Anyone who's been following new game releases will have probably heard about the disaster that was the release of No Man's Sky. Full of unfulfilled promises and monotonous tedium. In fact, not very full of anything!
I've not played it myself, but the many reviews have painted a very plain picture and I feel a little gutted. I really wanted to play this game! I love the aesthetics of the game, the colours and design of the ships, the slightly garish colour contrast gives it an otherworldly look.
I'm really hoping the developers can get an update out that will pull the game back on track and put the negativity behind them.
Sunday, 16 October 2016
Saturday, 15 October 2016
Doom is awesome
I got paid on Friday and that meant one thing, I could play the new doom for the first time! I had forgotten how insanely good the game looks. I know graphics shouldn't be the focal point, but I was blown away at the incredible detail and complete lack of any visible pixels, anywhere! On top of this, the game runs so smoothly. It's a technical master piece. And this is before we get to the gameplay.
I've already seen and read numerous reviews raving about how good the campaign is, and they're spot on, the campaign has exactly the same feel of the classic Doom games, but with everything brought up to date - it feels just right. The levels are big, winding mazes with secrets and dead-ends; it's not afraid to have the player back tracking to open doors once they've found the right key card. In combat it's all about moving constantly, dodging and weaving between projectiles and clusters of rampaging hordes of enemies, blasting whatever's in front of you.
The way the monsters move and fight is something I've never seen before in a game, they are so dynamic and fast and almost feel like they are being controlled by another player. I was particularly struck by how the Imps (the classic fire throwing Doom foe) jumped around, climbed walls and pillars and dodged around so quickly, making them a real nuisance! I'm yet to encounter any bigger demons, but the Hell Knights are already giving me a tough time!
I believe the campaign takes over 10 hours to complete and I've dived straight in at the hardest difficulty available to me at the moment, ultra violent, which may have been a mistake, but I'm loving the challenge.
I won't babble on anymore, I just want to play it some more now.
Once I've had a good blast at the campaign I'll check out multiplayer again and the level builder, snapmap.
Time to venture back onto the surface of Mars and blow away some more demons!
I've already seen and read numerous reviews raving about how good the campaign is, and they're spot on, the campaign has exactly the same feel of the classic Doom games, but with everything brought up to date - it feels just right. The levels are big, winding mazes with secrets and dead-ends; it's not afraid to have the player back tracking to open doors once they've found the right key card. In combat it's all about moving constantly, dodging and weaving between projectiles and clusters of rampaging hordes of enemies, blasting whatever's in front of you.
The way the monsters move and fight is something I've never seen before in a game, they are so dynamic and fast and almost feel like they are being controlled by another player. I was particularly struck by how the Imps (the classic fire throwing Doom foe) jumped around, climbed walls and pillars and dodged around so quickly, making them a real nuisance! I'm yet to encounter any bigger demons, but the Hell Knights are already giving me a tough time!
I believe the campaign takes over 10 hours to complete and I've dived straight in at the hardest difficulty available to me at the moment, ultra violent, which may have been a mistake, but I'm loving the challenge.
I won't babble on anymore, I just want to play it some more now.
Once I've had a good blast at the campaign I'll check out multiplayer again and the level builder, snapmap.
Time to venture back onto the surface of Mars and blow away some more demons!
Friday, 7 October 2016
I just finished playing Journey
This game was the free game on PlayStation 4 last month, with a few others, and was the game I was most keen to play. I didn't know much about it, but I knew it was an "art" game from an indy developer, thatgamecompany, and involved a journey...
And that is what the game was and it was brilliantly done. Beautiful graphics, great sound track and a fantastic anonymous multiplayer system where the game will know if a player is near and you'll seamlessly enter the same game world.
The actual mechanics of the game are very simple, you move around with the stick, jump with one button and send out a shout with another, and that's it! The game progresses through various levels, which lead onto each other as you go along the journey, each level having some basic puzzle to be solved. It's not a hard game at all, it's more like an interactive film or story; you'll get to the end, but how will you get there, who will you meet on the way and what will you see?
I won't describe any of the levels as that'd spoil it or even what the aim of the game is, needless to say it's to get to your destination, which I wasn't sure of until quite near the end of my play through!
Visually the game is stunning. The landscapes you navigate deform under foot, the weather swirls around you and the lighting illuminates the world in a fairy tale like glow. It's both simple, in styling, and yet so detailed in the overall effect.
The multiplayer works without you even noticing, until you see another player running around in front of you! When I first saw another player I assumed it was a computer control person in my game world, then I realised they were behaving in a non-AI sort of way and was very adept at both finding me, following me and leading me to hidden spots.
The shout command is a single expression which makes for an interesting communication system. I met players who'd be frequently giving out short shouts, as a sort of, "over here", expression, and others who'd stay silent until they let out a single long shout, by holding the button down for longer.
