Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is possibly one of the most progressive games so far when it comes to next-gen releases. The prologue to the long awaited Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain acts as an introduction to an all new form of Metal Gear, letting you play through things how you please, releasing a lot of the rigidity form previous games in the Metal Gear series where you're set an objective and follow it to progress with the story. Of course it still has the ground breaking story Hideo Kojima has been bringing us for almost 30 years now, but you have a bit more freedom with this new Metal Gear and can progress with the story however you see fit; whether that be filled with intense firefights and extraction under heavy fire or a stealthy approach, sneaking around, knocking guards out with CQC and tranquillisers. Whichever way you decide to play this Metal Gear, you'll truly love it and will appreciate the work thats been put into this title from Kojima Productions.

Snake Enjoying A Cigar In The Chopper On The Title Screen

Kojima Productions developed an entire new engine for the new Metal Gear Solid, the Fox Engine. This new engine is truly something quite special, in fact it is so spectacular that the games cutscenes and trailer are all made completely out of gameplay footage. Every year we get CGI (Computer Generated Imaging) trailers that make games look absolutely superb and we all get excited for them and think wow this is going to be beyond amazing! Yet the game comes out and doesn't look half as good... With the new Metal Gear, that's a thing of the past as all the trailers we saw were in fact game footage! No CGI whatsoever and the game it self hasn't let us down one bit! The entire game looks like one of those 'wow' CGI trailers and the cutscenes flow into the gameplay with no breaks whatsoever, almost like an interactive movie.

Snake Gazing Down Into Camp Omega (Guantanamo Bay) During Extraction

The new engine has improved gameplay by leaps and bound also (quite literally). Snake can now jump from objects, rooftops etc. Drive vehicles, dive, hang, vault. You name it and Snake can pretty much do it in this new Metal Gear. 

Snake Taking In The View From A Rooftop

Snake moves in such a lifelike way too and the facial capture Hideo Kojima has been speaking about for the past couple years to empathise emotions within the characters just adds to the realism 100%. Not only that but the voice acting of the game is truly passionate and believable. For instance, when you rescue a prisoner from Camp Omega, their voice trembles, they sound exhausted and confused.

Rescuing One Of Camp Omega's Inmates

The new Metal Gear Solid really impresses and I personally cannot wait for the full game that is The Phantom Pain to be released. The Metal Gear story will finally come to an end with Big Boss' final decent where "men become demons" in 'Outer Heaven'. Ground Zeroes overall is as fun as you make it due to the freedom of this new Metal Gear, the lifespan of the game is quite short however due to it only being a prologue and an introduction to The Phantom Pain. 

Inside Camp Omega

The visuals, gameplay and story are all very impressive so overall I'd give Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes a 10/10. Bravo to Hideo Kojima and his team at Kojima Productions, truly amazing work as always!

Snake Sitting In The Chopper

Finally, here's the E3 2014 trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain!
Enjoy!

Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag

The latest instalment of the Assassin's Creed series lands us in the Caribbean Sea playing as Edward Kenway, the father of Haytham Kenway who we played as briefly in Assassin's creed III. There's a slight twist to the story of this Assassin's Creed however, that being, for the majority of the game you're not even an Assassin, you're in fact a merciless pirate with a bunch of cutthroats for a crew.

The 'Jackdaw' - Captain Kenway's Ship

Assassin's Creed IV is visually the most impressive Assassin's Creed to date, which is of course expected with progression and the title being released on next-fen consoles etc. Yet this AC seems to go above and beyond, the lighting, colours, textures are so beautiful! The sea of the Caribbean is the most lovely shade of blue and shimmers in all its glory under the scorching sun. The beaches look as if they're paved with gold and the jungles are the most vibrant and exotic colours I've seen to date in any game. If you've ever wondered or dreamed of laying on a beach in the Caribbean or dreamt of exploring desert islands, the beauty of them in your imagination will seem like a dull, boring canvas compared to this games visuals!

Kenway Gazing Into Kingston Town

Overlooking The 'Jackdaw' A Top A Church Spire In Kingston

The gameplay of the new AC feels very smooth and fluid like. The characters move so realistically, the facial expressions are perfect and fitting for pretty much every scene! Board a ship and you'll see the anger and fear in the eyes of your men and the enemy, loose a friend and you'll see the emotion in Kenway's face. The attention to detail is very impressive.

Combat is as good as ever in the AC series, intelligent AI's try to surround you and you pretty much survive through counter attacks which have some brutal animations yet are very satisfying to watch. The naval combat has been improved by leaps and bounds since AC III which was obviously a necessity due to AC IV being set during the golden age of piracy and your character fighting alongside the fearsome Blackbeard for a majority of the game. The depth of customisation regarding your ship is also quite impressive too whereas character customisation is pretty much the same old same old. You can also hunt for whales, sharks and other sea creatures now which is a new feature involving harpooning and a small rowboat. The pirate experience of the 18th Century truly does feel authentic in the new AC.

