Fallout 4: Review – Where does it end?

Depth and imagination bring the world of Fallout 4 to life.  It’s large and well planned environment, and amazing amounts of customization out weigh the many minor issues you may find in your journey across the wasteland of Boston.

Time for a shave!

The Good:

Fallout 4 feels enormous.  Not just in the generous map size, but in the sheer amount of things you can do throughout the wasteland.  It would be quite easy for you to simply go out and explore, and never do any quests at all and still feel quite accomplished in your chosen path.

After customizing either your male, or female character, you get a short prelude into the world that was.  It’s high tech, high tension cold war atmosphere filled with advanced tech, but still locked in a 50’s style environment is a ton  of fun.  Every character in the game is also fully voiced, regardless of their importance.  They will even try to say your chosen name so long as it’s recognized by the game.

It’s not long before everything goes downhill and you are thrust into a nuclear destroyed future, alone, confused and missing your young son who is stolen away from you by raiders.  From here it’s up to you to decide what you want to do.  Whether you follow the story, do some random quests, or simply ignore all story and just start shooting things, there is always something to do in Fallout 4.

The main story will push you to go and find your lost son, finding clues and new friends along the way.  These friends will join you on your adventures if you choose, and have a few benefits.  Alongside the extra fire power, each companion you find will also add unique skills, and a perk once your relationship is solid enough.  For instance if you’ve chosen to ignore increasing your lock-picking skill, Cait is a great companion to have around as she can open up locked chests and doors for you.  Your loyal dog Dogmeat is able to hold down enemies to give you time to use your V.A.T.S. targeting system to target individual limbs on your enemies.

Shoot it in it’s face!!

If you’ve played Fallout 3, then combat will be familiar to you, but the combat is based around similar FPS games, so new comers should fit right in easily.  Combat can be approached in several ways, either through stealth, melee, or taking advantage of your V.A.T.S. to target enemies.  V.A.T.S. allows you to slow down time and individually target enemies and limbs to cripple them, or engage in gruesome slow motion kills as body parts explode off of your enemies.  It’s a huge amount of fun and the fact that time sill continues as you target takes away the feel of invincibility you got in Fallout 3 when time fully paused using this system.

The stealth systems are workable, but I never quite found it that much fun, as compared to just running in guns hot and firing away, or using V.A.T.S. to slow time.  Either way fights are challenging, and you will die often if you take on enemies who are too high in level or too numerous.

As you embark in battles and exploration, you will scour the corpses and environments for scrap and salvage, along with weapons and armor.  Scavenging in the wasteland is of dire importance in Fallout 4.  Early in the game it’s an absolute necessity.  Salvaged items can be either consumed if edible, or broken down to their components and can then be used in crafting.

So many things to tinker with.

You will spend a huge amount of time crafting and building in Fallout 4.  Every piece of weaponry and armor you collect can be customized.  This adds a great deal of depth to combat as you can build equipment to suit your every need, or your play-style.

To be very successful in Fallout 4 you will also have to build up various settlements throughout the world.  These settlements are unlocked early in the game and you can acquire more by completing quests in the areas surrounding farms, or other central locations to align yourself with the settlers there.  Once allied with them, you’ll have to take time to build them up and protect them so that they grow larger, and help you with your resource collection.  This is a great added feature to the game, and allows you to add your mark to the desolate wasteland.

Every action in Fallout 4 gains you experience.  Whether you’d like to do all the quests, kill all the enemies, or simply spend your time building up settlements, you’ll continue to earn experience and level up.

 

The Bad:

Though there is a ton of things to do in Fallout 4, outside of quests, there is very little information about what you need to do.  As you explore, your quest log will load up quickly, and though each quest is searchable on the map, it’s sometimes hard to distinguish which ones are side quests, or part of the main story line.  If you are someone who want’s to power through the main story line, you’ll have to keep track of which quests you need to do next to do so.

There’s also very little explanation of some of the concepts of the game.  For insatance as you build up your colonies, there is no mention about how to link the resources for each of these sites together.  I personally only found out how to do it by watching a friend play the game, and had been missing out on having all of my resources connected to make building up settlements faster.

