than pure speculation and none of us will know exactly what's going on with this remake until later. Keep in mind that Square is also working on Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts Unchained X, so it may be awhile before this remake is even close to release, but if Square goes the episodic route and charges fairly, this could work out in everyone's favor. The fans would get to start playing the game they've been begging for earlier than normal and Square will have lined pockets. It's win-win. However, if we see "Final Fantasy VII Remake -Part I- $59.99" at our local retailer in the future I have a feeling things will go south pretty quickly. All we can do is wait and see.    

   

PlayStation Experience 2015

Last year, PlayStation tried something different and introduced us to PlayStation Experience, an affordable, open to the public, E3-esque 2-day convention meant specifically for PlayStation gamers. It was so successful that they decided to make it an annual thing. Fast forward one year and you have PlayStation Experience 2015. 

This year's PlayStation Experience (PSX) seemed to lack some of the punch and pizzazz of last year's, possibly due to less new announcements, but there were still some noteworthy moments. I managed to watch the entire Live Cast throughout the weekend, so I saw, not only the keynote, but also all the live panels, gameplay demos and developer interviews. 

Here are some of the major highlights from a whole weekend's worth of content. 

The Keynote

If you haven't watched the keynote yet you can do so here:

Of course the weekend started out with the main event of PSX; The Keynote. This is usually no different than PlayStation's usual E3 Press Conference except that they try to make it more laid back (including uncensored cursing) and focused mainly on video games (you won't see much playStation Vue talk here).

The Keynote kicked off with some Uncharted 4 footage that showcased Nathan Drake's brother coming back to visit, and then we were hit with our first surprise. Uncharted 4 will have branching dialogue.

At key points of the game you'll be able to choose responses in the style of Bioware or TellTale, allowing for more player immersion. Now, it's unclear whether any of these choices will have a huge impact on the overall story or if they're just there to give conversations more depth, but one thing is for sure; gamers seem to like when video games give them choices. 

Of course playStation kept a strong opening by immediately moving on to Final Fantasy VII. 

The remake looks gorgeous. It appears they also discarded the turn-based battle system for a more modern-friendly hybrid system, a la Kingdom Hearts. There's not much that can be said about the FFVII remake that hasn't already been said. There's some controversy surrounding it but I will cover that in a different article. For now, I'll just let the trailer do the talking. 

PlayStation quickly shifted gears from RPGs to fighting games when they not only introduced a new character for Street Fighter V (F.A.N.G.), but also announced all the post-game DLC characters. 

  

It was also announced that all 6 characters will be unlockable in-game as well, in the traditional style, but you can also unlock them early by paying for them. 

After that Double Fine took the stage to announced that not only is their Day of the Tentacle remaster they announced last year coming in March but they're also remaking Full Throttle. That's not all though, Tim Schafer also announced Psychonauts 2 (which you can help crowdfund by going here: https://www.fig.co/campaigns/psychonauts-2) and a PlayStation VR game titled Psychonauts: In the Rhombus of Ruin.

Of course, who could forget Ratchet & Clank? This year we got a look at a reimagining of how the dynamic duo met and even got to see some gameplay. This game is a reboot of the original, it also serves as a companion to the upcoming movie, which is also a retelling of the original game. In fact, during the later LiveCast, one of the developers even said some things from the game and the movie would intertwine. I could not be more excited for this.

Halfway through the show Gio Corsi came out to show more love for the Vita and announce another grand plethora of indie games coming to PS4 and Vita.

Sony may have deemed the Vita a "legacy system" but it appears there's some people at PlayStation who aren't willing to give up hope just yet, and that makes me happy to see.


Some other noteworthy announcements include:

• Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
• Yakuza 5 coming to PS3 and Yakuza 0 Coming to PS4
• Sparrow Racing in Destiny
• New Hack n Slash Roguelike Brutal
• Rez Infinite (a Sega Dreamcast remake) coming to PS4 and PS VR

Post-Keynote LiveCast

One of the things that usually sets PlayStation apart from others during E3 is their 3-day long LiveCast after all the press conferences. During this time they show off live gameplay footage, interview developers and sometimes make a few more minor announcements. This year, PlayStation decided to take that tradition and include it into PSX. 

It was during this LiveCast that I actually learned a few more interesting tidbits such as the PS2 classic on PS4 output at upscaled 1080p, support Share features and have trophies. I also learned there's a new Hot Shots Golf  coming to PS4. Everything else during the LiveCast is basically as I previously explained it with one major exception...

Live Panels

During day one of the PSX LiveCast, in between all the gameplay demos and developer interviews, PlayStation had a series of Panels where certain people would sit on stage and discuss the topic at hand. These panels were usually headed by PlayStation staff and included big names from such companies as IGN, Naughty Dog, Capcom and more!

Here's a complete list of all the panels, with each one linking to a YouTube video where you can watch it.

