J4MES OX4D

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.

Wow, even the COD cocksuckers are raging at this move. Apparently the $20 gun was also a unique pre-order bonus from Gamestop but instead of creating something new, Treyarch just took that gun and put a price tag on it, making it available to everyone willing to pay. You also don't get it straight away either - you are paying to unlock the challenges and have to complete those to get the gun variant. The word variant is bullshit anyway - if this was Black Ops 2, it would be called a camo - camo that can be used on any gun and cost about $2. People are just as annoyed with Treyarch's laziness. Infinity Ward may be criticised for the quality of their games but at least they put effort into developing guns that are unique, challenging to unlock and have differences in the variants giving some merit to the buzz word. Sledgehammer also did well with the limited appeal and design of the WW2 weapons. Treyarch have no excuse though - these are their own bullshit fictional weapon creations and they can't even be arsed to design new stuff - instead they take any existing assets and put it behind a paywall - even 'exclusive' pre-orders. It was bad enough the back of stuff to earn in the tiers but this is a new low of being lazy. The amount of big COD YouTuber's speaking out against this will hopefully resonate with even the biggest wallet/pants open COD fans. I used to admire Treyarch but now they couldn't give a shit about the community and just seem more content on trying to milk as much for Activision. Hopefully this time it will backfire.

Autumn sale has started. The Crew 2 is 60% off for £20 which is a decent deal. 60% off Jurassic World Evolution plus many more. I'll have a more detailed look later.

It's a skin that costs 1/3 of the entire base game.

I'm gonna take a pick from each division for saturday:- - Fulham to beat Southampton - an organised Fulham under Raneri should beat Southampton. I think I got 8/5 on that. - Millwall to beat Bolton - the Wanderers are wank. 7/8 for that. - Fleetwood to beat Plymouth away (7/5) or Scunny to draw with Pompey (21/10 - Carlisle to beat Forest Green 7/5 - Forest Green played midweek and should be tired. Long trip for them and Carlisle won 4-0 away last match. FGR will probably only have 15 fans too. 9/5 on that I got.

I started playing the first of the War Stories called Under No Flag and one of the characters is voiced by Craig Fairbrass who is famous for his role in Eastenders and as Ghost in MW2. His character in BF5 is painfully bad though - it's almost like a Danny Dyer-type sergeant with the most cringeworthy and unrealistic writing possible. When you get past the awful cutscenes, you get planted in this mission and it's equally terrible with the most generic gameplay imaginable for an FPS game and the most stupid AI possible. The others are supposed to be a bit better so I may go and try them instead but the first one is proper bad.

Oh that's not my account - I got this image online. My COD points account balance stands at zero and will remain at zero😎

^ I played my first Grand Operations match yesterday on Norway and we won the first two rounds of the day but lost the last one so despite 'winning' 2-1, we lost the overall match and lost it by one fucking ticket! We pissed the first two rounds as well. First round was like Rush where we had to repel the enemies from planting on 3 bomb sites. Did that easy and it was quite enjoyable because everyone was focusing on 3 forwarding positions on the map on either team. Next up we had to prevent the enemies from capturing two points on the map - yet again this was quite enjoyable, balanced and extremely frantic. The match flowed really well and it was great fun once again. The final round it all went to shit as it was a conquest format but because we wont the first rounds (I assume) we started with a 3 flag head start but less tickets (for some reason) and flags are so hard to defend as it is so they managed to turn it around and with their head start in tickets already, they won that and the entire bloody match! It just felt so unfair and a complete waste of time after all that effort especially defending successfully in rounds one and two. You can essentially get battered first two rounds without any consequence it seems. It's clear that Conquest is the problem in this game as the maps are just not suited for it because they are too small. I don't know the rules and winning conditions in Grand Operations is but after yesterday, it seems you just have to win the last one to seal the match.

ROFL!

Even their customer service has bugs. Jeez!

I've been swerving them since the international break but should be back on it at the weekend. Didn't fancy betting on the likes of Malta, Gibraltar, Macedonia, Kuwait and Bangladesh FC.

Metacritic looks horrific - currently 46% on PS4, 59% on PC and 65% on Xbox. They are gonna need a perfect 10/10 on IGN so Bethesda better post that cheque pronto!