J4MES OX4D

Great game yesterday especially the second half! Nice to see JonJoe Kenny developing into a great footballer after (despite) being at Oxford in 2016. Freddie Woodman back in the day

I was expecting a handful of solid exclusives to showcase the console but instead there were just a few clapped out franchises, one sole-impressive game and a handful of indie games. Looks like Microsoft are left with the most powerful games console ever and again, no bloody games! Compare this to the 360 days and it's quite frankly appalling. Sony have had multiple exclusives this year already and probably have another shedload on the way.

They've all been a mix of 1st and 3rd person combined. Playing it in 1st is weird as the hitboxes are still tailored to 3rd person meaning you can hipfire from a huge distance and still get the kill without ever needing to ADS. Both perspectives are really easy to play and seasoned Battlefield players will find it way too simple if the original is anything to go by.

Looks very intriguing and original. Finally an interesting game from EA aside form their predictable AAA range

Meh, the Frostbite engine makes the games look so samey aside from the skin.

Legend

Payday 2 is free right now but only a limited amount remains.

I have a feeling Ubisoft have moved away from their radio towers format. They scrapped this for Watch Dogs 2 thank god and that made the game utterly fantastic as you were encouraged to explore rather than have everything laid on a plate to be unveilled by climbing something. Wildlands also had the whole map available from the get-go. I was never a fan of this and to me it was just another painfully community-detached feature that Ubisoft thought was a great idea that persisted across their games. 'Fog of war' was designed to be explored and not unlocked afterall..

Rekt

Fuck GFE Phil! That bloody thing wanted me to play The Division at the lowest possible settings so I thought sod it and put it on high and was getting 75fps! I have a 770 like you and ran Doom on High I think with a solid performance throughout on only 8gb RAM. I've really given up optimising through that POS as it's way off the mark for many games.

Take note Ubisoft

First artwork is up

Demo is defo worth trying as it's one of these games that is amazing to experience playing rather than watching. I saw countless gameplay videos prior to release and felt very underwhelmed by what I saw but having played the game; it's a completely different experience that has surprised me with its quality. Definitely not for everyone but certainly worth a look especially as watching gameplay footage doesn't really do it justice.

Played about 7 hours of Prey so far and it's absolutely fantastic! The comparisons to the likes fo System Shock 2 and Bioshock are spot on and if you like Dishonored or Bethesda games in general; this is an excellent experience. I think they've done an incredible job overall with the slick interface and design of the space station. The game just flows superbly and it feels extremely well polished. The pacing is very good and you'll find yourself backpeddling and searching every nook and cranny. You can complete objectives and get into restricted areas multiple ways so it's very non-linear also. The crafting system is pretty cool too as you can collect all types of scrap crap, recycle them into raw materials and then create things like ammo and medkits. It's actually a pretty fun way of doing things and with items such as ammo rather sparse; it's crucial that you craft carefully. You also have a skills tree along with suit upgrades but even both these cliche-ridden features are implemented well and lead to tough decisions being made on what can benefit you more at that time and going forward - I had a tough choice yesterday between upgrading my strength so I could get past a blocked door or by unlocking a repair upgrade where I could get into a new area. Chances are I will unlock the repair one in due course and then come back but I don't know at this time whether it was the right decision but that's the beauty of these tough choices. The enemies aren't very varied but the ones that are there are brutually hard which is great. One hit can hit your health and with ammo limited as well as being based on crafting as well as medkits; you can't be wasteful or afford to be sloppy in combat. The mimics which are reminicent of the Half Life facecrabs are simply ingenious and one of the most unique I've seen in gaming. You walk into a room and suddenly a coffee cup spawns into an alien and scares the crap out of you! I was even getting chased around the room by a crumpled bit of paper which was hilarious and tense. In another instance, I went into a section and out of the corner of my eye I thought saw a bin move a fraction and thought nothing of it. I searched around and just as I was leaving the bin started wobbling and then fell over and rolled towards my feet. Before I could say WTF, I had a mimic in my face! Just brilliant stuff. There is a couple of disappointing things so far though; the story whilst intriguing at first, is fairly underwhelming and is at times a bit unclear. There are lots of characters mentioned and lore dotted around but some of it is poorly written and forgettable. Apart from a few key people; lots of names and faces are just generic filler. The weapons are also decent but even upgrading them is just statistical rather than any visual or feel to their strengthening. The Gloo gun is epic though and its the best thing since the Portal gun for sure! Overall; this is an amazing game that has all the hallmarks of classics in the genre. The design is fantastic and it feels absolutely slick. Apart from the mediocre narrative, the game fees like something out of the 90's brought into the future. I think they've done an amazing job on it and I highly recommend.