• PlayStation VR and The Future of Play
• Uncharted 4: Stories from the Performance Capture Set
• Call of Duty Black Ops 3: Unlocking the Potential of A.I.
• PS I Love You XOXO
• The Future of Storytelling
• Fighting Games: The Next Generation

If you watch any of those panels I highly recommend the Uncharted 4 and PS I Love You XOXO panels. Not only are both panels ran by the hilarious Greg Miller from Kinda Funny BUT The U4 panels also features Nolan North and Troy Baker cracking jokes. Both panels were very funny and entertaining. The PS I Love You XOXO panel was almost non-stop laughs and featured, what I consider, to be one of the most sentimental moments in PlayStation history when not only did 3 lucky PlayStation fans walk away with free PS Vitas and games, but Gio Corsi told the story of how he formatted his Vita and gave it to a lucky fan on the show floor. Not many people who work in the industry would be that generous. 

Overall I'd say PSX was a smashing success this year, but there could have been more. Shawn Layden even threw us all a red herring by wearing a Crash Bandicoot shirt, that, of course caused disappointment when there was no Crash Bandicoot announcement. It wasn't a bad PSX but it did feel a little lackluster compared to last year.

Here's some highlights from last year's PSX to draw comparisons:

   

Still though, there were a few surprise announcements and fresh gameplay footage that made myself, and I'm sure many others, happy (such as the Ni No Kuni II announcement out of nowhere). I can't wait to see what PlayStation has in store for E3 and PSX next year. 

"Batman: Arkham Knight" Review

WARNING: This review contains spoilers for the entire Arkham series. 

It's been one year since The Joker tried to poison Gotham with his tainted Titan blood. He's now dead and cremated. Gotham is no longer segregated for the sake of a city prison, and for once everything in life sees to be fine. That is, until Scarecrow threatens the city with his fear toxin, causing a mass evacuation and leaving none but the city's scum and villainy behind. Well... them and Batman of course. Is the caped crusader's final Arkham game a well thought out send off? Or is it a disappointing finale? Let's find out... 

On the surface, Arkham Knight is a story of Batman working to stop Scarecrow from poisoning Gotham with fear toxin, but really it's much more intricate than that. On the surface it is a straightforward Batman story where he breaks bones first and asks questions later, but deep down it's actually a psychological adventure about Batman's most inner struggle with his deepest fear: failure. 

Early on in the game we learn that Batman has a few unlucky souls locked up for experimentation and analysis. Why? Well because it turns out they didn't find all of the Joker blood and now a few unfortunate souls have succumbed to a bad case of Jokeritis, which, to put it bluntly; turns whoever's infected into Joker. QUite literally actually. Gordon questions the empty cell and Batman ominously replies "He'll be here soon" while looking into the cage and staring at his reflection, as if that wasn't a HUGE giveaway. 

My suspicions were confirmed when you first confront Scarecrow and he injects you with fear toxin and the Joker shows up not moments later. But it's not actually him. See, Batman has a high tolerance for Scarecrow's toxin but he's not completely immune, but his fears manifest themselves in the form of his innermost demon: Joker. In many ways Batman and Joker are one in the same. The two go hand-in-hand. It's hard to have one without the other. Rocksteady found a clever and symbolic way to bring him into this game and still keep him dead. 

But, let's focus on the Joker for a moment, shall we? I understand what Rocksteady was trying to do but it seems in every major Arkham game Joker somehow ends up being the main villain focus. In Origins, Black mask turned out to be Joker in disguise, in Asylum he was the main villain, in City Hugo Strange was the main villain but Joker presents the final boss fight and climatic ending, plus he's a major threat in most of the game, and of course now in Knight, Scarecrow gets thrown on the back-burner a lot in favor of Joker hallucinations. In many ways Joker is still the main villain because he's taunting Batman from within his own mind and trying to get him to become... well, him. As if Batman didn't have enough to deal with tonight already. I will say, the Joker not being real means he can break the laws of physics and it makes for some great cartoon like moments where he'll be behind you one moment and pop up randomly on a beam in front of you lounging about like Kefka from Final Fantasy VI just to toss a random one-liner in there and throw you of focus. It's funny in a morbid Looney Tunes kind of way. 

That being said, even though Joker is a heavy focus I feel like the main threat of the game isn't Scarecrow, but his new-found sidekick the Arkham Knight. Halfway through the game they drop hints at his true identity and it's more for the comic fans. If you've only played the games or watched the movies the name "Jason Todd" is of no relevance to you but he was the next Robin after Dick Grayson became Nightwing, then he was kidnapped and tortured by... guess who? Yep, Joker. He was presumed dead and replaced with Tim Drake. Turns out he wasn't dead and he blames Batman for what happened to him. Now he's out for vengeance. I was hoping it would be someone else but at least hardcore Batman fans will get a taste of nostalgia. Also, the Red Hood DLC kind of gives it away too if you know that Red Hood = Jason Todd. 

As far as gameplay, Arkham Knight excels at what the other games did. The gadgets are essentially the same but you can do more with them. The combat is more fluent now, combos are easier to pull off and guns don't provide as much of a threat as they used to. It's not like it matters though as you'll spend 70% of the game in the Batmobile anyways. There's a good chance when you first get the Batmobile you'll use it a lot, but the game assumes you prefer gliding as it shoves Batmobile missions down your throat every fifteen minutes. This is especially annoying because 2 of the 3 Arkham Knight boss fights take place in the Batmobile and both are harder than shit even on easy. It doesn't help that the damn thing controls like a walrus on a riding mower, leaving very minimal room for error.