As you find new companions throughout the game, it becomes increasingly hard to keep them organised.  There doesn’t seem to be any utility to tell you where your people are unless you keep a list of where you’ve sent them.  I for instance have no idea where I left my dog and have to search through more than a dozen settlements to find if I want him to accompany me on a quest.  Also, beyond the first few times with a new companion, you may not know what their particular perks will help you with.

Finally a reason to go get my armor!

Power armor is available in the game, and gives you extra strength and endurance, but it became rare late in the game where I felt I needed to use it.  I seldom felt like taking the time to go all the way back through a couple of loading screens to collect my armor to come back and fight a tough enemy or boss.

When it comes to the main story, there is little urgency in completing it, and considering it’s your son you’re looking for, my character never really seemed that concerned about finding  him.  Although I understand that Bethesda wants you to play the game however you like, it seems strange that my character doesn’t really care if I spend weeks building up a settlement while unknown fiends have run off with my only child.

 

The Ugly:

Unfortunately, like with most Bethesda product, Fallout 4 comes with a variety of graphical and gameplay glitches.  For the most part these glitches are minor and don’t effect the gameplay, and are often good for a laugh, but every once in awhile this is not the case.

In one case at my largest settlement, I decided to store my extra weapons inside a cupboard in a house.  When I returned one day to the settlement a cow had somehow found it’s way into the house, and was unable to fit through the door, essentially blocking me from accessing my inventory.  Even after exiting the game and coming back, the cow was still there, mocking me.

Man, I hope he’s house trained…

Other occasions found me getting stuck in the environment during massive fire fights, resulting in my untimely death.  Other combat issues like feral ghouls launching at you, and passing through your body to the other side, resulting in you having to quickly twitch around in order to hit them, or aiming straight down to make impact with them.

These along with various other clipping issues, and weird graphical issues throughout my experience made me occasionally want to rage quit the game when things didn’t go my way.

In the end:

Fallout 4 has a lot going for it.  There are countless things to do and see.  The environment is large and beautiful and whoever designed the map should earn an award. The open world, and customization choices mean you can play Fallout 4 however you like.  There are no rules or obligations for you to play any particular way, or even complete quests to have fun.  Adversely, with such a rich story and history, it’s unfortunate the game doesn’t really push you to want to complete the main quests and discover the mysteries of the wasteland.  This, along with a variety of glitches and exploits mean that Fallout 4 is far from perfect, but it’s rare that these issues will interfere with you having a blast blowing limbs off of super mutants or raiders the like.  The sheer amount of funny, awesome and interesting things to find and do have stopped me just before rage quitting from some silly glitch more than once.  Fallout 4 is definitely a great addition to the franchise and I am sure to spend many more hours in the wastelands of Boston.

As always, thanks for reading and make sure to like and comment below, and let me know what you thought of Fallout 4.  Follow me on Twitter @micbemac88.

Get the game here!

Game of Thrones Episode 6: Was That a Thud I Heard?

Game of Thrones Episode 6: The Ice Dragon is the climatic ending to season one of TellTale’s episodic adventure.  With it comes a lot of loose ends, a whole lot of blood, but not particularly that much storytelling to go along with all the choices you’ve made in the previous 5 episodes.

Reader beware, after this point there will be some spoilers for the lead up to episode 6

Conclusions for our characters are what we would expect fora  season finale, but it’s not necessarily what we get here.  Only one character through my play-through actually had a real ending to their story, and that was for Mira Forester who’s story I never really connected with until episode 5.

Hmm, I choose you!

Her political dealings in the capital only really become interesting so late in the story, that the abrupt possible conclusions for her story didn’t hold much impact for me in the end, and I really could have gone either way on my final choices.  There didn’t seem to be any good way to end her story, though the last second portrayal of her true nemesis in the story was well done, and unexpected.

To the north, Garred finally discovers the North Grove.  After so much time spent talking about it, and what it is, I was really looking forward to finding out more about it’s secrets.  Unfortunately episode 6 failed to deliver in that regard, and although we do get one small secret revealed, we really learn nothing about why the North Grove is so important that we would risk so much to find it and keep it safe.  We are left here with a pretty gruesome life or death choice, but the impact feels empty without the secret of the grove’s importance being revealed.

When have I been wrong?

