An update and stuff

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Craig Micklewright

So what have I been up to lately? Well I managed to complete Assassin’s Creed Unity on the PS4, the first AC game I have ever kept interested in until the end. Why? I think setting was key. Of the previous games in the series I have played, most have been set either in medieval (AC 1 & 2) or around the time of the crusades (AC 3) and well, the pirating of AC4 never appealed so I didn’t play that one. However this one was set in Paris, during the revolution, the time of Napoleon etc. and it was a brilliantly atmospheric setting I personally have plenty of interest in.

Secondly I have been playing Grand Theft Auto V. Now eagle-eyed readers of this blog may recall me posting about it a while back when I got it on the Xbox 360. Well, for one reason or another I didn’t play it all that much of it, and since jumping to the next-generation with the PS4 and Xbox One, I thought it was high time I took a second look following it’s revamped re-release on these consoles. I picked it up on PS4, and must say for what is technically a last-gen title, the detail (with improved textures, lighting, effects as well as an enhanced array of music on the various radio stations) it’s one of the best looking games I have played to date. GTA V is a fantastic game following the exploits of three characters; Michael the former gangster now in witness protection, Franklin the stereotypical gang-banger hoodlum and Trevor the meth-dealing lunatic. The missions are cinematic and the world is alive and complex and massive. There are a ton of things to see and do and it never feels boring. I’m loving it. Check out a few screenshots I took with the PS4 to show off how damn gorgeous this next-gen version looks in the flesh:

On the gaming horizon (next Tuesday to be specific) is The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. A heavily hyped and very well reviewed game that I have pre-ordered for my Xbox One. From everything I have read and seen, it’s sounding like it will be a mammoth RPG adventure to rival the likes of The Elder Scrolls and Final Fantasy, with you as a bad-ass monster hunter known as Garalt, who inhabits a huge world that is one of the biggest apparently ever made and full of detail, missions, characters and true next-gen visuals. I have watched some gameplay and read several reviews, and suffice to say I am VERY excited. Roll on May 19th … I’ll do an early impressions some time in the week.

In other news, I’ve sadly not managed to secure a trip to the cinema to see The Avengers: Age Of Ultron yet and can see it being a Blu-ray review later in the year. The same might go for Mad Max Fury Road, but I’m still optimistic about getting to see that one, so watch this space (and no, going by myself doesn’t appeal all that much). I have a few movies on the agenda however, the names of which I’ll keep to myself for now and let you be surprised when I post the reviews. Yeah, I’m all about the tease.

On the TV watching front I have been pretty addicted to Better Call Saul, that breaking Bad spin-off starring everyone’s favourite crooked attorney Saul Goodman (or Jimmy Magill as he’s currently known). It seems to have all the polish and great writing of Breaking Bad (well, it is by Vince Gilligan after all) and just keeps getting better and better. I’m also watching The Following season 3 (yeah, yeah I know…we’re not getting a season 4…boo hiss) which has again been brilliant this year. Clearly there is no accounting for taste, so another show hits the skids. Talking of TV, I’m also looking forward to season 3 of Orange Is The New Black, a show at first I wasn’t entirely sure was me … the first series was good but a little lightweight, but with an excellent and gripping season 2, I am now officially a fan. Damn Netflix just keeps on giving, doesn’t it? I am also watching Brit drama Luther on it at the moment which stars popular actor Idris Elba as a tough Police detective who specialises in catching serial killers – right up my alley.

So other than the above, and getting over some man-flu and a tickly cough that just won’t quit … it’s been all about work, which is going very well. I am learning some new stuff to do more with secretarial tasks and finding it challenging and educational. Love it when my job gives me those opportunities to learn new skills and I think it helps build a real profile and shape me for the future. I’m also of course still looking forward to finally seeing my favourite band Garbage in November when they appear at Brixton Academy in London. It’s going to be such a once in a life time experience for me, someone who doesn’t really get such opportunities. I have my big brother to thank for making this happen and with my 40th birthday very much right after, November is looking to be a real belter.

Well, enough from me for now. Hope you’re all having fun in whatever you’re all up to and continue to check in on me and this blog regularly for more updates, reviews and gaming impressions.

Craig.