The Riddler makes a triumphant return in what can only be explained as SAW meets NASCAR. He's also kidnapped Catwoman and forces her and Batman to work together to solve traps to get keys to unlock a bomb collar. Sound familiar?

A lot of the bad guys aren't really up to much otherwise, besides the usual mischief. Some of them, like Two-Face, have gone back to petty shit like robbing banks. The sidequests in the previous games are better. For one thing there's way too much militia shit, and the Riddler collectibles are just way too damn hard this time.

Overall, it's a decent end to a trilogy (yes I said TRILOGY), but it was lacking in a lot of the polish and wow factor that made Arkham City such an amazing game. Most of it is genuinely good but a lot of it feels rushed and a little jumpy. Batman himself this time sounds like he swallowed a tin can and shows little to no emotion about literally anything. He's also a dick this time. Half of the game could have been so much easier if he would just lay down his Bat Pride and let his friends help for once!

Anyways, decent game, amazing combat, fun gameplay, too much Batmobile, beautiful graphics (dat bloom shader tho), and Batman sounds like a piece of wood on heroin.

My Rating: 7/10      

Let's Play! "Rollers of the Realm" - Part 1

Let's Play! "Batman: Arkham Knight" - Part 2

Dragon Age™: Inquisition "Well... Shit"

VERY IMPORTANT Channel Update! Random Rantings is Moving, This is Now Ga...

Nathan Drake to Make Debut on PS4 Ahead of Uncharted 4. Relive the Adventure!

PS4 versions of PS3 games are becoming a regular occurrence in the current gaming generation and Uncharted is no exception. Arne Meyer of Naughty Dog recently ventured to the PlayStation Blog to announce Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection coming to PS4 on October 9th, 2015. 

Fans of the original games looking to relive the adventure, newcomers to the franchise and previous Xbox 360 owners who jumped ship this generation can now experience the definitive franchise in all it's remastered glory!

The collection will include the PS3 games Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. All three games will run at 60 frames per second in glorious 1080p. The games will also feature remastered textures, better lighting and character models as well as a photo mode (which has been very popular ever since inFAMOUS: Second Son) and brand new trophies that weren't in the PS3 versions. The collection will also grant players exclusive access to the Uncharted 4 multiplayer beta and pre-orders will grant players access to the Nathan Drake Pack which includes skins and weapons for single player, as there are currently no plans to include multiplayer in the collection. 

The collection is being handled by Bluepoint Games who developed Blast Factor and have handled ports like PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (PS Vita) and Titanfall (Xbox 360) and HD Collections such as Metal Gear Solid and God of War, so their track record is pretty impressive. You can see their entire repertoire here: http://bluepointgames.com/

Once again, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection releases October 9th of this year. If you've never played the games before, or you're looking to replay them before Uncharted 4 comes out, now is the time! 

Source: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2015/06/04/uncharted-the-nathan-drake-collection-out-october-9th-on-ps4/

I Hate YouTube Sometimes...

Lindsey Stirling - "Lindsey Stirling" Full Album on Audiosurf

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Starbomb - "Player Select" Full Album on Audiosurf

"Assassin's Creed Rogue" & "Assassin's Creed Unity" Reviews

It's time once again for a dual review. This time I'm tackling the two new Assassin's Creed games which saw their debut on the same day, with Unity obviously overshadowing Rogue, but should that have been the case? Well, that's why I'm here, to give you my opinion. Let's get to it. 

Assassin's Creed Rogue

Ubisoft's final last generation Assassin's Creed game came out for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 with a PC date slated for next year. One would think that the previous generation limitations would hold this game back especially compared to it's next generation counterpart. While this may be true graphically, Rogue still provides an interesting story, fun gameplay and innovative changes that are equal to, if not better than Unity's. 

You play as an Irish assassin Shay Cormac who betrays the assassin's and becomes a Templar after they send him on a mission  that causes the unspeakable to happen (no spoilers here), in what I found to be one the most fun missions I've played in an Assassin's Creed game. 

Shay, upset by what happened, leaves the Assassin's and is later found by the Templars, Whom he sympathizes with and joins them on their quest for World Order. 

Both the past and present day stories take place after Black Flag. Shay's story takes place many years after Edward Kenyway's adventure, as Edward's son, Haytham (a familiar face) is now a grown man. Shay's story also proceeds the events of Assassin's Creed III and ends years after the events of Assassin's Creed III, tying directly into the beginning of Unity. Aside from Haytham, Adewale and Achilles both make a return appearance, with the former being older and the later being younger than we remember them. 

The present day portions take place directly after the events of Black Flag. You're still an employee of Abstergo Entertainment, helping them research memories so they can shine Templars in a better light and literally rewrite history. However, this time, instead of being instructed by a mysterious IT guy, you're instructed by your insulting mentor to help them fix the computers. Someone has released a virus into Abstergo's network, causing the whole system to crash and reboot, resulting in many computers crashing. This, of course, leads to more hacking minigames and chances to snoop at Abstergo's personal files. If you feel so inclined. 