Meanwhile in Ironrath we get to experience the more dynamic of all the endings.  Your choice of who to save at the end of episode 5 creates great contrast in what you can do to try and save the Forester family.  Though most of our choices end up in vile bloodshed and much life lost, we still don’t really get a full conclusion here.  There are many loose strings left hanging with the hopes that TellTale is working on an yet unconfirmed season 2 to help answer some of these questions.

This place has seen better days.

In the end Game of Thrones from TellTale is left wanting.  It feels like there is still another episode of content that didn’t get that would help answer our questions and give us more of a conclusion.  Season 2 is yet to be confirmed, so it seems kind of unfair to the player to leave so many loose ends to chase.  With all that does happen in this episode, and with the overall dark sense of the story, it’s also somewhat disappointing that it doesn’t feel like you really have any way to feel like you got a win in any of the possible endings.  Each choice ends up either terribly, or terribly gray and it would be nice to at least have one character come out of 6 episodes of game-play in a better position than where you started.  Though I still enjoyed my play-through I feel somewhat empty with it’s results.

As always, thank for reading and be sure to share and comment below.  Let me know what choices you made in your game and how it ended.

You can find my reviews for all of Game of Thrones episodes here or use the links below.

• Episode 1
• Episode 2
• Episode 3
• Episode 4
• Episode 5

Called it! : Life is Strange Episode 5 – Review

Though still a very emotional and gripping story, Life is Strange Episode 5 falls for familiar tropes of time traveling Sci-Fi stories.  The end episode of the series brings Max Caulfield’s story full circle with an emotionally gripping, if predictable finale.  

Beware spoilers to follow!

When we left Max in episode 4, Chloe was dead, again, and Mr. Jefferson had been revealed as the big bad.  Both of these were predictable outcomes from the foreshadowing of earlier episodes.  I was disappointed with this “surprise” in episode 4, and I was disappointed even more by Jefferson’s total switch to psychopath here.  The man basically becomes an evil cartoon villain with his heightened expressions and full 180 degree switch in behaviors.  I was hoping to see a more layered villain, and not somebody off of the show Gotham.

What follows this opening scene is a series of time hops, and trial and error as Max tries to figure out how fix everything and make sure everyone survives as well.  The usual rewind, try again approach that we’ve seen in previous episodes is here.  We again lack anything new to try out early in the game  or get any complexity added to our powers.

Look into my eyes!

After this initial escape scene, Max goes about her day of messing around with time, after seemingly learning nothing about messing with time before.  What follows is a series of faux-endings as you jump back through time over and over to try and piece together the puzzle of how to stop Jefferson and save everyone else.  The episode does it’s best to talk about fate and destiny without ever mentioning the words themselves.

Here Life is Strange does a good job of first pulling the strings on all your hard thought of choices, then giving you the happy ending you thought you wanted, only to pull that away too.  The lead in into a trippy, paradoxical world of endless hallways, and Walt Disney like light up animatronic displays of all your choices once certainly and interesting way to go.  It did a good job of literally highlighting your experience through the story, as well as feeding both the guild Max feels for her choices, as well as adding emotion to the game’s final choice.

An everyday hero.

Unfortunately, I found that this final choice was where Life Is Strange faltered the most.  Though both choices available to you at the end play well emotionally after all the time spent with the two main characters, it feels like there was missed opportunity to go somewhere new here.  And yes, as the title of the review says, I wasn’t surprised with the choices at the end.  Either learn to live and die with your choices, or let fate and destiny do their thing and sort life out for you.

Overall, Life is Strange Episode 5 presented an emotionally gripping finale to Max Caulfield’s, and Chloe’s story.  This emotional connection was well built up and established throughout the story and the episode, and mostly makes up for the fairly obvious plot taking place in the background.  Choices made through the earlier episodes unfortunately make little difference here and weigh little into your final choice.  In the end it would have been nice to see something slightly more original done with this story and it’s characters, but it is still very rewarding to play through Life is Strange and experience the powerful emotional connection of two friends, destined to make an impact on you regardless of your choices.

No caption required

As always, thanks for reading, and be sure to share your experience with Life is Strange Episode 5 in the comments below, and make sure to share!

 

Review: The Silent Age

Average guy named Joe, meet the apocalypse!  The Silent Age, originally released for mobile, and now available on PC, is a story driven point and click adventure where it’s up to you to save all humanity.  Shouldn’t be too difficult for a run of the mill janitor who just happens to show up at the right place and the right time.

