Medal of Honor: Warfighter Review

Posted by Reggie on

Medal-of-Honor-Warfighter-Preacher

Medal of Honor made their return in 2010 and hit the ground running with the other big names in FPS games.  Warfighter is the direct sequel to that 2010 game as Danger Close and EA attempt to keep pace with the other big shooters.  As ever with this genre at present it can go one of 3 ways; most commonly it is just another fps, it’s fun, it lacks story, but the mechanics and online play bring home the bacon.  It could also have blown the roof off and given gamers an fps with some depth for a change, or lastly it could have fallen flat on its face.

The graphics of the game start out looking well, everything is up to date, but when the cinematics start rolling in and we see some “higher quality” animation, we see the devs really have issues with animating females.  The two grown women have square jaws and terrible proportions, and worse than that is the little girl who just looks plain strange.  It wouldn’t be so bad in a game with a worse average in graphic quality, but the males all look amazing, the renders are smooth and the surface details are sharp, hold that up against their female character models and the stand out like a high school girl’s pimple at prom.

The last Medal of Honor game had great mechanics, so good in fact it even had me playing death matches online, which COD barely manages to do; unfortunately they have altered them.  They have introduced a new cover system, which has to be utilised in order to survive.  When the player ducks behind cover they have to press a trigger and a direction to lean out.  Immediately this results in limited perspective in terms of what is going on outside of cover, and putting one’s head out will get it blown off very quickly.  They could chalk this up on the “realism” side of the table which would be fine, they are trying to paint a more accurate picture of war after all, but that isn’t the only problem with it.  If the player is trying to snipe from cover, they already have a shoulder button and direction held to lean out, they now have to click in an analogue stick to steady their breathing and reduce sway, and then of course pull the trigger.  That’s a lot of buttons just to perform the fundamental action of an fps: shooting.  On top of this the lean function itself operates very poorly, frequently I was attempting to lean out and yet found myself still looking at the wall, leaning over cover works fine but trying to lean out sideways or diagonally sticks constantly.

Breaching used to be a good pace changer, but in Warfighter they have introduced a gimmick where for each successful 4 headshots you make in a breach you are rewarded with another type of breach.  This starts off kicking the door down and goes through hacking off the knob with an axe, blasting it off with a shotgun and various types of explosives, and ultimately, feels totally unnecessary.  You don’t get any bonus effects from using the final charge when compared to kick and flash bang, it is exactly the same.  It just feels like the devs were trying to show off how many ways one can open a door.

There are no customisation options on weapons, you get a standard load out and can pick up basic enemy weapons but that is really it, there a handful of sniper sections thrown in but you don’t get to play around with any weapon types.

There are two driving levels thrown in which drag on for far longer than they need to, and which possess just one good quality, in that it gives the player a break from dealing with the cover system for a level.  The final part of the second driving level is comparable to pac-man; the player gets a mini map and can coloured dots travelling around it with a field of vision cone and the player has the navigate the grid undetected.

It doesn’t let up.  Medal of Honor: Warfighter has an absolutely terrible story.  It is completely devoid of interest and as usual with FPS games just feels like the player is being zapped to different parts of the world to kill people.  They try to jump around in time, introduce the main protagonists wives as secondary characters and so on, but it totally fails to create empathy, or even interest, and at what should be a crucial emotional point in the story is just empty.  Following that point is the one redeemable part of the game, when the player takes control of a captured soldier as he attempts to escape being tortured.  Even that is limited however, since though the player does technically have to stealth, the enemies are all conveniently fixed with their backs to you.

So I think it’s safe to say it was the third outcome, Medal of Honor: Warfighter falls flat on its face just one sequel after the reboot.  A series that held real promise when it returned may well crash off the radar again after this performance.  The highlight of the game for me was the Linkin Park song over the end credits.  There are hundreds of other FPS games available, not in the least COD Black Ops 2.  Don’t waste your time with this one.

4/10

Dishonored Review

Posted by Reggie on

Dishonored is the recent title from Bethesda, complete with massive amounts of pre-release hype, expensive marketing campaigns, and ambition to satisfy the market’s cry for some fresh new IPs that are actually worth playing.  If Dishonored lived up to this, it would indeed be a game for the Christmas list, but is it?

Starting with the games appearance, the graphics have taken a different style from Bethesda’s usual; the characters all have a cartoonish essence, which is one tick for originality at least.  The kills are all very animated and everything looks smart.

The environments aren’t exactly varied, but they are well designed for a very wide multitude of paths through a level.  Ground and tunnels are always commonly designed in, but level boundaries in most games make the level of rooftop travel quite restrained.  Dishonored quite effectively however lets you blink from roof top, to lamp post, to thin drain pipe, as long as there is enough room to plant your feet, it is generally accessible.