Anyways, back to Shay... Rogue plays very similar to the other games in the Kenway Saga, you run, jump, climb, stab, hide, fall, sail, hunt, counterattack, and sync viewpoints. There are a few changes and additions however. For one thing, they took the detection compass from multiplayer and implemented it into Shay's Eagle Vision. When you're walking around you may start to hear whispers, indicating an assassin is nearby and stalking you. Once Eagle Vision is activated the compass will indicate the direction in which the assassin is hiding. They could be in hay bails, hiding behind walls, behind doors or even above waiting to jump on you. Shay's training and reflexes as a former Assassin prove useful as he is able to counterattack the assassin's sneak attacks. It's a really fun addition and constantly keeps you on your toes. 

Remember the forts from the Ezio trilogy? They're back. You can infiltrate Assassin hideouts and loot their treasures. It's very similar in fact. You take out the leader, climb a bit, and cut down the flag, replacing it with a British one in fact. 

Now I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that the naval combat and sailing is back. The good news is that it is much more painless now. The naval combat has been vastly improved, making taking down ships easier. It's also significantly easier to upgrade your ship. Upgrades not only require less materials but materials are also easier to comer by, making the frustration of waiting to start missions because your ship isn't strong enough, not as frequent. 

Overall, Assassin's Creed: Rouge is a solid farewell to last gen Assassin's Creed. It's a well done game with a surprisingly interesting story. It's only downfall is that, while Rogue does offer a fresh experience, it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. All of it's best aspects are borrowed from previous titles. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. Also, it's fair to say that the North Atlantic is a little more empty than the Caribbean, making travel sometimes bland. I have grown personally weary of the naval elements and seriously hope this is the last we see of them. 

My Rating: 8/10

Assassin's Creed Unity

Ubisoft's next-gen Assassin's Creed game that launched alongside Rogue was met with a lot of harsh criticism due to a plethora of launch bugs and glitches. However, I am going to opt out of using those as part of the basis for my review. I am doing this for two reasons. The first reason is because I hardly ran into any of these bugs or glitches during my PS4 playthrough, and any of the ones I did run into were not sufficient enough to warrant a bad review. Secondly, I do not feel it is fair to judge a core game that is otherwise passable by a few bugs that could be easily patched out. With all that being said, there are some non-glitch related things I did not enjoy about this game, but we'll get to that. 

In Unity, you play as Arno Dorian, a French-Austrian ladies man with a cocky attitude who takes up the blade after the death of a family member and becomes a reckless Assassin who takes matters into his own hands too much and... wait a minute. Haven't we been here before? Indeed we have. Arno's story is very similar to that of Ezio's. Of course it's not a complete copy-paste. Unity's story also offers childhood friend/love interest that plays a major role in the campaign. Either way, I did find Arno's story to be interesting, to me it felt more like a traditional Assassin's Creed story than the last few games. 

The modern day portions are a little bit different now, however. Abstergo Entertainment has now released the Animus to the public under the guise of a Virtual Reality Video Game Console, and they call it "Helix". Much like the previous games YOU are the modern day protagonist. You have purchased this Helix from Abstergo and are now giving it a whirl. You're greeted with a Story Selection screen in which only one option is playable at the moment. This, to me, was obviously Ubisoft's way of making it look like you're actually in a VR Console and each story is a different game. A lot of the options are previous actually existing games, while some appear to be Ubisoft's way of saying "here's a hint towards our next 5 games and/or DLC and standalone titles." Anyways, after you select the only available option you experience the final moments of a famous Templar from the medieval era (skewed to make the Templars look better of course, because this is Abstergo) when your Animus-- sorry, HELIX session is hacked into by assassins with fake names. Tell tell you that Abstergo is using you and then proceed to use you themselves. They want you to relive the memories of Arno and help them find the body of someone known as a "Sage" (a human reincarnation of Juno's husband if you've been paying attention to thew last few games). 

This is an interesting concept, it shows that Abstergo is slowly gaining more power, and the assassins are getting desperate. They're now reaching out to random consumers at home to help them with their cause. However, there's a few things that bother me. The first one is that the modern day portions are not playable. The second thing I take issue with is that it's never really clear in the previous two games if you're playing as yourself or a silent protagonist that works for Abstergo. If the former is true then this would cause some confusion. You're obviously not the same "you" that you were in Black Flag and Rogue, so this, in my mind, creates a paradox. Unless you assume your character in Black Flag and Rouge is a silent protagonist, then the modern day section of Unity makes a bit more sense. 

Anyways, in terms of gameplay, Unity is vastly different from the more recent games. For one thing, there's no sea travel. Also, the game takes place primarily in one big city, Paris. Also, they brought back the dual button holding for climbing on stuff like in the older games. Lately, just holding the shoulder button was enough, but in Unity they returned to holding the shoulder button and action button. This may sound inconvenient but the reason behind it actually pays off. The game now offers a free run DOWN mechanic. While holding the shoulder button to free run UP stuff, you can now hold the shoulder button and the cancel button to free run DOWN buildings and other such things. This feature comes in very handy when attempting to get down from high places since hay bails for a leap of faith are now scarce outside of right under viewpoints. When using free run down, Arno will automatically determine the best route to the ground and follow it. 