Okay Doc Brown

Being at the right place and time is the core of the story of The Silent Age.  In fact it’s also key to the game-play itself.  Starting on a an average day in the life of Joe, a janitor for a large tech manufacturer, his life is suddenly changed when he’s given the responsibilities of his former fellow employee, who mysteriously quit.  After gaining access to new areas in the Archon building, Joe quickly discovers strange things going on throughout the building.  These discoveries soon lead him to an old, mysterious man dying from a gunshot wound.

This encounter quickly leads Joe on a quest to save the world, as the old man describes the end of days, and tasks Joe to save all humanity.  His only tool to do so, a small device that sends him into the future of 2012 where humanity is dead, and the world is a strange, barren place.

This quick encounter sets you up to explore both the present and future in order to solve various puzzles along the way.  The game play is simple, click to move back and forth through each area, finding useful items scattered around to help you solve the various puzzles.  Most of these puzzles will require you using the time device to shift from the intact 1972 to the desolate, falling apart future of 2012.

The story weighs heavily on our hero

Most of these puzzles are really clever, and need a bit of thought to get around.  Though you’ll rarely get stuck it may still take you some time to figure out the right sequence of items, how to use them and in which time period to do so.  There are also various secrets to find along the way.  though you can still save the world without discovering everything, it’s still fun to uncover these tiny bits of the story as in whole they add quite a bit to the experience.

During your adventure, you’ll get a chance to interact with a few other characters.  Each character has a bit of back story with them for you discover, and generally feel like real people.  All of these characters are also fully voiced which makes them feel even more unique.  The voice acting throughout is pretty solid and you’ll likely sit back to enjoy each of these scenes as they play out.

Well it is the 70’s afterall

The real jewel to find here, is the exploration of character.  Joe is a regular guy, caught up in things far beyond both his control and his understanding.  As he works to help humanity avoid it’s downfall, he grows from this simple man to a man willing to sacrifice everything to see it through.  This level of depth of character is quite amazing for a game that can be completed in under 4 hours.  It’s a credit to the writers for taking us on the tale.

The subplot to this main story, is classic sci-fi fare, tales of man overreaching his limits.  Going to far to fast, and causing destruction among himself, always for the greater good they’ll say.  Though it’s a well used story, and has been seen often, it’s still true, and there’s enough connection here with Joe to overlook this somewhat overused idea.

I barely knew him, no really, I didn’t.

Though the conventions in The Silent Age are not new, the blend of story, character and overall charm make it stand out among other similar point and click adventures.  This game is certainly worth checking out if you have a few hours to kill to explore humanity and its drive to destroy itself.

As always, thanks for reading and be sure to comment and like below and let me know what you thought of The Silent Age.

Check out another solid indie game with Cosmnautica. 

Rewind Review: Suikoden II

If you are at all a fan of classic PlayStation one RPG’s then you already will know a good deal about Suikoden II.  Suikoden II was one of the standout RPG’s of it’s generation, and still holds out today as one of the best ever.  Released to the North American audience back in 1999, this classic game mixes RPG elements with simple, large scale tactical battles.  With over 100 playable characters it offers an entirely unique variety of game play for the genre.

Early game over?

The story takes place primarily in two lands of Highland and Jowston as the two primary lead characters in the game are caught up among a political plan to start a war between the two nations.  Separated early on in the story you begin your quest after meeting up with several characters from the first game, whom are now fighting against your former country.  This initial beginning sets you up as the future leader of an Alliance Army, fighting for your freedom, and the eventual meeting with a former friend who has now become your greatest nemesis.  The plot is full of twists, developments, and happenings throughout.  You’ll never be disappointed with the amount of effort put into the story side of Suikoden II.  Though fairly linear it’s solid and entertaining throughout.

Another major factor to the story is the amount of backstory each character has.  All 108 collectible and playable characters have some backstory.  Several of these characters were established in the original game, but the sequel adds literally dozen’s of new characters, each with their own style, background and motivations.  This sheer amount of story makes other RPG’s of its type pale in comparison.