The Order 1886 – impressions

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Craig Micklewright

Quick opinion on this heavily hyped by critically slated game – it isn’t as bad ass you may have heard. I am enjoying the campaign which is set in Victorian London and follows a group of Knights of the Round Table as they battle rebels, political uprising and lycans … yes, that’s right – werewolves! It’s a somewhat Jules Vern inspired steam-punk action setting not dissimilar to Bioshock and is presented beautifully in some of the most detailed and well designed visuals yet seen on the PS4.

At it’s heart, the game is a cover-based shooter not unlike Gears of War and the combat throughout, whilst a little repetitive is well done and visceral and is never boring. The encounters with the lycans are a little less involving as it’s quite simplistic and mostly dependent on quick-time events, something of an Achilles heel for the game. I personally don’t have a major problem with quick-time events, and especially in such a story driven game as this, they can make you feel still involved as you watch the cut scenes. The big pull for me though is the setting and some of the interesting weapons, which all handle well and seem well designed and are easy to use. Yet the game lacks some of the ‘trimmings’ of other games … exploring is limited to just enjoying the scenery, and finding notes or models lying around add detail to the setting but aren’t anything you’re going to need to collect for any reason. So yes, it’s very linear and has no replay value. There isn’t a multi-player mode either, but don’t see how that would work for this game.

screenshot captured directly off the PS4

In this age of Dark Souls-style high difficulty games, The Order 1886 isn’t all that challenging – it has it’s moments (those annoying shot gunners) but this is mostly a focused story with some interesting characters, gorgeous visuals and a decent campaign. Those arguing that 6-8 hours (depending on difficulty and your skill level) isn’t very long … I’ll agree it’s not amazing but it’s fairly average for a story driven experience these days (and last gen). If I hadn’t been given it off a friend, would I pay close to £50 for it? Probably not, considering the reviews – but I say trade in some games for it, borrow it or rent it, and you’ll come away satisfied.

All conquering PS4??

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Craig Micklewright

This is coming from now owning both supposedly ‘next-gen’ systems, and feeling rather underwhelmed by what the PS4 has offered me thus far. I haven’t played many games on it but do find myself going back to the XB more often than not – and the underwhelming allure of the PS4’s exclusive titles doesn’t help matters.

The latest thing is that the heavily hyped and long awaited The Order 1886 has turned out to be a very disappointing game, despite a lengthy development cycle. Again another game in Sony’s supposedly killer line-up that fails to live up to it’s potential. It joins a growing list of games that have failed to completely wow critics or many gamers and warrant that expensive purchase of a new machine. Yet despite games like Infamous: Second Son, Kill Zone Shadow Fall and Drive Club not delivering – the PS4 continues to fly off the shelves.

I’m confused. Since when did tech-specs and NOT games make a machine the biggest and most popular? Certainly wasn’t the case last generation when the PS3 failed to initially grab people despite technically being superior to the Xbox 360. It has baffled me this time how brand loyalty or simply good marketing and well, a bit of brainwashing seems to have won over quality entertainment. I remember owning both the Sega Dreamcast and the Nintendo Gamecube and liking both, with some amazing games on them – but they did not sell, and so quickly they were discontinued by their manufacturers. This of course isn’t the case for Microsoft’s Xbox One which has done admirably well sales wise despite the PS4’s dominance – but it still means that marketing and brand win over actual quality of games. Third-party isn’t so bad for Sony’s machine as it usually wins out against the XB for resolution and frame-rate (but not always…) and such has grabbed a lot of media attention and made it look like the console to go for – but now owning both, I find the games on the XB, especially the exclusives like Sunset Overdrive, Titanfall etc. a huge amount of fun. Microsoft have done a great deal to rectify a difficult start for their new console and I for one applaud their wealth of updates, new features, their excellent games with gold feature and some top notch indie titles. Yes Sony’s machine has all of these things but often feel limp and lacking compared to how Xbox does things – who just make it all look a lot more attractive.