Every player, including yourself, has a unique symbol, which is shone above you head when you shout. When I'd love a companion I'd soon myself encountering another, with a different symbol, and sometimes I'd bump into the same people! Until you complete your journey you have no idea who the people are you meet, all you know is that they are other players. You can only have 1 other player in your world and I think that's perfect as it makes the relationship between the strangers more intimate.
Overall, I felt entirely captivated by the game. Most of all I loved the interaction with strangers and the sense of camaraderie that developed when my travelling companion stayed with me for a while.
And that is what the game was and it was brilliantly done. Beautiful graphics, great sound track and a fantastic anonymous multiplayer system where the game will know if a player is near and you'll seamlessly enter the same game world.
The actual mechanics of the game are very simple, you move around with the stick, jump with one button and send out a shout with another, and that's it! The game progresses through various levels, which lead onto each other as you go along the journey, each level having some basic puzzle to be solved. It's not a hard game at all, it's more like an interactive film or story; you'll get to the end, but how will you get there, who will you meet on the way and what will you see?
I won't describe any of the levels as that'd spoil it or even what the aim of the game is, needless to say it's to get to your destination, which I wasn't sure of until quite near the end of my play through!
Visually the game is stunning. The landscapes you navigate deform under foot, the weather swirls around you and the lighting illuminates the world in a fairy tale like glow. It's both simple, in styling, and yet so detailed in the overall effect.
The multiplayer works without you even noticing, until you see another player running around in front of you! When I first saw another player I assumed it was a computer control person in my game world, then I realised they were behaving in a non-AI sort of way and was very adept at both finding me, following me and leading me to hidden spots.
The shout command is a single expression which makes for an interesting communication system. I met players who'd be frequently giving out short shouts, as a sort of, "over here", expression, and others who'd stay silent until they let out a single long shout, by holding the button down for longer.
Every player, including yourself, has a unique symbol, which is shone above you head when you shout. When I'd love a companion I'd soon myself encountering another, with a different symbol, and sometimes I'd bump into the same people! Until you complete your journey you have no idea who the people are you meet, all you know is that they are other players. You can only have 1 other player in your world and I think that's perfect as it makes the relationship between the strangers more intimate.
Overall, I felt entirely captivated by the game. Most of all I loved the interaction with strangers and the sense of camaraderie that developed when my travelling companion stayed with me for a while.
Monday, 3 October 2016
I bought Doom!
As per a previous post, as I now have a job I have allowed myself to buy Doom! Technically I'm supposed to wait for my first pay check, but as it was 50% off it seemed daft to miss out on the offer. Soooo... I've agreed not to play it till I get paid. It's going to be so hard to resist!
In other gaming news, my prison in Prison Architect is madness. Gangs are killing each other the shower is more like a death pit and even the emergency riot police are not up to the job of taming my inmates sometimes.
Doom.
In other gaming news, my prison in Prison Architect is madness. Gangs are killing each other the shower is more like a death pit and even the emergency riot police are not up to the job of taming my inmates sometimes.
Doom.
Sunday, 2 October 2016
Prison Architect
For those who like emergent gameplay in a sand box, building/managing simulator, this is one to keep an eye on.
I've recently become quite hooked into building simulators and it's all one of my friend's fault. He introduced me to Planetbase and I surprised myself by really enjoying it. From there I've now got Prison Architect and Banished and am enjoying the both immensely! I have typically not been drawn to games like this as they tend to be too slow paced for me.
Prison Architect is a tongue in cheek prison building and managing simulator. Once you have built a few necessary rooms and a small prison wing, prisoners will be delivered to you and you'll need to start paying attention to their needs. If you mistreat them too much or don't manage their regime well enough they'll be rioting and killing before you know it!
For a general introduction to the game I'd strongly recommend watching Sips on YouTube. I watched a bunch of his Summer Slam Prison Architect series and it really sold the game to me.
Having started my new job I'm finding the game perfect to just relax at the end of the day, have some laughs at the chaos in my prison and play around with expanding my facilities. Trying to reform my prisoners is always a lot of fun to as they tend to enjoy killing the poor teachers off...
Also, it's cheap!
I've recently become quite hooked into building simulators and it's all one of my friend's fault. He introduced me to Planetbase and I surprised myself by really enjoying it. From there I've now got Prison Architect and Banished and am enjoying the both immensely! I have typically not been drawn to games like this as they tend to be too slow paced for me.
Prison Architect is a tongue in cheek prison building and managing simulator. Once you have built a few necessary rooms and a small prison wing, prisoners will be delivered to you and you'll need to start paying attention to their needs. If you mistreat them too much or don't manage their regime well enough they'll be rioting and killing before you know it!
For a general introduction to the game I'd strongly recommend watching Sips on YouTube. I watched a bunch of his Summer Slam Prison Architect series and it really sold the game to me.
Having started my new job I'm finding the game perfect to just relax at the end of the day, have some laughs at the chaos in my prison and play around with expanding my facilities. Trying to reform my prisoners is always a lot of fun to as they tend to enjoy killing the poor teachers off...
Also, it's cheap!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)