Dishonored is a first person game that functions primarily on stealth.  Each level provides the player with a number of paths to choose from; one could sneak across the ground using cover, possess a small animal to use small tunnels, or blink (teleport) across roof tops.

You get some Bioshock-esque powers to use, blink and possession included, the player can also see through walls, summon a swarm of rats or slow/stop time.  These are all very well utilised, some have obvious benefits to a stealth scenario and possession can be applied to humans at a later stage for obvious benefits.  Stop time is perhaps the most entertaining in that the player can run around pulling ammunition and grenades out of the air to redirect them at the enemies.

The weapons are fairly standard issue, a pistol and hand crossbow with a variety of ammunition types, and a sword that resembles a large switch blade.  The player can also make use of grenades and an exploding trap.  Between the weapons and the powers the player can easily become a truly deadly assassin.

Which is where the main problem of the game lays: the player is punished for killing.  All the interesting powers, assassination styles, traps and combat system that make the game entertaining to play, are to be completely avoided if you want to get the best ending.  In fact there are achievements for not killing anybody, not purchasing any powers, and not being seen at all.  When Deus Ex toted similar achievements, the stealth aspect of the game made that totally fine, the player could stealth and still have fun (although it would be far less challenging fun.) In Dishonored all the fun there is, is in using the powers and assassinating people, yet doing so will cause the mass production of weepers (basically zombies) and weird spitting plants, and an all together darker world in the end.

The story is uninteresting; the player is only ever really given one goal and besides one moment near the end nothing surprising or interesting happens.  The characters are all completely flat, they aren’t even successful stereotypes.  One rich guy, one leader guy, one mad scientist guy, and one guy you rescue early in who doesn’t even have that level of personality.  If you aren’t patient and you don’t enjoy taking time to work out how best to sneak through an area, don’t expect the story to carry the game to the end.

There is the odd side quest dotted around, but doing them will generally involve killing someone so you’ll want to avoid those too.  There are also tons of collectables for the player to find and obtain, some of which are runes which are used to purchase powers and upgrades, and then there are also bone charms which provide minor bonus effects.  Getting all of these if you are trying for the best ending however is just going to add to your chances of being detected since obvious they are hidden well off the beaten path.

If you don’t mind leaving the world burning in your wake then you’ll likely have some fun with Dishonored, if you want to see the good ending or get the achievements you had better have plenty of patience if you want to attempt this.  As a first person stealth game the gameplay functions well, if you like finding the hidden paths through a level you’ll likely enjoy this.  I however lacked the patience to reload so frequently as I tried different paths, and so before very long, despite my moral compass, became a cold hearted killer and sod the world and the consequences.  With such an uninspired story and characters I wouldn’t recommend the game to everybody, since despite the many paths through the levels stealth is always key.  The game quite expectedly did not live up to the pre-release hype; there is just one dimension to the game and so unless the player has a particular taste for that style, there isn’t much enjoyment to be had.

6/10

Assassin’s Creed 3 Review

Posted by Reggie on

Assassin’s Creed 3 is actually the fifth in the series; a series which has consistently improved over the years, each time coming up with some new feature or gameplay.  What started out as quite a basic platformer in the early days of the PlayStation 3, is now a masterpiece of stealth, assassination and action with some of the best combat mechanics around, and always incredibly interesting story.

Historical fiction has been around for years in novel format, but Assassin’s Creed is one of the few transitions of this to video games and it works every bit as well as it does in novels.  Ubisoft take a popular piece of history such as the renaissance, or in this instance the American War for Independence, create a fictional character, and weave the events of that character around that of the characters that actually existed in reality.

The American War for Independence is probably the most well-known piece of history Ubisoft have used to date, particularly in America (obviously.) The trick with Historical fiction is to create a world from facts, which naturally results in the most realistic and believable world possible, because it actually existed, and this in turn provides the reader/player with a world and character they can truly believe in.  In addition to taking real characters and entwining them in the Assassins versus Templars plot, they also included a lot of lore for the players with a real interest for history, and Assassin’s Creed 3 probably has the biggest collection of lore in the series to date as well, no doubt because the records were far easier to come by than they were when they were writing the crusades part of the story.

So you know the world is interesting, but is it fun?  Yes.  Assassin’s Creed has always had a remarkable combat system, and that continues here.  Connor has a new trademark weapon; the tomahawk, as well as some new inventions, you know like…guns, which bring yet another new experience for the action gamers.  The combat system is as fluid as ever, with plenty of variety in weapons and kill moves, from running assassinations with muskets (spit roast achievement) to multiple counter attacks, as Connor dances around several enemies making them shoot and stab each other while he just plants the final killing blow.