Same for me Bart. I was very much looking forward to Far Cry 4 but it was just underwhelming and I wasn't motivated to play. I can't quite put my finger on why as it was a massive visual step up from Far Cry 3 but I'd say the map felt a little claustrophobic in places with too much verticality and the gameplay was dull maybe.

My concern with WW2 is that no matter how good the game is; Activision will ruin it. Modern Warfare Remastered was perfectly ideal for the first few weeks but when supply drops hit and players were running around with broken bottles as melee weapons along with pink guns, it just felt the ultimate hardon killer. I'm not convinced by Sledgehammer either - they've been with the franchise for nearly 8 years now but they don't have anything decent to show for it and their relationship with the community isn't great either. They do sound like they are taking the campaign very seriously and are working very hard on providing an authentic and compassionate experience but in regards to the multiplayer portion; I really don't know what to expect. Their idea of making the game ultra compeititive with aggressive SBMM like they did with AW makes me uncomfortable and it dramatically impacts connection when skill is prioritised over providing the best possible level of matchmaking. This game needs proper dedicated servers and connection-led matchmaking. Sadly we'll end up with hybrid servers (mix of dedi's and P2P) as we have done for years now plus e-sport styled matchmaking. We also know the guns will be 100% authentic but with supply drops; we'll probably see variants which will either be stat or both stat and camo based. The thought of seeing players running through trenches with lime green guns in WW2 makes me uncomfortable but I can't see how else Activision are going to make supply drops glamorous so they can turnover another $3bn from them. In terms of the maps; I'd like to see real life locations mashed into appropriate 3 lane designs. The current Infinity Ward team cannot design maps for shit (Siege, Chasm, Stonehaven, Free Fall and every map in Infinite Warfare including Terminal which they murdered along with Rust) with their no flow and corner-laden right angle uninspired designs. Treyarch are very consistent with their maps but Sledgehammer were also decent if you take out a few which were primarily exo-suit focused. I think they may do a reasonable job with the maps in this game. The thing that has killed COD in recent years aside from the games being plain trash is the underwhelming and largely forgettable killstreaks. I've played Ghosts, AW and BO3 along with IW and I'm struggling to name one aside from the usual UAV. I remember that fucking dog from Ghosts and a few other shitty ones from other games but you cannot beat the likes of the AC130 and Pred missle. Even the non-controllable ones such as Harrier and Pavelow all from MW2 were fun to call in and it was great to get kill after kill. I honestly could not name one or even remember some of the top-level ones in the last few games they are that boring. That's just a few points off the top of my head but all in all; I don't think they'll ever be able to match the old days of COD4, WAW, MW2 and BO1. COD is nothing new now matter what they do. The concept is burned out in a very tired genre and franchise. People got sick of BF1 and MWR in no time not because they aren't good but they don't offer any longevity or appeal like the old COD games did back in the day and a lot of gamers who were once playing for 1000 hours a year have moved on to other things in gaming and life in general. I used to be able to have 3 hour sessions but I can barely play 3 matches of COD a day and that's been the case for years. There's always something better I can do with my time and I fear no matter how good WW2 is; it still wont impact me for the long term.

I really enjoyed Far Cry 3 back in the day and would love a similarly-toned game minus radio towers with the onus on exploration rather than the map being laid out on a plate littered with icons. I didn't like Far Cry 4 though and didn't bother with Primal but hopefully this will rejuvenate the series.

Passes away age 89. Great actor and a sense of humour.

One of the most horrific things I've ever seen. Caught wind of this just as I was going to bed and was just shocked by the horrible scenes. Thoughts are with everyone involved and their loved ones.

Unfortunately that's 90% of Call of Duty's target audience these days!

Didn't like it Bah, I may give it another crack as its you two plonkers I suppose!