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GRID | Xbox One | Review

17/10/2019

 
GRID-Codemasters

Liverpool vs Manchester United. Borg vs McEnroe. USA vs Europe. Whatever the sport, a decent rivalry can add so much more to a simple competition, eliciting passion, anger and excitement from spectators and participants alike. It’s an extra layer of intrigue that veteran motorsport developers, Codemasters, have successfully recreated in GRID thanks to their nemesis system, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

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by Liam
​Andrews

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@liam_andrews5

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Developer: Codemasters
Publisher: Codemasters
Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC
Players: 1 - 16

We’ll start with career mode, the game’s main attraction. A sizeable offering, GRID’s single-player component features six different car classes that can be tackled in any order, each of which are composed of twelve events (save for the invitational class, which features double that number) and a showdown finale. Events are made up of between one and four races that feature a mix of city and traditional tracks, as well as car types, and come with different prerequisites for beating them, such as placing in the top three, winning outright or finishing with the fastest time.

​Completing an event usually unlocks a further two, making it easier to avoid those that don’t suit your play style or are simply too challenging. It’s a good way of ensuring progression isn’t stymied, while more experienced drivers and completionists can easily go back and mop up leftover events for extra prestige and in game currency to buy new cars. While the basic machines readily available to all players are competitive enough, there are one or two later options, such as the BMW M1 Turbo, that are well worth splashing the cash on.

Each class feels and handles differently, from heavy, ponderous muscle cars that lumber around corners to the boisterous F1000 series at the other end of the spectrum. There’s enough variety to keep things interesting, and although locations are often repeated (there’s more than 75 tracks in total, based on regions such as China, Japan, Malaysia, the UK, San Francisco, Sydney, Havana and Barcelona) tackling them in alternate weather conditions or in a different class of car often means approaching them in a totally different way.
GRID’s AI provide excellent opposition, keeping races both consistently competitive and entertaining.
Before each race, you’re given the chance to take part in hot lap qualifiers, which, while entirely optional, are a great way to learn each track’s nuances ahead of the main event and also give you a chance to improve your starting position. Leading the line going into a race is, naturally, a big advantage, especially when competing on GRID’s city tracks, where tight corners and narrow streets make it harder to break out from the back of the pack.

​Starting in the rear means you’re also more likely to collide with other drivers, and, intentionally or not, pick up a few nemeses in the process. It usually takes several collisions to spark a rivalry, though occasionally just a single bump is all that’s required to annoy the AI. Teammates aren’t immune to a bout of in-house rivalry either, and will actively ignore orders and requests if you hit them too many times.
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City tracks are particularly impressive at night

Rival drivers are marked out by an angry red indicator above their car, and will attempt to hinder your progress should they get the opportunity to do so, sometimes even to the detriment of their own race, whether its aggressively blocking an overtake or performing a surprise pit maneuver just as you’re taking a tricky corner. It’s a brilliant system that adds so much more to races, creating short-lived rivalries and added drama without ever feeling unfair or overpowered.

In fact, GRID’s AI in general provide excellent opposition, keeping races both consistently competitive and entertaining; we’ve seen computer-controlled drivers smash into walls, flip cars and take risks that, at times, mirror human behaviour, adding to the overall sense of authenticity. You can, of course, get a similar experience by delving into the game’s online offering, but without the option to pick and choose tracks, car types or weather settings (unless you’re hosting a private game), you might find yourself battling the conditions more than other drivers.

​Visually,
GRID is a good-looking game, if not spectacular. Some levels stand out more than others; racing through one of Zhejiang’s city circuits at night, with neon lights reflected in the rain-soaked road, for example, looks amazing, but traditional circuits like Silverstone and Brands Hatch, with their wide tracks and open surroundings, are relatively bland in comparison. One of the more bizarre visual hiccups are the cars’ mirrors, which display reflected images in retro-like low-res graphics and reduced frame rates. If, like us, you prefer a cockpit view, it can be a little jarring, but it’s a minor issue that certainly doesn’t detract from an otherwise decent game.
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Objects in the rear view mirror are actually a lot prettier than they appear

GRID also caters to both petrol heads and newcomers alike thanks to a generous suite of difficulty options; while we preferred a more arcade-like experience, with automatic gears, race lines, cosmetic damage only and face-saving flashback abilities enabled, it’s possible to turn all assists off, increase AI difficulty and transform the game into a proper simulator. It’s this flexibility, along with the game’s solid racing gameplay, generous solo offering and excellent nemesis system that make it an easy recommend.