Throughout the game you will meet more characters.  Many will join you on your quest after a short dialogue regardless of your actions, while others may require you to perform a task, or reach a certain level, or maybe recruit another character first prior to joining.  There are also several “hidden” characters whom can only be recruited through specific quests or at specific times in the game.  This adds an extra layer to game play as you try your best to collect each one.  Doing so has several benefits both in combat and out and it’s generally worth trying your best to do so.

Oh there’s more…

The primary game-play of Suikoden II revolves around a fairly straight forward, classic top down RPG style.  You explore your surroundings, talk and interact with people and items, and complete quests to move the story along.  Basic combat takes place on a pseudo-3d plane with up to six characters in your party.  Each character comes with a basic set of skills and magic to go along with their basic attacks.  Every character in the game also collects experience from battles and levels up, increasing their statistics and abilities.  During combat your characters can also work together to cast special spells and co-operative skills to inflict more damage on enemies, or result in special statuses.  This makes collecting new characters important not only for their mix of skills, but how those skills interact with others.

Later in the game you will also start taking place in large scale warfare, where armies battle each other on a field.  These armies are assigned a leader from your collected characters, as well as support characters who add a variety of skills, or statistical bonuses to each unit.  Though this part of the game has some tactics to it, it generally comes down to a Rock, Paper, Scissors feel as certain unit types generally just work better against others, though it’s still important to make sure you take advantage of the lay of the land in order to avoid those pairings going against you.

Your main character can also engage in one on one duels, which again come down to a Rock, Paper, Scissors effect, though you must guess what attack is coming next based off of what the attacking character says prior.

Eventually you will also build your own base of operations.  Here all of your collected characters will gather and you can speak with them.  Many characters you collect will also be very useful here as vendors, or craftsmen.  Some of these characters are not available for regular battles as well, but each one has his or her uses somewhere.  As characters level up they will gain new skills here as well, and the base can be upgraded.  There area also several mini games available here, with my favorite being the Iron Chef style food battle, where your chef’s will be challenged by others to make the best plates, depending on what items and ingredients you have been able to harvest during your regular questing.  This adds a great deal of flavor (pun intended), and humor to Suikoden II.

Visually Suikoden II is gorgeous for it’s era.  Each character and environment is hand drawn, and there a dozens of different animations.  Throughout the game characters move on the screen, even on the world map your hair flops around as you walk through the world.  In the battle screens both the characters and enemies are animated and highly detailed.  Magic and co-operative moves fill the screen with light and action, and it’s a fun just watching the going-ons on the screen.

The orchestral music also sets the tone of the game very well.  It’s one of the better soundtracks of the time.  Battle sequences feature faster beats and with the characters bouncing around and moving their stances it really helps you get into the tempo of each battle.

Flying Squirrel Girl is this your crew?

Suikoden II had a lot going for it.  The well thought out, twist filled story, and the massive amount of characters integrated with a variety of game-play elements made it truly unique.  It still stands the test of time, though it’s sequels became more and more disappointing.  Luckily you can still fairly easily play the original if you own a PsVita or PS3.  This is one of the very few games I would not mind seeing an update of, so long as it stuck to just the visual aspects of the game, and didn’t try to change basic game-play or story like many remakes tend to do these days.

As always, thanks for reading and be sure to check out the comments section below and let me know what you think of Suikoden II!

Check out last week’s Rewind Review too.

Early Access Review: The Bug Butcher

Do you like fast, addicting and extremely challenging arcade shooters like we had in the 80’s?  Then The Bug Butcher is definitely one to check out.  Currently available on Steam Early Access, The Bug Butcher is developed by the indie team at Awfully Nice Studios.

The Bug Butcher is a classic arcade style shoot up action game that challenges you to blow up bizarre alien bugs.  The developers have been putting a ton of work into the cartoon art style and terribly funny dialogue.

You first meet our hero as he arrives at a giant factory of sorts, where horrible alien space bugs have taken over the plant.  Running through the first few tutorial levels has you meet one of the factory workers, who appears to look a little like a talking Gameboy.  The dialogue and story are clever and funny, and the exposition provided by your guide is often scoffed about by the protagonist, due to it’s completely satirical nature.