At The Wheel Of The 'Jackdaw'

Capturing A White Whale After Harpooning It

Overall i'd say the newest instalment of the AC franchise is one of the best yet. It boasts amazing graphics, an intriguing, fresh and unique story to perk up the series and great gameplay mechanics with tons of new feature that really do feel like a breath of fresh air regarding the repetition of other AC games. I'd give this Assassin's Creed a 9/10 and a huge round of applause to Ubisoft for such stunning work! You can see a lot of time and effort has gone into this AC and it has certainly paid off.

Kenway Deep In The Jungle Of One Of The Caribbean's Many Islands You Can Explore 

Overlooking The 'Jackdaw' In The Midst Of A Tropical Storm

 

Wolfenstein: The New Order

In 2 words; Absolutely Amazing.

Bethesda and Machine Games' Wolfenstein: The New Order truly blew me away! I can honestly say that I haven't enjoyed a game in the way that I enjoyed Wolfenstein in a very very long time. 

So what would happen if the Nazi's won the war? Well you certainly find out in Wolfenstein. The game uses the war, the Wolfenstein franchise and the Nazi's rich history in all it's glory and  doesn't falter on holding back with the more tender issues either. You find yourself in DeathsHead's (the main antagonist) Nazi experimental chamber within the first half hour of the game and it definitely demonstrates the Nazi's atrocities when it comes to human experimentation.

The Antagonist Himself 'DeathsHead'

 You also find yourself in a concentration camp at a later point in the game on an infiltration mission as a prisoner which exposes you to some pretty raw material involving the SS, abuse, incinerators and a pretty ruthless Nazi called 'The Knife' who introduces you to a quite brutal torture scene. The team behind Wolfenstein definitely did their homework on the Nazi's crimes.

SS Doctor - 'The Knife'

Prisoners Being Disposed Of In The Incinerators

The gameplay in Wolfenstein is very unique in my opinion, it pretty much turns the game into two games with very very clever and well planned mission layouts. In every mission, if you look hard enough there are various routes for a stealthy approach which can make life a lot easier using suppressed weapons or taking down Nazi's with the overly satisfying melee animations.

Sneaky Sneaky

On the other hand you can just march straight in with a duel-weilded arsenal and take on the Third-Reich guns blazing which I really wouldn't recommend on the harder difficulties as you most definitely will come out worse for wear!

Scaling The Wall Of DeathsHead's Compound 

 The visuals in Wolfenstein are quite impressive too! Admittedly they aren't the best graphics I've ever seen in a game, especially on the next-gen consoles yet they're beautiful in they're own way! Every texture is smooth and the attention to detail on the locations, characters and weapons is truly superb. The developers vision of a post-war Nazi world and moon really do come to life and there really is some unique creativity unlike any other in this game.

Nazi Occupied London

I Think I Can See My House From Here!

Overall, however you decide to play Wolfenstein: The New Order it is truly a really fun game with great visuals, amazing gameplay, a great story and a rich history! Easily a 10/10! Bravo Bethesda and Machine Games!

Destiny First Look Alpha Review

For my first post, as I was lucky enough to get access to an Alpha version thanks to Sony I thought I'd do one of the games set to be one of the greatest releases this year; Destiny.

Now Bungie's first effort for the Playstation is impressive at a glance, the visuals are sharp and the environment boasts some interesting architecture. The Alpha leaves you intrigued, wanting to know more about the story and what exactly has happened in the baron wastelands of Old Earth. It gave an impression of a toned down Borderlands with Skyrim's exploration aspects in a way as you're really quite free to do whatever you like yet you it lacks the fun and excitement! Developer's seem to forget games are meant to be fun these days and thus Destiny seemed quite bland. In regards to it reminding me of Skyrim, there were many caverns and underground lairs you could explore full of quite strange enemies that had quite a basic A.I if I'm to be honest, you'd go in, they'd attack, you'd walk around a corner and it'd almost be as if you disappeared of the face of the Earth! The enemy would simply retreat back to where you found them and be back on guard duty waiting for the next explorer to wander in.

Destiny seemed to have quite a cool customisable system, when you begin a new game you choose what sort of character you want to be, name it etc. Once you complete a few missions you can then also buy, earn and unlock new armour, weapons, spaceships and powers. The game also included a levelling system which didn't seem to unlock anything upon levelling up but allowed you to use new items which you could only use once you reached the required level. 

All in all, Bungie's Destiny has the potential to be a great game with stunning visuals, decent gameplay mechanics and a unique setting. From what I've seen of the Alpha stages I really do hope they add in a few extra features to spice it up a bit as at the moment, it just feels a tad dull and lacks a spark of excitement to really set it off. Hopefully it won't turn out to be just another free roam sandbox game that leaves you wandering for hours pointlessly. In it's Alpha stage I'd give it a 7/10 with great potential to easily become a 9 or even a 10.