The world is now drowning in NPCs. Almost everywhere you go there are people to be found. The game takes place during the French Revolution so you get to experience people rioting in the streets; starting fires or carrying heads around on sticks. There's also a lot of crime, pickpockets and bullies you can put a stop to. Doing this so many times usually nets you with a decent chunk of cash, so it's worth your while. Sometimes this seemingly endlessness bounty of NPCs can be a bit overbearing as they easily get in your way when attempting an escape from guards, or certain areas can be so overstocked with random civilians it can cause them to stack on top of each other or cause the game so start lagging a bit. The game is also littered with side quests and collectibles. The map is now 3D, showing buildings in scale, which makes it easier to tell if the item you're trying to get is on the roof or the ground. If it's inside a building your guess is as good as mine as to how to get to it. Internal building layouts can get cluttered and confusing, especially when the seemingly only open window leads to a room with no stairs and the item is below you. Also, there's so much stuff that the map can be hard to read, and it doesn't help that they don't allow you to fully customize the icons that are displayed, instead opting-in for a virtually useless predetermined subcategory of icons. I just want to be able to see where the viewpoints and social clubs are, why is that so hard? Also, let it be know that if you don't plan on utilizing the Unity companion app on a smartphone or tablet, or the Initiates website, then about half of the chests scattered about are useless to you anyways.    

The combat is very similar to the Kenway Saga but it feels a little more clunky and more difficult to manage. Now, instead of obvious alerts when an enemy is about to hit you, their health bar flashes yellow for all of a split second, giving you a very limited window in which to counterattack. On top of that, enemies now have difficulty levels indicated by the number of diamonds above their health bar. The more there are, the harder they are to kill, especially if you difficulty level doesn't match theirs. That's right, if you look above your health bar you will see diamonds as well, indicating your level of preparedness for certain areas of Paris. You can increase this level by purchasing better armor and weapons as the game progress. You can now choose between a one handed, heavy or long weapon and a pistol or a rifle. Also, when purchasing new armor you can now customize each little piece, the hood, the shirt, the pants, the bracers and the boots. Each piece of armor has it's own rating which is critical in determining Arno's rating and how ready he is for certain missions. Each piece of armor also increases or decreases your stats in Health, Stealth, Ranged Attack and Melee Attack. Equipping a certain piece of armor may, for instance, lower your ranged attack but increase your health, and so on. Much like the previous games required ship upgrades before doing certain story missions, Unity encourages you to upgrade Armor before moving on. So they took out the naval combat but somehow managed to squeeze in its inconvenience factor. Here's the crazy part though, the armor can be upgraded which costs more money, but you can also hack an upgrade using Helix credits which you earn apparently randomly in the game over time, but also you can use real life money to purchase extra Helix credits if you're one of those micro-transaction addicts South Park recently made fun of. 

Abilities can now be purchased with Sync Points, special points earned from doing missions. The abilities fall under four categories:  Health, Stealth, Ranged Attack and Melee Attack. This is an interesting concept that ultimately fails for two reasons. The first being that a lot of the abilities that you can purchase, such as being able to sit on a bench to blend in, are now locked behind this new ability system. I guess the simple task of sitting can elude even the greatest of assassins without a visit to Ye Olde Vending Machine. The other reason this new gimmick fails is because it's impossible to unlock everything without playing co-op missions. So, those who usually shy away from online multiplayer are forced to play it if you want to unlock every ability. While I'm still on this, let me point out how ridiculous it is   that Eagle Vision is now limited and has to recharge. Also, your hidden blades are only used when you make sneaky kills, otherwise they're essentially non-existent. You can't even fight with them or select them as an active weapon. Pressing up on the D-Pad now gives way to using medicine to heal yourself, because they brought that back from the Ezio Trilogy. Which isn't a bad thing, auto-healing is just awful. The issue, is that everything is so damn expensive and money is scarce. My advice is to start renovating social clubs and doing side quests ASAP or you may find yourself going for broke most of the game. 

A welcome addition to the series are these rifts, or glitches in the animus. At certain points of your session Abstergo will attempt to hack in and the assassins open a glitch in the animus for you to jump through temporarily. These rifts always lead to an alternate Paris from a different time, such as the Medieval Renaissance or World War II. These make up for some of the game's best moments, which isn't saying much, I know, but it's worth playing for those alone. The other welcome addition to the series is the Open Assassination System. Now, when going to Assassinate a target, Arno will scout the area looking for entry points, vantage points, weaknesses and distractions he can use to get to and assassinate his target. It's much more player driven and gives you the ability to chose from one of many different ways to find your target and terminate them. I also like that Unity added more stealthy elements to the games. You can now crouch and hide behind cover, a feature almost as common in stealth games as pushing the Start button but somehow Ubisoft took 12 games to figure it out. There's also lock-picking, which would be more useful if you got better with practice and it wasn't linked to ability upgrades.