The platforming is also taken to a whole new level, as now, that fluid parkour that was used to effortlessly traverse numerous rooftops, has now been applied to trees and rock faces.  There is something very fresh about the old successful mechanics of the previous games applied to tree running (forget free running) as by just holding down a button and pushing forward Connor traverses the trees in a manner monkeys would be envious of.

In addition to these improved animus features, Assassin’s Creed 3 also has some present day gameplay! With Desmond! And I don’t mean just walking and talking, or interacting with uninteresting platforming puzzles, Desmond actually gets levels outside the animus.  We’re talking combat without counter prompts, routes not mapped out on the HUD; I for one have been waiting since the very first game for this moment.

Conventional mini games are still present.  There are several period games to gamble on; one very close to draughts, bowls, and another more complicated board game.  The assassin assignments, in which the player sends away trainee assassins on missions to level them up and make money are still present, though downsized from the days of AC Brotherhood.

The player can now collect, craft and trade at the most interactive “home” in any of the Assassin’s Creed games so far.  The Homestead, which Connor gets control of, has a great many side missions to recruit men and women of varying trades to come and live and work on the land, which in turn allows the player to collect resources to craft and trade.  This is where most of the equipment upgrades come from, such as pouch size increases, but there are also craftable weapons and inventions to populate the house.  In terms of the trading, the player can send either raw materials or crafted ones to the various cities (unlocked and secured through the assassin assignments) to make profit, and much needed money, particularly if you want to upgrade your ship fully.

Which leads us to the newest gameplay feature, and possibly one of the best additional “mini games” since Blitzball in Final Fantasy X.  Ubisoft ditched the underused RTS mini game of the previous game, and have instead delivered naval combat.  Once again this is great fun! There are plenty of missions to enjoy, a ship to upgrade, and a whole new game to learn.  How can facing down an armada, with kick ass music for ambience, in a single ship, while keeping away from the shallows and rocks, taking cover from crashing waves and cannon barrages, and of course pulverising the many boats with a variety of cannons, not be fun?  And that’s all before you board enemy ships for some good old fashioned swashbuckling.

On the note of kick ass music, it really is.  Assassin’s Creed 3 not only has an amazing sound track, but it is very well utilised in the various situations, be they combat, naval warfare, or chasing down a Templar, the music is always intense and impactful, and truly completes each action sequence.

The graphics are as usual impressive, and the game is 3D compatible, which allowed me to take out my glasses for the first time in months (I really didn’t need that battery stockpile.)  The environments are actually quite a bit different from the earlier entries of the story, since there is no longer the need for the high population of buildings.  Instead you can spend a great deal of time out in nature and the elements and the weather looks impressive as we see snow and rain.

The story itself is the longest the series has seen.  If the player does all the side missions and content the game can take 35 hours for first completion.  The story begins before Connor is even born, and has some excellent plot twists as the story progresses.  Connor himself the player takes control of from a very young age, learning to hunt in the wilds, and his actual assassin training takes a long time to develop, which it would, we are usually presented with a ready trained assassin.  Ezio granted wasn’t in AC2, but the player can feel Connor is much more the learner through the whole game than Ezio ever seemed to be.  This is only added to by the most flawed personality we have seen in a protagonist thus far in the series.  Connor is impulsive and hot tempered, quite the opposite of the nature required of being an assassin, and this makes Connor himself that much more believable as he comes to blows with just about everyone, and outside of his village in the invaded “New World,” his moral compass is truly taxed as you seem him the most out of place among “civilisation.”

Online mode naturally remains with the usual level system, and some new additions to the game types and maps.  One such notable addition is “Wolfpack mode” which is a four player co-op game to play online.

The game has a quite a few bugs, Connor gets stuck from time to time, not all side quests appear on the map which can make them very difficult to find and complete, and sometimes the next piece of your mission just fails to load.  This would be annoying in a game of smaller scale or that was less entertaining, but as numerous as the bugs may be, they totally fail to in any way damage the gameplay experience.

Assassin’s Creed 3 might just be my game of the year.  Ubisoft have once again pulled some incredible innovation out of the bag and yet again! Improved on the incredibly successful Assassin’s Creed formula.  The increased length may not be everyone’s thing, but I couldn’t get enough of the newest and best entrant of the Assassin’s Creed series so far.  There are a large number of side quests, particularly at the start, which do unfortunately overbalance against the main story quests, and for a casual player may cause them to lose track of what they were doing at the last point in the main story, but the side quests and challenges are of course entirely optional, and you could always play the story first and then do the side content afterwards.  This game is not only essential for anyone who has played a game of the series before, but anybody who likes action games, Assassin’s Creed 3 is an incredible game.

9.5/10