Pros

  • Nemesis system adds spice to races
  • Decent variety of cars and tracks
  • Excellent sense of speed
  • Accessible career mode
  • Caters to both arcade and simulation playstyles

Cons
​
  • Online play lacks customisation options
  • Low-res mirrors reduce immersion
  • Traditional circuits are aesthetically bland

​8/10
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Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint | Review | Xbox One

15/10/2019

 
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint | Review | Xbox One - Pass the Controller

Breakpoint is the moment at which the tables are turned or the tides change in a conflict, forcing defenders to become attackers. For Ghost Recon, this could be the series’ last stand.

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​by James
 Michael
 Parry

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@James_Parry

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Developer: Ubisoft Paris
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: Xbox One,
PS4, PC
Players: 1-4
While previous instalment, Wildlands, proved to be a serviceable open world shooter (I called it “solid” at the time), the sequel enters possibly an even more crowded and competitive gaming landscape, particularly given that it makes the decision to push into the looter genre, thanks to the introduction of weapon rarity, mere weeks after Borderlands 3 threw a gazillion technicoloured guns at us.

This Ghost Recon drops you, quite literally, onto the island of Auroa; an isolated would-be paradise, pitched in its marketing material as a self-sustaining society for its residents and their families, but of course things aren’t quite going to plan. Skell Technology has lost control and has weaponised its drone army to fight back against the Wolves, a renegade group led by former Ghost team leader Cole D. Walker (played by The Walking Dead and The Punisher star John Bernthal, who you might have run into in some late DLC missions in Wildlands), pushing the island into chaos.

Your character, who has a fairly limited amount of customisation options for a third-person title, led a team of their own, but unfortunately after a rough landing (and a point-blank execution from Walker), you’re left alone in unfamiliar terrain. Disappointingly, the game doesn’t let you scrappily fend for yourself for long, immediately leading you to a sheltered hideout which houses a lot of the quest-givers for the game, as well as tons of other things to interact with, from shops to the other players that are just running around.

​This is more of a live service-style, online world than we’ve seen before from the series, taking more than a few leaves out of The Division’s book, with mixed success. There’s other Tom Clancy DNA at play here, with the limited PvP mode Ghost War - itself a leftover from Wildlands with fewer modes, which sets two groups of four players against each other in a small map… that shrinks even further as time marches on. Obvious Battle Royale trappings aside, the mode really feels like a less effective iteration on the formula Rainbow Six Siege has worked so hard to perfect, slowly building up elements over the years since launch, and ultimately is far less compelling.
Adding in these elements has had another unfortunate consequence: an overabundance of systems. Whether it’s gun upgrades, customising clothing or crafting, every area of the game has its own system, some of which build on one another clumsily. It’s quite easy to get lost in the mission selection screen alone, which separates different types of mission by colour, as they show as little circles on the map, but you can pin several missions at once, making your mini-map a flurry of markers most of the time.

Individual weapons and gun upgrades are particularly at fault here, with the gunsmith view - heralded as a flashy innovation back in 2012’s Future Soldier - now an uninspiring slew of upgrades which make negligible difference to gameplay, and even locking higher tiered crafting a number of skill points deep into a specific shooting skill tree. The skills as a whole give you a class ability, either medic, assault, panther or sharpshooter, but it is understated and nothing like the sort of flamboyance you’d get in more deliberately class or character-based experiences.