I did dabble a little bit in the online co-op, and by dabble I mean I tried it once because every other time the game refused to connect. From what I gathered, unless you're playing with friends with whom you are willing to communicate, the co-op is an organized assassination free for all. You are all given an objective, which would be simple on your own. However, what should be a quick and easy assassination turns into a stabbing ball of blood and confusion. For instance, I was making an attempt to approach the target stealthily, when one of my companions decided they were going to run in like Rambo and slice up anything that moves, causing every guard from here to Italy to come after us. Needless to say he was overwhelmed. Then the second idiot decided the best idea was to try and revive someone who was surrounded by guards, knowing damn well that they respawn eventually. Meanwhile, my third companion was content to sleep in a nearby hay bail the whole time. A mission that should have taken 10 minutes took a half hour and three respawns. Not very efficient.    

Overall, Assassin's Creed Unity is a mediocre addition to the series; that offers a bunch of welcome new additions with a bunch of unwelcome ones as well. Is it a bad game? I wouldn't call it that. Naughty Bear is a bad game, Brink is a bad game. I would call Unity more... unpolished, if you will. I would still recommend playing it but only if you're a fan of the series. Newcomers will be severely disappointed. It is worth at least one playthrough, because the game is fun, it just has some setbacks. That being said, I'd suggest Rogue more and tell you to wait on Unity until a few more patches and maybe a price drop. 

My Rating: 6/10           

   

"Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor" Review

Another review I'm a bit late to... but they say, better late than never, right? 

Anyways, shadow of Mordor is a game that's based in the same universe as the Lord of the Rings movies and in our experience games based on movies are usually not that great and vice versa. But is Shadow of Mordor an exception to the rule? Or is it just yet another crappy money-grabbing scheme? well, like usual, let's find out...

Shadow of Mordor, much like Murdered: Soul Suspect, is about a dead guy. Well, not technically. You see, you play as a ranger of Gondor named Talion who is played by none other than Troy Baker the Nicolas Cage of video games. Talion is forced to watch as his wife and child are brutally murdered by Sauron's right-hand man who is played by none other than Nolan North, the Samuel L Jackson of video games. Sauron's right-hand man, also known as the Black Hand, then tries to murder Talion but he is saved by a Elf-Wraith named Celebrimbor, who has no memory of his life. Celebrimbor possesses Talion, keeping him alive, and together, they set out on a journey across Mordor to exact revenge on the Black Hand while simultaneously uncovering the memories of Celebrimbor's past.

At it's core, Shadow of Mordor is an action/stealth/sandbox game. You traverse the open fields of Mordor's decaying lands, climbing on buildings, assassinating Orcs and Uruk-Hai, and collecting experience points to level up your attributes. The game is clearly very heavily inspired by Assassin's Creed. Some might even call it a rip-off. I call it an improvement. There's much to be done in this game, outside of the main story, and the game is pretty laid-back in how it let's you go about doing them. Even the main story quests, of which their are at least 2 or 3 at any given moment, can be tackled in any order. Aside from main story quests, Shadow of Mordor is littered with collectibles and weapon themed side quests, for your sword, your bow and your dagger respectively. Completing these quests not only earns you experience points but upgrades to your weapons as well.

Speaking of weapons, let's talk about combat. The combat in Shadow of Mordor is ripped directly from the Batman Arkham games. When fighting hordes of enemies you have to keep an eye out for counterattack opportunities and watch for chances to perform a finishing move on downed enemies. After awhile, the game starts to throw shielded enemies and berserkers at you, forcing you to change your strategy by using stuns and ranged attacks, which, might I add, are fantastic. Your bow and arrow are a wraith power controlled by the elven wraith within you. Time slows down momentarily, allowing you to line up and successfully execute multiple headshots within seconds. Eventually you gain combat skills that make for some amazing and often grotesquely bad ass finishing moves.

Now, let's talk about the biggest and most interesting aspect of this game: The Nemesis System. Implemented into the game's core gameplay is a sort of RTS style ranking system among the Uruk's. Going into the game's main menu and selecting Sauron's Army will unveil a plethora of gruesome baddies for you to pick off one by one. You can select one, make them a target and then go hunting. It's like a buffet menu for sociopaths. The enemies are constantly changing in rank too, mostly dependent on your actions. For example, if you die, the enemy who killed you will suddenly go up in rank, and if they weren't already a captain, you know just a regular disposable follower, well they're a captain now. Your death actually causes damn near every enemy to go up in rank and new, unknown enemies to come take their place at the bottom of the ladder.

You may be wondering how that works and how dying doesn't just entitle you to a re-spawn. Well, here's the thing. Being possessed by a wraith means you cannot die, not permanently anyways. The enemies have caught onto this though. Anyone who kills you gets marked as a revenge target and if you attempt to confront them again, they will remember you and will verbally make that clear, saying something along the lines of "hey, didn't I already kill you? No matter, I just do it again. You clearly enjoyed it so much you're back for more." On that same note, not all enemies you kill stay dead either. There's a good chance that if you kill any of them in any way but decapitation that you didn't actually kill them, but rather, fatally wounded them from which they somehow healed and are now looking for revenge. I actually had an incident where I "killed" one using wraith arrows and he came back later with a bag on his head to complain about how I messed up his "pretty face".

Now, you may notice upon first glance that a lot of enemies in the army are just silhouettes. This can be fixed by gaining intel from other enemies, papers or corpses. You can use that intel to revel an enemy's identity and, depending on where you get the intel, their strengths and weaknesses as well. This is essential when going up against enemies of a higher rank, as the higher they are up the ladder, the less weaknesses they have, essentially making mano-a-mano combat the only route to take.