These first few moments set you up for the initial extremely addicting gameplay.  Dropping you through one room at a time, you must fire your gun upwards as the alien bugs drop from the ceiling and other areas, and bounce around the screen.  Each bug has unique skills and properties and you have to adapt to each as they fall from above.  Killing them earns you coins, and a score multiplier to rack up the points after each kill.  Every level has three to four waves of creatures before you can proceed to the next level, and of course, there is a time limit applied that you must beat.  As you are only able to shoot straight up, and can’t jump, each shot has to be well timed as you avoid your bouncing enemies.

As the levels progress you’re given a variety of powerups to use, that either increase your speed, power of your gun or give you temporary new weapons that cause mass destruction across the screen. These weapons can range from homing rockets, to a powerful laser that disintegrates everything, a gatling gun that fires at a high rate but needs to be charged, or a electric gun that on a successful hit jumps to other foes.  After enough kills you’ll also gain a special attack with a variety of effects.  You can fire off more rockets, freeze everything on the screen, or even gain temporary invincibility and speed.  You’ll need to use them all if you’re going to survive the later levels.

Eww, slime. Gross.

Difficulty ramps up fast in The Bug Butcher.  Every level introduces new enemies.  Some are explained but others come out as a surprise and you’ll have to quickly react to their new abilities and patterns.  At some points there are so many different foes on the screen it becomes almost impossible to survive as you try to dodge and take out the most dangerous enemies first.  Gameplay is broken up even more with elevator levels that take away some of your weapon drops, or other levels with various moving platforms or force fields that redirect your enemies bouncing and can either be a boon or a burden depending on what  you are dealing with at each moment.

The soundtrack keeps up with the action throughout, and gets your blood flowing.  The up beat electronic music really brings me back to my retro roots, and hours spent at the arcade, or in similar games on late consoles.  The music really keeps you on pace and meshes well with the chaos on the screen.

And this is just the first zone.

Throughout all these busy levels, the gameplay doesn’t miss a beat.  I rarely saw my FPS drop below 60 regardless of how many enemies were on the screen.  It remained smooth and fast, aiding in the overly addictive nature of the game.  Frustrating death after frustrating death couldn’t keep me from giving it one more go, or trying out the next level.  Each successful level rewards you with a star rating, and comparison to your steam friends and the overal rankings.  You’ll also get new weapon drops as you go, as the game is really good at introducing something new with almost every level.

With competitive local multiplayer support planned, players are sure to have tense competitive battles with their friends shortly.  We can only hope that developer Awfully Nice Studios also has online multiplayer planned in a later update to really create a gem of fun gaming here.  The Bug Butcher is currently available on Steam for $10.99.

As always, thanks for reading, and be sure to comment below and let me know if you have had a chance to play The Bug Butcher yet.  Follow the developer @_AwfullyNice_ on Twitter for more updates.

Check out another great indie review: Subnautica.

 

Review: Game of Thrones Episode 5

Welcome to Game of Thrones, episode 5, or “I’m Glad I am not a Forrester”.  The penultimate episode of Telltale Games 6 part series, episode 5 starts off slow, but quickly escalates into the best episode so far.

Episode 5 drops us right back into Forrester lands where we get to enjoy, a long, slow, and sometimes literally torturing opening sequence, with actual torture!  There’s a great deal of gruesomeness here, but I didn’t really feel like my choices were impacting too much what happened.  Though most of what happened still felt quite important, the end to this sequence was slightly cliched.  This scene did really grow the cruelty and sadistic nature of our primary nemesis however, Ramsay Snow, leading up to what I hope will be a great final encounter in episode 6.

Nope, I saved just before this…

In the next scene we find ourselves back in King’s Landing, where we get to meet up with Mira Forrester again, though her part in this episode is small, she does get to interact with fan favourite characters like Tyrion the most which is always fun.  The dialogue here doesn’t’ quite live up the TV show’s standard, but it’s still pretty solid.  This scene is quite short, and continues the somewhat slow pace of Game of Thrones Episode 5.

This episode doesn’t really pick up until we get to play through Asher’s scenes.  The bulk of episode 5 really happens when either he, or his brother Rodrik are on screen.  I have no problem with this at all, they are both the most likeable characters in the story so far.  It’s not until you take control of Asher or Rodrik that you really feel you are making a major change in the story and that your choices matter, and boy do they matter.

How to kill a man?

