J4MES OX4D

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!

I think Titanfall's ultimate undoing is the fact it's a weak brand. EA certainly didn't help Titanfall 2 this time around despite a far more respectable business plan behind it aside from the release timing, plus the Xbox exclusivity on the original caused a divide that put PS4 owners off from the sequel and even many XB1 owners of Titanfall weren't too interested in this one as the first went stale after a week. The game scored really well and despite some decent discounts, it's really struggled to get a decent population which is a shame. I don't think Titanfall has the same widespread appeal of other brands in the genre despite it being produced by industry veterans - seems a lot of people would rather continue buying Call of Duty just for the name even if it's ironically made by the Infinity Ward imposters who replaced the current Titanfall developers! If EA didn't ruin Medal of Honor, it would have been fitting for Respawn to go and work back in the series they created with EA back in the late 1990's. I do think that is where EA want them and why they brought them back from the clutches of Activision - to compete with COD but Respawn who wanted to do their own thing have persisted with Titanfall for 5 years and it's possible that they may do another unless EA bite the bullet and put their foot down. I don't know if they are contracted and who has a final say on creative development but I'd say that both parties are in limbo.

Prey is £23.99 on CDKeys right now. No-brainer really!

Ubisoft have announced Far Cry 5, The Crew 2 and another Assassins Creed. It's 2014 all over again. If these games reach 30fps though that will be one heck of an achievement from Ubi

I've seen so many comparisons to Half Life, System Shock and Deus Ex and how it plays like a classic PC FPS/RPG game. I really need to get this game as it sounds right up my street!

EA definitely not blameless but what they are being blamed for by the community is the development budget and timescale which is not why the game is terrible. BioWare were the ones that wanted to do everything including the writing and animations in-house and that's the two most significant problems with the product. Fans also accused EA of rushing the devs to get the game out but 5 years is a bloody long time to put out an AAA game nowadays. Trouble is EA probably can't fire the studio as it would cost too much money to lay the staff off, so like they usually do in situations like these; they simply move staff around studios which means a few will work on patching the game and the rest will go and 'help' on games like Battlefield, Battlefront and whatever other Battleshit EA have on their books. Just hope other games don't suffer for it.

I wouldn't be too disappointed to see Mass Effect done with for good. Perhaps a trilogy remaster for the current gen but in terms of new games in the brand; I hope to god there isn't any more. A lot of the key staff have long left BioWare after Mass Effect 3 and after the truly terrible Dragons Age: Inquisition; it's clear the remaining staff aren't up to the standard and if anything, all they will do is further taint the iconic brand. Same shit happened with the new Infinity Ward team on COD with MW3, Ghosts and Infinite Warfare and when Halo was retained by 343 for the poor Halo 4, deeply broken MCC and mediocre 5. I can't even defend Andromeda - they had 5 full years and a $40m budget which didn't include staff wages and the end result was very disappointing in terms of a game but the pathetic animations is inexcusable. People are blaming EA for not giving them enough time or resources but for once that's not fair on EA. BioWare would never get that level of finance or timeframe under any other AAA publisher. They had everything they'd need to make a successful game including brand framework on a plate yet just like DA:I, they failed miserably and are taininting brands with their lackluster games. It's been a PR disaster for EA and BioWare will now have to spend the next year fixing the game. Highly embarrassing all round really.

The game is in a pretty terrible state right now and it'll take a miracle for it to be out of early access in 6 months as planned on PC. It's playable and fun though but needs an outrageous amount of work before a console version can even be started. Both DayZ and H1Z1 were confirmed on console and they never materialised and this could be a similar situation I fear. Not the sort of game that works well with a controller either. As long as the devs remain dedicated though; it should be a great game down the line with a constant six-figure player count but the priority has to be getting the PC version to market complete before anything else can be considered.

Damn, reviews are slowly coming in and this game is pretty amazing it seems! Definitely will have to pick this up very soon indeed.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt PC The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64 Deus Ex PC Metal Gear Solid PS1 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 Top 5 doesn't really do it justice as there are so many other amazing games bursting to get in like Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Super Mario 64, Black Ops, San Andreas, PES5, The Last of Us, Skyrim, Vice City etc...

I was kind of expecting the PS4 Pro '2' and not the PS5 just get but this gen is already a bit of a mess with substantial specification disparity between the system models. The key is really that you are able to play the latest games to a respectable standard without the playerbases being split and I'm sure even all PS4 Pro users along with Xbox One S ones will still get another fair few years out of their systems. The original PS4 owners like myself may eventually not be able to run the latest 'PS4 range' compatible games or perhaps not to a decent standard but this generation is certainly not obsolete by a long shot. I think if a PS5 is on the way; that'll be nothing more than an industry knee-jerk reaction to the Scorpio and in the end both companies will have seemingly jumped the gun and priced people out of the market whilst blowing mass funding to produce these units to the extent; they might get sold at a loss down the line. It makes you wonder if Sony would be trying to get ahead of Microsoft and if the Scorpio is a entirely new console not part of the Xbox One range hence why it would be the PS5 and not some PS4 variant like the Pro '2'. Bear in mind though this analyist simply predicted Sony would release a new console after the Slim and I think even I 'predicted' that despite it being virtually a gimme and that don't make me no industry expert!

Bought the game again and I've had some degree of fun but fuck me the EU servers are total and utter dogshit! Typcially just when I'm doing well or having a blinder; the server crashes or I get screwed over by some bullshit circumstance. I was on a 5 kill streak and cruising and the server just crashed and I didn't even get any points or stats saved for that which was bloody frustrating. Best and most shocking tip is to actually play on NA servers - I gave this a try yesterday as it couldn't get much worse with all the issues on the EU ones and to my surprise, the match was flawless with no rubberbanding, no lag, great hit detection and an improved FPS. I hope this wasn't an isolated bit of good fortune as I'd very much like to continue playing on these again with consistent quality. Also made a welcome change not having some screaming French or German user talking shite down the mic before the drop!

I'm a big fan of Bethesda and Arkane who made the excellent Dishonored 2 but I'm not 100% sold on this yet for some reason so I'm gonna sit back and wait for the reviews to come in first. I've seen a lot of gameplay but still can't decide if it's a really intriguing title or an underwhelming shooter. Love some of the gadgets and the atmosphere but the enemies and enviorments look a bit bland and repetitive. I'm eager for something to the tune of Bioshock and I hope this is it though.