Shadow of Mordor is a game I fell in love with instantly, but the second half of the game is what really sucked me in. Eventually you are blessed with the ability to brand Orcs and Uruks and make them obey you, including captains and warchiefs. I won't say much beyond that as the best aspect of it is discovering the things you can do with it for yourself.

The only part where Shadow of Mordor doesn't shine for me is the story. Which is weird, because I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan. But something about the way it's presented makes it feel a little bland. That's not to say it's bad or uninteresting, it could just use some tweaks. There are some parts where it really stands out, and they mostly involve Gollum and an Orc named Ratbag.  

Overall, Shadow of Mordor is an amazing game, which is rare for licensed movie themed games. I suggest any fan of Assassin's Creed or Batman Arkham pick this up, because it is both of those and so much more, and in a lot of ways, it's better.

My rating: 9/10

   

"Murdered: Soul Suspect" Review

Murdered: Soul Suspect is another game I was highly anticipating if for no other reason than it's original storyline. But is it a game worthy of investigating or does it deserve to be dragged to hell (much like that God-awful movie of the same name)? Well, like usual, let's find out... 

Murdered: Soul Suspect takes place in none other than Salem, Massachusetts, and for good reason. You play as a detective Ronan O'Connor who immediately gets killed and is tasked with solving his own murder as a ghost. Along the way he meets Joy Foster, one of the only humans who can see and talk to ghosts, and together they must solve the mystery of the Bell Killer while simultaneously looking for Joy's lost mother. 

On paper this sounds interesting, and would actually make a great movie. But in video game form it can be a hit or miss, depending on who you are. Murdered: Soul Suspect is in every way, shape and form, an investigation/mystery game. The core gameplay involves going from Point A to Point B, investigating a crime scene and then moving on once you've successfully solved the current mystery. It's like if you took the investigation parts of LA Noire and that's it and made a game out of them. Mix in some stealth, exploration and collectibles and you have a game. 

Outside of the game's core element there are sections where you must stealthily avoid demons who try to drag Ronan's soul down to hell. If you're spotted you must hide in ghostly apparitions until it's safe to come out and try again. To take the demons down you must sneak up on them and... well, I'm not entirely sure what you do to them exactly but whatever it is, it works. Outside of this, you're free to explore the city of Salem, possessing people, reading their minds and looking for collectibles. You'll also see other ghosts and ghostly walls and structures that the humans can't see mixing with the normal environment. A lot of it is meant to halt your progress until you gain abilities necessary to progress. Some of your fellow spirits are recently deceased and confused about their current state. You can choose to help them find peace by investigating their death but this involves more or less more of the same investigation gameplay. One of my favorite aspects is that you can possess a cat, yes a cat, and use it to reach high ledges. You can even make it meow. That's game of the year material right there. But seriously... 

Murdered: Soul Suspect, outside of having a pun for a title, has a interesting story. I actually found myself getting immersed in it. I'm a fan of a good ghost story and a nice murder mystery, of which this is both. You solve not only your own murder, but that of other recently departed denizens as well. Not to mention that every level has this age old artifacts and if you find all of them you are treated with a haunting tale that will send chills up your spine. The main story itself is an engaging tale with a few twists and an ending you may or may not expect. With only one human able to help him and the ever present danger to her by the Bell Killer, Ronan is tasked with more unfinished business than one dead person can handle. 

For the most part the characters are engaging but it doesn't say much when the dead are more interesting than the living. Joy appears to be the only interesting human character. Ronan, however, comes across often times as a dick who's just using Joy to meet his own needs. He's a hard character to like at first but will eventually grow on you. Most of the cops are dicks and some of the dead are even unsettling, purposely stalking the living because they're mad and causing demons to appear from their negative emotions. It's a regular grab bag of colorful characters, some likable and some not on both ends of dimensional planes. 

Murdered: Soul Suspect stands out in one more area, atmosphere. While it is not a horror game by any means it does provide a creepy and unsettling atmosphere in many ways, especially in the deformity of some of the dead. The town is misty, dark and too quiet. It certainly comes across as a place I'd rather avoid, much like Silent Hill. 

Overall, Murdered: Soul Suspect is far from perfect but it fun in it's own rights. If you're looking for a high speed action game with guns and violence, this is not the game for you. However, you're looking a slow-paced murder mystery with a haunting atmosphere, you've come to the right place.

My Rating: 7/10             

"Watch_Dogs" Review

After much anticipation and being pushed back a couple times, Watch_Dogs FINALLY makes it's appearance on the gaming market. But does it live up to the hype, and were the delays truly worth it? Some say no, others say yes, and some even say "what the hell is Watch_Dogs?" But the real question here is what do I say? You didn't come here for other people's opinions and to be frank, I never have and never will care what other people think of video games. I'm an individual. So, without further delay... let's get to it... 

