J4MES OX4D

Had a browse but didn't buy anything as I am well kitted out right now. There were some decent deals though but nothing I really needed to I'll save that dosh for Christmas instead.

Even the Battlefield 5 Frostbite 3 engine is beginning to show its age for me. I'm struggling to see much of an advancement over Battlefield 3 in BFV aside from some textures. All the issues that seem to plague it still persist years later. EA were charging people £30 more to play the bug-ridden game 5 days early which is just ludicrous on both sides.

I'm sure it'll be 50% off in no time and probably even more than that on good old CD Keys!

They're all bloody 18 hours a day internet cafe Koreans basically. Instead of this being a mass market F2P card game like the others; Valve seem to be appealing to a smaller pocket of die-hard card gamers who they could probably milk to buggery over years rather than having millions of gamers just dropping in for a free ride. I'd rather play online poker.

Did you try it on console Phil? Apparently the FOV is terrible on there and can't be changed. On PC you can scale the HUD down, ramp up the FOV and apart from that really chunky vertical gun, it seems to appear decent enough. I do play on 21:9 admittedly so I'm not sure about the standard 16:9 but certainly on PC it can be fiddled with.

My short term PSN subscription has ran out so I wont be able to try it but apparently it's quite microtransaction-heavy where guns costs $1000's yet money is really hard to come by unless you spend real $$$. If this is the case then it'll be an easy pass especially as GTA online was nothing too special for me. I've had a wonderful time on the single player which is the true aspect of the game but it would be a shame if the product got diminished by publisher greed.

Oh deary me https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-11-29-bethesda-pledges-500-atoms-to-customers-affected-by-fallout-76-bag-gate

Aston Villa 5-5 Nott Forest!

Fallout 3 looks to have some really good mods on Nexus too. Can be a bit overwhelming to find the right ones with the wealth that are available but if you can find a handful that overhaul key parts without taking away too much of the vintage feel; you can have a very amazing and refreshing experience again.

The base engine is actually from 1998 so you could say it's 20 years old and even predates the original Call of Duty! They've 'improved' aspects of it but at the end of the day it was dated even on the PS3/360 and had huge limitations back then. Destiny 2 also uses a build from Halo 3 so Activision are just plodding along with old tech just like Bethesda. Not sure how long they can continue really. Even the textures for the engine are really showing their age now.

Apparently there is a big patch coming December 4th. Not sure what the notes will be but they have a lot of fixes to do that's for sure.

I is playing Diblow Imortul soon

I still find it funny that COD doesn't have enough bandwith with the current engine to have dynamic elements such as changeable weather effects!

Thank god the UK is leaving the EU then😎

This game is seriously beginning to test my patience - the bugs are fucking unbearable and occurring in their droves especially today. Here's a few that are persistent:- - randomly swapping to secondary weapon when firing primary - Class weapon keeps changing back to first weapon before each game - Rubberbanding after being revivived - Squad leader interface often bugged and unresponsive - Quit button not working after match - ALT F4 is required - Netcode is inconsistent beyond belief - Mantling is broken - Explosives seem to be impacted by endless invisible barriers Another one is animations of opponents can mislead - a player running forwards but looking to the side will appear as if they are simply looking and running forwards so if you flank, it may look like you've got the upper hand when actually they are looking right at you even though the character could be facing a different direction or appearing to look away.

I think the tiresome prestige progression system needs a major overhaul as it doesn't keep people engaged and the Battle Pass is a complete embarrassment where you are just encouraging users to grind (or pay for) empty tiers which is even more soulless and worthless than the standard XP leveling. Had they made tier system properly with challenges, daily missions and proper rewards instead of pathetic generic cosmetic artwork every 20 hours/$20; that may have kept more people interested and playing daily. That's how Fortnite keeps people on board and the game fresh. This game looks like it's fading badly in interest just like Infinite Warfare and WW2. Even Blackout has no real goals or long term appeal and it's clear that Activision and Treyarch don't have the foresight or means to keep people playing. This is a tiring brand with a stale format, saturated gameplay design and even with a fresh competitive approach (poached from other games) it still fails to captivate because the progression and engagement is bloody shambolic. Activision being more greedy than ever monetizing thin air and recycled guns plus Treyarch not having any proper rewards in place doesn't ooze any confidence or assurance that people's efforts are worthwhile so I can see why people are being driven away in droves. What's left of the community are soon to be split with the Black Ops pass content coming. They seriously need to rework the leveling and progression format to keep people interested and the game feeling fresh. They also need to have proper rewards that are satisfying to earn and not sprays of chickens and thumbs up gestures for every 50 hours played or $500 spent. Too late now on BO4 though and Activision wont care as they have people's money and the game is in decline. Give it a month and people be hyping the next COD anyway - sometimes that is better than the actual game itself!

'Leaked'

I thought it was one of the best, if not the best game we've had on this generation. There's not been many but this one is easily streets ahead of most AAA games in terms of production quality and enjoyment. The story was great, the missions are highly entertaining, the characters are fantastic and the world/visuals is probably the best in an open world game with every aspect perfectly crafted rather than a cut and paste job. The game just oozes Rockstar's personality and the way they did the band of outlaws as the foundation to the game worked exceptionally well especially with the dynamic character interactions. The game had 500,000 lines of dialogue and it really shows within the interactive environments. It's not perfect though as there are a few surprise flaws. The controls are a bit cumbersome and frustrating - although you learn to live with it, it's surprising that Rockstar are still having such fundamental issues. The law element is also inconsistent and bizarre - you can attack or kill someone in a secluded area seemingly unseen but can still be caught by a 'witness' and have a bounty on your head within seconds. It's also crazy that you can rob and kill and then come back to the same town the next day after paying off a small bounty like nothing ever happened. Even wanted dead or alive I could still stroll through towns in daylight and get a haircut or pick up beans. The crafting and hunting element I happily ignored throughout but it is there if people want to utilise it for added benefits and immersion but not essential for progression which was fine. Everything else is bloody great and after playing every day for nearly a month, I finished it. Whatever we get in the online is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned. God of War is the only game that comes close to this and I imagine The Last of Us 2 will be a challenger but ultimately RDR2 sets the standard going forward for modern games.

4/10 on Gamespot and 5/10 from IGN Ouch!

Will they though this time? Seems the move has alienated even the most hardened COD cocksuckers which could see huge numbers throw the towel in on the game entirely. Activision said a couple of weeks ago that the sales of both Destiny 2 Forsaken and BO4 were disappointing so they would be more aggressive in their monetization but if this is the end result, it could cost them more in the long run than they'll make out of the few idiots happy to pay. Recycling an exclusive pre-order item that was available to buy on eBay for $1 isn't gonna tempt many people and Activision's greed/desperation may come unstuck especially with Treyarch half-arsing it.

Played a few more matches today on Conquest and got to sample all the maps available. I did play in some very entertaining games which were a lot of fun but it's still hard to overlook some fundamental design flaws and bugs. The attrition system works well and is certainly better than the stingy beta but having experienced all the maps, the air and tank element seems very weak in this game. Infantry is really the best and most effective way to play.