Monthly Archives: May 2012

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Review

Posted by Bodrul on 22/05/2012 – 6:00 pm
Filed under Multi Platform, PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Tagged as , ,

Ghost Recon future soldier

Firstly a thanks to Ubisoft for sending me an early copy of the game.

Lets get Started

Story

The storyline for Ghost Recon isn’t that bad, it’s based on a scenario where Russian president has been overthrown by a genocide General with the help of splinter groups, his goal is to bring back Russia to its former glory.

As you start the game you are in pursuit of a weapons shipment from the south of America to the US mainland as part of Predator team.

who unknowingly fall fowl to Raven rocks trap when they come across a nuclear device which was destined for the mainland US.

after this incident and the loss of Predator team, you are tasked as Kozak with Hunter Team to find out who is supplying these weapons and their reasons behind it.

As you progress through the game you uncover more of what is really happening and what you must do to stop this from getting any worse than it really is.

Each Level uncovers new threats and new parts of the plot which builds up the bigger picture of what is happening in the game and what you must do to bring it all to an end.

but for those that play games for the storyline you have to remember Ghost Recon really isn’t built around the whole immerse yourself into the plot of things and more the game play and how you interact with the environment.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the storyline and it was great, simple and straight to the point

But as mentioned this game isn’t really a story orientated game.

Game play

this is where Ghost Recon gets top marks, one thing I loved about playing Ghost Recon has been how easy and fast you can adjust yourself to the new play style of the game.

Cover

Keeping your player safe and out of line of Fire is very important when you want to take out targets fast and effectively without being given extra holes to breath out of.

one thing which was a great touch and improvement was the combat HUD which allows you to select an area of the map you want to run to and duck behind before being shot.

the added touch of destructible environment was a great addition as well as it meant you can’t camp in one area for too long as you leave yourself exposed to enemy fire.

Synchronised Targeting

Single player or play with three of your friends, One great aspect of Ghost Recon has to be synchronised targeting of enemy forces and taking them out simultaneously without giving them a chance to see you coming.

This feature allows you to be more discreet when it comes to infiltrating objectives without having to fight your way through hordes of enemy combatants coming at you guns blazing.

You will find this feature of the game to be priceless and pretty much valued as you play through the levels as it makes it easier to complete mission objectives.

Be warned though if you have more than four hostile targets in the vicinity you will still set off an alert so target wisely and take your time.

Weapons Customization

The best part of every start of a mission, Ubisoft have made it so almost all aspects of the weapon

The closet I have seen to anything like this has to be Metal Gear solid 4 by Konami where you could change parts of your weapon to suit the mission and the environment you are going into.

Ubisoft have taken this and taken it a whole step further by allowing you to customise your weapons even further, not just cosmetics but you can customise things from the But to the which Trigger you want installed in the weapon.

Each customisation has an effect on the weapon which effects its performance and how well it does in the mission.

as you progress through the game (the better you score and challenges you unlock) the more weapons are at your disposable. Weapons can also be unlocked through guerrilla warfare which can be used in the campaign mode.

Assets /Equipment

During the campaign you are given equipment and gear which are vital to your mission, one of which is your trusty UAV Drone and unlike its predecessor from previous Ghost Recon games this one is smaller and more versatile platform.

UAV Drone

The drone can be used to scout out areas ahead of you and your team before you get spotted by hostile forces, by going into the drone mode you can also target enemy forces for synchronised killings by your team and in most cases yourself where you target a group of four hostile forces.

and the best thing about this little toy, its portable platform which you launch by hand and can carry around (no more large target in the sky for hostile forces).

Sensors

Great asset which allows you to see how many hostiles are in your vicinity, this feature also allows you to target hostiles for synchronised shootings with your team mates.

one great thing about the sensors is it gives you a target radios in which it is effective, this allows you to make the most of them by throwing them strategically in different areas to make most of the sensor range.


Augmented Camo

and finally the most Valuable asset you will get in your arsenal is the augmented Camo which allows you to blend into your surroundings.

(this is great for sneaking up behind your targets or getting to an objective without being seen) the only downside to this is that it’s not designed to be used while you are mobile but only when you are prone and motionless or moving very slowly.

so be prepared to take your time and enjoy the wonderful views the game has to offer.

Ubisoft have outdone themselves on this part and I congratulate them on that.

Combat

Combat in Ghost Recon is great as you have many ways to deal with threats,

Rambo (not in all scenarios allow this lol) in most Levels you can go in guns blazing and shoot everything up and get away with it.

Sam Fisher (go in quietly and take out targets without being seen)

Or finally be a damn pantheist and sneak past as many people as you can without alerting them to your present and only killing those that you can’t get past without being detected.