Watch_Dogs is an open world action/adventure game that shares similarities with Grand Theft Auto and one of Ubisoft's most popular series, Assassin's Creed. The core element and selling point of the game is hacking. Using his smartphone Aiden Pearce can hack anything electronically connected from traffic lights to generators to even underground steam pipes (don't ask me how that one works but it looks cool and makes a loud noise so we're gonna go with it). The hacking can be used to stop cops and gang members chasing you in vehicles, tap into citizen's bank accounts, or stealthily take down guards protecting a ctOS server.

While the hacking is essentially the core element of the game it is not alone what makes Watch_Dogs so fun. Which is a good thing seeing how the hacking mechanic can tend to get a bit over-saturated after awhile. I remember numerous occasions where I would hack a citizen's phone only to end up eavesdropping on the same conversation I've heard once or twice before already. It's understandable that some things will eventually repeat, but one of Watch_Dog's main selling points by Ubisoft was that every citizen would be unique and have a different occupation, income, and special fact about them. While this is true in theory, I see a lot of repeats, just on citizens with different names. But overall this is a nit picky observation and does not take away from the game's enjoyment.

One of the most fun elements of Watch_Dogs is vehicle chases. The cops in Watch_Dogs will chase after you when a citizen calls them because you stole their car or because they heard gunfire. Often times you weren't even the shooter, but Aiden is a wanted man and they'll come after him anyways. You can stop these phone calls before they have time to respond, but here is the fun in that? During these police chases you have numerous tools at your disposal to stop your pursuers, and the more upgrades you unlock, the better tools you can use. There's something satisfying about being in a high speed chase, dodging in and out of traffic and then driving over a manhole cover, hacking it as you go, and looking back to see a cop car go flying sideways into a wall or another car and cause a pileup. Destruction, be it taking down a gang, blowing up a gas station, destroying transformers, or desecrating cop cars, is so much fun and I dare say, even more so than the hacking element.

I heard a lot of players complain that the vehicles controlled like ass. Bouncing around like cartoons, spinning uncontrollably, and other such debauchery. But, in my personal opinion, this is a good thing. And I might be in a minority here but I feel like expecting 100% realistic car mechanics in a fantasy based video game is simply folly, and, if anything, would take away from the fun. In real life, jumping a raised bridge would blow your suspension upon landing, your tires would fall off and you'd probably be injured. This is an action game, therefore it should play as such. You don't go to a Fast & Furious movie expecting them to obey traffic laws. So don't play an open-world action game expect Gran Turmiso level realism.    

Much like Fast & Furious (speaking of the devil), all the entertainment value lies in the action and eye-candy and the story is unfortunately, sub-par. In Watch_Dogs you play as hacker vigilante Aiden Pearce who's mix-ups with the wrong people cost him the life of a loved one, for which he constantly blames himself. And instead of doing what any sane person would do and calling it quits before anyone else gets hurt, he continues his underground work with revenge on the mind. While he is overall a good person who seems hellbent on doing the right thing, often times his motives, methods and associates are all questionable. The story itself actually picks up halfway through the game but the main characters all remain so-so throughout. Aiden's main posse in particular never really grew on me. In fact, it was one of the villains, a gang leader named Iraq whom I took particular enjoyment from if for no other reason than his portrayal as a black gang leader was so over done and borderline racist that it made me laugh uncontrollably. The game's ending felt cliche and anti-climatic as well, and in fact does not end well if you mess up the quick time event. Overall, it was ok to say the least but I feel like Ubisoft put most of their effort into the gameplay, eye-candy and hacking and not enough into story and character development. Not to mention that some of the story missions include frustratingly difficult stealth sections, especially near the end. I understand Ubisoft's love of stealth, I'm a fan myself, but some things don't need to be THAT difficult.

Now, I want to take a minute to talk about the multiplayer as well. I don't normally do this but I had a chance to dabble in it a bit and I must say I was pretty impressed. I played a few game modes in a party with a few people and we had a blast. Free Roam can get frustration because you can never find anyone, but I rather enjoyed Watch_Dogs' take on Capture the Flag. In a game of 3v3 one player steals a data packet while their teammates try to protect them, meanwhile the opposing team must try to steal the data and hold onto it for as long as they can. I rather enjoyed it. Another fun aspect was the ctOS app on smartphones and tablets. You can use it to hack into a players game and send cops and helicopters after them, hacking street lights and whatnot in an attempt to stop them from reaching their goal before time runs out. This mingame was loads of fun on both ends. But the most creative aspect of multiplayer that I must commend Ubisoft for is the way they handle social interaction. At random intervals of the game a player may drop into your server and attempt to hack you and it is your job to find and stop them before they succeed. You and the player both look like regular citizens to each other, making this easier said than done. Whether you win or lose this little confrontation matters not, the game proceeds as normal afterwards. The transition is so seamless and well executed you wouldn't know it was another player if the game didn't tell you.

Overall, Watch_Dogs shines mainly in gameplay. There's so much to do in this alternate version of Chicago that you can get lost for hours on side quests before even starting the next story mission. From saving citizens to taking down convoys to having digital acid trips and fighting off aliens or bouncing around on huge flowers Watch_Dogs has something for everyone and is a game with high replay value. I simply cannot ask for more for $60. It may not have lived up to ALL the hype, but it certainly matched most of it, and that's good enough for me.

My Rating: 8/10