That then brings me to the consoles themselves. It’s clear that the touch pad and speaker on the PS4 controller is a gimmick and will get very little use in games, and well, when the speaker does come on, it just doesn’t seem right. Kind of cool, but a bit annoying. Also let’s talk about the recording of gameplay features on both consoles. XB’s Upload Studio is excellent, very easy to use and you can send gameplay to your friends at a click of a button. Not so on the PS4, with the Share Factory very cumbersome and complicated (but possibly more robust in features) and you can send screenshots to friends – but not gameplay, unless you post it to Facebook or YouTube. Huh?? Why??

I’ve also mentioned before that the PS4 doesn’t let you attach an external HDD via USB to enlarge your storage capacity (at least as far as storing games on it is concerned – you can back up other media like screenshots or game saves) but the XB allows you to store games on an external HDD – avoiding any awkward tinkering inside the console itself.

So yes it puzzles me just why the PS4 remains so universally loved. The exclusive games are seriously lacking and the features of the console itself clearly pale in comparison to it’s immediate rival – but hey, its a pretty looking machine, and everyone is talking about it … so that’s all that matters, right? Sigh.

For the love of the game

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Craig Micklewright

What have I been up to lately? I’ve been actively trying to finish some games. I completed Call of Duty Advanced Warfare recently…the campaign was not bad but seemed to just end all of a sudden, and the presence of Kevin Spacey didn’t bring a lot to the party. I haven’t really got into the multiplayer as on first few attempts it kind of annoyed, and it’s new exo-suit abilities didn’t really enhance the gameplay as was suggested.

Otherwise I have been getting back into what I’d call Xbox One’s hidden gem, namely the underrated and sublimely fun Sunset Overdrive. This game is just pure joy and so entertaining and funny. Helps also it’s one of the most vibrant and beautiful game world’s I’ve seen in a long time – if you have an X1 you owe it to yourself to play this game. It’s exactly why I fell in love with videogames, and feels so refreshing in an industry obsessed with online shooters and war games.

I also recently downloaded the indie title The Escapists, a throwback, purposely old-school looking top-down RPG where you’re an inmate in a prison and must figure a way out to escape, whilst at the same time going about every day prison life, like going to the canteen, doing the laundry, buying items off fellow inmates, doing mini-missions for people and exercising. It’s very different and so far I’m really enjoying it. Also on the indie-front I’ve been playing the acclaimed Limbo, a strange, creepy platform game where you’re a little boy who must navigate a wealth of traps to go who knows where in a black & white gothic nightmare.

I really should get back to The Evil Within, but that has proved more annoyingly-hard than fun and well, I’m in more of a fun-seeking mood of late. On a side-note I picked up the medieval fantasy action game Lords of the Fallen, but that’s proving very tough too…which I should have guessed as it’s very much modelled on famed bastard-hard franchise Demons Souls. It’s very cool looking though (despite some surprising frame-rate issues on the PS4!), and I like the customization elements and the setting as a whole, so I may persevere.

I’ve been into videogames for a very long time and apart from my interest in movies, it’s my other big love. Yet it’s also one I don’t dedicate myself too enough sometimes … yes I buy games and play them, but I get distracted easily, let life get in the way and sometimes end up with a pile of games I don’t end up finishing. It’s sort of like that now, but I’ll get there … at least with most of them.

Console exclusivity strikes again!

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Craig Micklewright

Well have been reading this weekend about the somewhat unexpected announcement of Street Fighter V, and the fact it will be exclusive to PlayStation 4 and PC when it’s released. Now I like Street Fighter and think it’s a good win for PS4, as their exclusives have been a bit lacking – but it’s also a series that has a very niche following. I can’t play it online for getting my arse handed to me, and well beyond the art style it has very little to offer single player gamers (especially SF IV). So not too peeved as an XB1 owner. I intend to finally get a PS4 next year, but until then I’m happy with the games XB1 has, including exclusives like Sunset Overdrive and Quantum Break.

Now what does annoy me is that the huge backlash Microsoft and Crystal Dynamics got when they announced Tomb Raider would be a (timed) exclusive for their console, so far doesn’t seem to be happening with this announcement – showing how biased towards Sony the industry has got for a company whose last console was a bit over a slow burner – why the love? why the unabashed support for it?

Competition and exclusivity is good though, keeps things interesting, sells consoles but bias and fan boy outrage and backlash does not – get a grip people and just enjoy the games!