Controls

The controls for Ghost Recon haven’t changed that much from previous series and are simple and basic and only take a few minutes to learn if you are new to the series.

At the end of the day the game was great fun, the storyline wasn’t over the top and kept basic and simple.

its good to see Ubisoft focused more on the game play aspect of the game and made it more immersive for the player by allowing more interaction with the environment and how the player went about reaching objectives.

The dialogue between AI players wasn’t to shabby and the tone from the characters matched them greatly.

At the end of the day if you are still on the fence about this game, I urge you to at least Rent it out and see for yourself.

Online Review to come tomorrow…….

 

 

The Walking Dead Episode 1 – A New Day

Posted by Retired on 18/05/2012 – 9:21 pm
Filed under PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360

Telltale's newest episodic game combines great storytelling with classic point and click action to deliver an unforgettable experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First and foremost I have to say I’m a huge fan of both the Walking Dead TV Series and the comics however those new to this series don’t worry, the game is easily accessible and thoroughly enjoyable to those who are new to the Walking Dead.

You play as Lee Everett, a likeable protagonist with a less than reputable past, beginning his story in the back of a police car taking him to a prison somewhere outside Atlanta. However as you may have guessed he never makes it there and instead Lee is thrust head first into the zombie apocolypse. He eventually comes across a little girl named Clementine, whose hiding out in her treehouse, as it become pretty clear that her parents have died. Clementine keeps the player grounded as not only does Lee now have to survive the vast zombie hoardes he has to take care of a young traumatised girl.

The gameplay is basic yet engrossing, the point and click interface may be simple however it’s used in rather fun ways and feels refreshing especially during combat which usually boils down to press the right button in the right amount of time. You use the left stick to control Lee’s movement and the right controls the camera angle. The face buttons control character actions such as picking something up or initiating conversation.

The main focus, and strength of A New Day it’s the conversational aspect of the game. Your choice of speech moulds the perceptions of the characters around you and how you behave towards them will be remembered. For example Clementine remembers if you treated her kindly or not and the way she behaves to you is reflective of that allowing you to create the character you want to play as. The use of the timer forces the conversation along at a decent place never allowing it to feel stale or forced.

Graphically, A New Day is reminiscent of Charlie Adlard’s drawings from the comics but it holds it well in it’s new medium with everything from environments to zombies being well rendered.

Some of the decisions you have to make during the game are quite literally life or death and adds to the game on an emotional level as you hold the fates of characters in your own hands. For fans of the series there are cameos from established characters in the Walking Dead franchise.

Overall, A New Day is a thoroughly enjoyable gaming experience with definite replayability that leaves you wanting more.

THE AVENGERS BATTLE FOR EARTH

Posted by Bodrul on 11/05/2012 – 11:58 am
Filed under Multi Platform, Wii, Xbox 360

News Just In from Ubisoft

“UBISOFT AND MARVEL ASSEMBLE
THE AVENGERS IN NEW
“BATTLE FOR EARTH”

Game Marks First Time that Marvel Universe Will Be Available on
Kinect(tm) for Xbox360(r) and Nintendo Wii(tm) U(tm) Motion Platforms

London, UK – May 10, 2012 – Today, Ubisoft(r) announced a deal with Marvel
Entertainment, LLC to develop a video game based on the popular Avengers characters
and other heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe.

Developed by Ubisoft Quebec, Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth’s interactive
environments are inspired by iconic Marvel comic artwork and the Secret Invasion
storyline. This game will be released this Autumn for the Microsoft Kinect(tm) for
Xbox 360(r), and Nintendo’s Wii(tm) U(tm) system.

“We are excited to team up with Marvel Entertainment to bring some of the most
iconic comic book characters from the Marvel line-up to life in motion-gaming,” said
Geoffroy Sardin, Ubisoft EMEA Marketing and Sales Director at Ubisoft. “Fans of the
Marvel universe and superhero games are going to love the extensive combinations of
characters, motion-controlled moves and competitive gameplay.”

“For the last few years, Marvel has positioned itself to deliver the absolute best
in entertainment, be it in film, animation, comics or games,” said Andreea
Enache-Thune, senior vice president of games and digital distribution at Marvel.
“Partnering with Ubisoft is a big part of that ongoing movement. We are confident
that Ubisoft’s talent matches Marvel’s own commitment to making the Avengers: Battle
for Earth the best in the motion-controlled gaming category.”

Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth features 20 different characters, including
Avengers such as Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and Thor, as well as other
fan-favorite Super Heroes and Super Villains from the Marvel Universe.