Asher and Rodrik’s scenes both really remind me of TellTale game’s The Walking Dead series, where every scene ends with the choice of who will live and who will die.  Now that we are so close to the end of this series these choices truly weigh heavily with each click of the mouse.

As Asher you get to finally recruit a grand ole’ group of ruthless killers to join your cause and protect your family.  How you do this is a lot of fun in game, and involves the heaviest amount of action and quick time events in the episode.  Rodrik’s story revolves around the choices he has made as a leader, and how they have reflected and changed him.  The interesting component here is how both characters are learning about how to lead their people from entirely different perspectives, with the culminating ending really putting you under pressure to decide the Forrester family’s fate.

This episode does lack a little bit of action this time around.  Most of the scenes played out here are dialogue heavy and you really only get two great scenes of action throughout the experience.  Spending a good deal of time just watching and waiting for your chance to add input to the game is sometimes a drag, but luckily most of the dialogue is great, and I sometimes forgot I was playing a game and just sat back and watched.  I often had to rush back into place when the game suddenly asked me to answer an important question or engage in a quick time event.

Ewww, creeepy

Sluggishness aside, this is still one of the best episodes so far in the Game of Thrones series.  The happenings are heavy and often, and the choices both make sense and are extremely difficult to choose quickly.  A few scenes here feel somewhat disconnected from the rest of the story, but are still very solid on their own merits, it will be interesting to see how these stories are intertwined with only a couple of hours of gameplay left to go in the final, episode 6 of Game of Thrones.

As always, thanks for reading and be sure to let me know about your experience with episode 5 down in the comment section below.

If you need a refresher, you can check out my episode 4 review here.

 

 

Rewind Review: The Legend of Dragoon

Rpg’s were my thing growing up, and The Legend of Dragoon was an exceptional one.  Released in 2000 for the classic Playstation, The Legend of Dragoon is full on innovations, both rewarding, challenging, and sometimes puzzling.

I have the power!!!!

The Legend of Dragoon takes you to a fantastic world, where dragons exist, and of course much political drama ensues, Endiness.  Broken up into various nations defined by their varying climates you start your quest in the temperate jungle of Serdia.  You take control of Dart, a young adventuring returning home after unsuccessfully searching for the creature that killed his parents and destroyed his birth home.  Quite coincidentally his new home is then destroyed and sets him on a quest to save his friend who was captured during it’s destruction.

The story unfolds traditionally here, as you explore new regions, you meet new companions that help you along the way, or require your help.  The story is quite long and expansive, and stays relatively linear throughout, but there is still a fair amount to explore as you go.

Designed during the early years of 3D Rpg, The Legend of Dragoon, mixed 2D backdrops with 3D characters creating a very interesting look.  The backgrounds are detailed and well drawn, and the 3D characters, though somewhat pixilated are still bright and pop out at you.  Battles take place in a more 3D environment, against also 3D pixelated enemies.  There are various cinematic camera swoops and close ups during the action to help keep you entertained as you play through the turn based battles.

Full of life, yet not quite alive

These battles feature all of the usual RPG features, though The Legend of Dragoon does set itself apart with it’s Additions feature.  Additions are basically timed combos that are initiated whenever you choose to a physical attack.  Hitting the correct quick time buttons with the right timing results in not only increased damage, but potentially different status affects, as well as building up you ‘sp’ bar.  As you explore more of the world this sp bar comes of more and more importance.

Wait for it…

Each character eventually finds themselves attuned with a particular dragon spirit.  As your sp bar builds during battle, this gives you the ability to transform into a Dragoon, and use various special abilities unique to each dragon.  This adds a great deal of power to your attacks and magic, but limits your defensive options, so a balanced attack is still prudent.  The Additions feature remains active as you use your Dragoon’s attacks to add critical damage to your targets.  This style of combat adds a load of interaction and difficulty to each battle especially later on when the enemies hit hard.

Though the random, non-boss battles do get repetitive after awhile, what with grinding for more levels, and items, the overall story holds enough charm and heartbreak for you to ignore this.  For the time, this massive 4 disk game gave enough content and story to compete with the then juggernaut of Rpg’s Final Fantasy a run.  In the end however, it didn’t bring enough innovation to truly become more than a very solid Rpg during the age of awesome Rpg’s.