For more information on Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, please visit:
www.AvengersBattleForEarth.com“

Prototype 2

Posted by Bodrul on 04/05/2012 – 9:24 pm
Filed under Multi Platform, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Tagged as ,

Prototype 2

 

it’s just been over a week since Prototype 2 hit the shelves worldwide

Lets start

In Prototype 2 you play as James Heller former US Marine Sergeant with self destructive tendencies, which seem to get the better of him after his wife and daughter were casualties of the outbreak.

After this he is mostly hell bent on revenge and getting to Alex Mercer who he believes to be responsible for the outbreak and the loss of his family.

So far we have the following,

A second Outbreak
Black Watch quarantining the city and taking up control
A suicidal ex US Marine.

Now you would think to yourself easy story and all straight forward and we know who the bad guys are.

Wrong!

The story truly begins when you meet Alex Mercer and he infects you with the Black Light virus
which enhances Heller’s abilities allowing him to consume the forms of his targets to the genetic level where he can go undetected in almost all areas without arousing suspicion.

Granted this doesn’t work when you run into Censor radars or are caught attacking someone who isn’t a mutant.

Apart from consuming the form of his targets, Mercer can also consume their memories which allows him to access computer terminals and extra side quests.
as you progress through the game you pick up new abilities which helps you along the game as you face stronger adversaries who get a lot tougher.

By consuming Targets you also gain their abilities (this is mainly Boss fights) which get upgraded as you gain experience during fights or when you take out set targets.

one thing I enjoyed is the ability to defy gravity and run up almost all surfaces to out run or to get to a better advantage point to take out your targets.

The game also contains vehicles which you unlock the ability to use as you progress through the game and unlock during missions which require a vehicle to be used to reach a certain goal or objective.

Now back to the main story.

Before you were hell-bent on taking out Alex mercer was told by Black Watch that the infection was caused by Mercer and its thanks to him that his family are dead.

You meet new allies who will help you find your targets and will also use you to get their dirty work done.

As you play the game Heller has always been hell-bent on self destruction and revenge, this will change at a point when he gets that one news that will give something to live for and something to actually fight for, (this I won’t say and it’s up to you to find out, or check out the forum for spoilers)

and as said before, nothing is what it seems as you progress through the game you find out Alex Mercers true motives and the reason he has been giving the Black light abilities to people.
Now it’s up to you to stop him and his plans before it’s too late.

Game Play

The game play is quite straight forward and the controls have been mapped in a way which allows ease of use.

There are two main attacks which are assigned to Y and X or Triangle and Square, Abilities can also be activated when gained using two buttons at once to activate them.

This has been set up in a nice way as it doesn’t require the user to use more than two fingers but using his/her thumb to press down on two buttons at once.

I have found the game to be pretty much too easy on normal mode, mostly because like other Free roam games it suffers from one flaw,

You can play a couple of the main Missions, but after that if you just go for the side quests you can level up or gain abilities to the extent where you can just pretty much walk through the game.

Boss fights I have found to be very much repetitive as almost all bosses can be taken out the same way, Dodge and attack or when you gain shield

Shield up and repel the attack and then counter attack when they are knocked off their feet.

Don’t get me wrong the story line is somewhat great and as you play it you see his other side when he will almost do anything to defend the life of his pastor who guides him through the game.

At the end of the day I have enjoyed the game and it was fun, the cut scenes were nicely choreographed with a nice movie theme.

The game to me just lacked the challenge, if you like a casual game where you want to fly (Well glide) about and explore and kill some bad guys occasionally then this game is for you.

if you are a hardcore gamer who wants a challenge then this game isn’t that much for you as you will most likely play this game and finish it in a few hours and get bored of it.

UBISOFT ANNOUNCES TOM CLANCY’S GHOST RECON ALPHA

Posted by Bodrul on 03/05/2012 – 5:04 pm
Filed under General
Tagged as , , , ,

For Ghost Recon Fans, News Just in on a short Movie developed and produced by Ubisoft to be launched on Lovefilm

 

“UBISOFT(r) ANNOUNCES TOM CLANCY’S GHOST RECON ALPHA(r) AVAILABILITY

London, UK – May 3, 2012 – Today Ubisoft announced that Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon
Alpha, the short movie prequel to Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Future Soldier, will
premiere exclusively on LOVEFiLM – Europe’s largest subscription service for
streaming films and TV series over the internet and sending DVDs and games by post.
LOVEFiLM members will be able to stream Ghost Recon Alpha via LOVEFiLM Instant from
3rd May.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Alpha the movie is a thrilling and intense live-action
short film set in the Tom Clancy universe.
Inserted deep behind enemy lines, the Ghosts must strike swiftly to eliminate one of
the world’s most feared war criminals; but some missions don’t always go as planned.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Alpha is deeply connected with the upcoming release of Tom
Clancy’s Ghost Recon Future Soldier:
- Characters: Characters present in the movie will be playable characters in the
video game.
- Storyline: Their actions in the movie also have direct implications on the video
game storyline.
- Location: The location of the movie will also be playable in the game’s
multiplayer modes.
- Exclusive unlock: A secret code is also hidden in the movie, enabling access to an
exclusive weapon in the game. (unlock available only on Xbox 360(r) and PC)”

 

 


 

What are you waiting for? Join Lovefilm (use the trial and enjoy the short Movie :P )



 

Clash of the Titans

Posted by Bodrul on 02/05/2012 – 6:35 pm
Filed under Multi Platform, PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Tagged as , , , , , ,

Clash of the Titans

In Less than six months Two Games will be released

Halo 4 and Call Of Duty Black Ops 2

Why you are wondering I have labelled this  Clash of the Titans?

Both Games are Pretty much the most hyped games of their times and in respect both Brands have their followers in large numbers.

This is shown by the sales figures when these games hits the shelf’s of Game stores around the world by selling million+ copies in just the first few days of launch.

Before you look at the Chart and laugh your head off, do take into account Halo has only been sold on Xbox/Xbox 360 with 1 and 2 only debuting on PC, while the Call of Duty Series has Sold on all Major platforms giving it a Far Larger target audience.

Why clash of the Titans? in November 2012 both Activision and Bungie will be launching their games within days of each other.

Now you may be thinking so what and both games have nothing in common?

In that respect you are pretty much correct, both games are different in respect to story and game play and the immersive experience is different.

The only common ground would be both are FPS and requires a player to get from objective A to Objective B through enemy soldiers and in case of Halo Aliens.

With Both Games containing similar online multiplayer game play.

Being two blockbuster games and the time frame in which the publishers have set them for launch, it is a scenario where both Activision and Bungie want to see who sells the most games compared to each other (not that I am saying the two parties running bets on Sales)

Lets have a little back story on the Games.

Halo Series

The Halo Series first started off with Halo Combat evolved and was based on a planet (Well artificial planet shaped like a ring) where Humans are at war with a species called the Covenant who are on a Holy war to wipe out the heretics which are humans in this case.

As you Progress through the series you learn new things about the Rings and their true purposes and who created them and the reasons for their creation.

Unlike Normal Games where you have a series go from 1,2,3,4 and so forth with each game carrying on from its predecessor, The Halo Series jumps from one time to another where for example in Halo 3 you are at the end of the line and are taking out the Covenant to Halo Reach where it all began and almost at the start of the conflict of the interspecies war (Humans Vs Covenant)

The Halo Series hasn’t changed much in terms of game play apart from Halo wars which was a more of a RTS where it involved more of using strategic thinking to get to and reach certain objectives in the game. (Think Command and Conquer, ok its almost exactly like Command and conquer)

In Terms of Sale Bungie did make a slight mistake as compared to the other games Sold in the series, Halo Wars took the least money globally.

Call Of Duty Series

Call of Duty hasn’t been around as Long as the Halo Series and unlike the Halo,
Call of Duty is Cross platform and designed to played the major consoles.

For Call of Duty unlike the Halo Franchise which has been developed by the same studio,
Call of Duty has turned into a Franchise name instead taken on by two or more studios for launch every year with a different storyline model.

Unlike the Halo series which has somewhat of a reoccurring theme where you follow a set storyline,
in the Call of Duty Series you are presented with different stories on each game that has been released.

Only after Call of Duty 4 Modern warfare has the developers kept to a main storyline for the game,
Granted Treyarch didn’t start following the trend after Modern warfare 2 with the release of Black ops which will have a sequel later on this year.

Looking at figures Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare with 16.76million+ Units sold worldwide
It took the Call of Duty Series and truly put it on the Map with the game style and bringing into the modern era with true immersive game play.

with that into account the way InfinityWard designed and developed the game they have brought one thing to the series which its predecessors wasn’t able to, and this is the hype and anticipation from millions of Fans worldwide who now Lap up the game as soon as it hits the self.

Once a company has built the hype and has the base it truly can expect to carry on a franchise.
this is something both Activision and Bungie have with these two Brands.

Personally I look forward to trying both games out and see what things have been improved on the games and how the developers have exceeded themselves.

 


 

Feel Free to use Search to Look up Halo 4 or Call of Duty Black Ops 2 :)

 

Quick Correction, Before I branded Bungie as Bungie Microsoft, which has been corrected lol.

Bungie had become independent from Microsoft with microsoft now only owning a small share in the company.

 

Don’t think because Microsoft don’t hold all the cards for the company they will allow cross platform release of Halo 4 though.

Due to the game being a hardcore exclusive for Microsoft they won’t let it happen lol