Thanks once again for reading, and be sure to comment, like and share below.  Let me know about your experience with The Legend of Dragoon!

Check out last week’s Rewind Review

Game of Thrones: Episode 2

It is pretty tall isn’t it?

Today, we collect our things and journey back into the world of Game of Thrones. The TellTale series continues with episode 2 leaving off right after the events in episode 1. Where the events previously the story was quite grim and dire, episode 2 of Game of Thrones lets us take our time a bit more.

The story again shifts between various members of the Forrester family. Life for the Forrester family is pretty tough after the earlier events we experienced. The choices you make reflect this urgency. This episode also introduces several new characters and locations. We journey across the narrow sea to Yunkai to meet Archer, and also to The Wall, where fan favourite Jon Snow is introduced.

Again in this episode, some of these introductions to known characters are clumsy. Jon Snow just happens to pick you out amongst the rabble of new recruits. Tyrion just happens to be in negotiations with the family pit against yours most directly. Though I am happy to interact with these characters, it sometimes feels forced.

What does this guy know anyways?

The action sequences in this episode are better spread out this time around. The quick time events are best in small doses and TellTale does a good job of not over using them. Dialogue and decisions are the bread and butter of these games, and Game of Thrones Episode 2 doesn’t lack here.

The story here revolves around pointing your family in a new direction and basic survival. The decisions made in this episode often fall as consequence to several actions you may have taken in episode 1. This connection to your previous choices adds weight to your new decisions. In my play through for example, the Whitehalls now truly feel like the villain of the story. Mostly due to the outcome of my characters decisions in my first play through. This made me generally choose the more aggressive interactions with them this time around. I wasn’t going to put up with any crap from them this time.

Looks like we are carrying our scars with us this time.

Though this episode of Game of Thrones still feels like a setup for future episodes, I like where I think it is heading. I am invested in the characters, and I want to see them successful in the future. I also want to see my enemies acquired in these two episodes stomped out into dust at some point. All of this has left me eagerly awaiting episode 3.

Overall 9/10

Besiege: Early Access Review

If destruction, fire, and the occasional crushed sheep is your thing, Besiege is the game for you. Currently released in early access on Steam, Besiege is a physics based building game that allows you to build powerful siege engines to lay waste to the massive fortresses, tiny hamlets, and yes, unsuspecting sheep.

Developed by Spiderling Games, Besiege is a tinkerer’s play box. It drops you on a map with a clear set of goals, and lets you create whatever your mind can come up with to meet those goals. Currently limited to a series of tutorial maps, these goals can range from simple destroy missions, where you must destroy a certain percentage of the environment or troops on the screen, to obstacle courses and resource collection courses.

Not unlike opening a box of your favourite Lego as a child, Besiege gives you a variety of tools and equipment to build your creations. You need to figure out the right combination of components and moving parts to get the job done, and there are always multiple possibilities for each encounter. One early level for instance tasks you with destroying a tower located on a mountain, you can do so by rigging together some springs and pulleys and ropes to create a catapult or trebuchet, or maybe create a legged monstrosity to climb the mountain side, or a flying bomber that can rain hell from above. Your choices are limited only by your imagination and ability to take advantage of the game’s sometimes finicky physics engine.

The game also currently includes a sand box mode, which acts as a test ground for various designs with a variety of obstacles and targets to test your machines on. The real fun however is in the mission play and trying to figure out new ways to destroy your targets.

The visuals for the game, are cartoonish, and comedic, with massive explosions throwing debris across the map, or throwing soldiers up past the camera. Sheep splatter into satisfying pools of blood as your siege engines crush tme with spikes, bombs, and fiery balls of death.

With a quickly growing community of siege designers, a variety of both monstrous, and incredibly well thought out creations are also available to be shared and used in your own game, and each design can still be altered or improved for your own tastes. Individual components can also be redesigned and their effects changed to serve varying purposes, like increasing the tension on a spring, or the rotation speed of a wheel.

Though the structured mission play is currently limited to only one zone, with all of the bits and pieces available in the steadily increasing inventory, it’s not hard to find new and more inventive ways to cause havoc on each map. Besiege has shown a good start to a very creative game that you can spend minutes on, or hours trying to create that perfect weapon of destruction, or a perfectly balance flying contraption.

Overall 6.5/10