Otherwise, the gunplay itself is one of the areas which feels sharp, and more immediate than its older sibling. AI enemies don’t pose much of a challenge however, even as they wander around the map fairly aimlessly in groups of three or four. Others will be clustered around a lone vehicle, waiting to be picked off by a well-placed sniper shot (or a not-so-well placed shot, as a round in the arm seems to do the trick).

It’s the drones and autonomous vehicles where the ante is well and truly upped, since they are ruthless in their pursuits and pack a heavier punch than mere mortals. The new prone camouflage can occasionally be used to evade these foes, but in most areas, aesthetically the effect is pretty pathetic, just a few blobs of dirt strewn across your characters arms as they lie motionless.
The rest of the visuals have their flashes of brilliance, with the sunrise breaking through the trees as the day/night cycle transforms the landscape, but otherwise it’s largely as expected for the current generation at this stage, and doesn’t leap forward in any particular area from Wildlands.

Ultimately, Ghost Recon is suffering an identity crisis. Last stand or not, the team doesn't seem exactly sure where they want the series to go, or what story they are trying to tell. A linear narrative might have been more effective in holding our attention on the journey of this character, and we get a few glimpses into what that narrative might have been through cutscenes (albeit with decidedly dated and distracting lip-sync), as it’s those images that stick in our minds more than trekking across endless kilometres of fairly samey terrain to reach another bad guy to fight or side mission to be distracted by.

Instead, the open world seems unfocused, and far from the concentrated, dense, and varied landscape we’d hoped for in a (slightly) smaller map compared to Wildlands. We find ourselves longing for that game’s open spaces so at least we can drive vehicles without bouncing them off rocks every few minutes. Guns are disposable and so upgrading them seems futile, even more so given rarity seems to make little difference to their effectiveness in combat. There’s a few nice elements on show here, but not enough to keep our attention from half a dozen other games which do all of them better, not only with more originality, but with more character of their own, and that’s what Ghost Recon sadly lacks.

Pros

  • Landscapes look the part, especially at sunset
  • Sneaking about with your drone is still rewarding
  • Gunplay is more than solid…

Cons
​
  • ...but the systems and their layers of complexity are overwhelming
  • The game is the lowest common denominator of Ubisoft open world games (and bits cribbed from elsewhere)
  • Microtransactions are baked into every nook and cranny

6/10
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Gears 5 | Review | Xbox One

12/10/2019

 
Gears 5 | Review | Xbox One - Pass the Controller

Gears 5 continues the story thread that was started in Gears of War 4, dropping Kait into the role of main protagonist supported by Del and an upgraded Jack bot – the latter being playable for the first time in Gears' history – in both the co-op campaign (for up to three players locally or online) and returning Horde mode.

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 by Chris
​ Brand

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@SuperCrisco

Gears 5 | Review | Xbox One
Developer: The Coalition
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Platforms: Xbox One, PC
Players: 1-5

Boot Camp is your entry point, with series veteran Damon Baird taking you through the basics one step at a time. The short tutorial is a welcome refresher for veterans and a necessary jaunt for newcomers, explaining the game's cover and movement systems, shooting, melee abilities and active reloads (which reload the entire magazine with higher damage "active" rounds).

Once that's out of the way, the opening Act serves as an extended introduction and there's very little to differentiate it from GoW 4, visually or mechanically. However, as you push forward the game opens up, quite literally, allowing you to explore open world sections. The desolate world of Sera is at times strikingly beautiful and the skiff used for traversal, particularly in the snowy section you'll have seen in the trailer, handles like a dream, effortlessly gliding across the huge, sweeping vistas. 

Throughout the middle Acts, optional side missions allow you to acquire upgrades for Jack to further augment the abilities that are unlocked via progression. Whilst the upgrades themselves aren't mandatory, they can be handy in a pinch, offering up significant boosts to the very useful invisibility and flash abilities, for example. Bear in mind though, your upgrades won't be bestowed on Jack when he's controlled by a human player.

The short firefights to get them not only serve as a welcome, action-filled break from the quieter exploring of the aforementioned open sections, but also serve as a great opportunity to stock up on ammo, change your loadout or grab a heavy weapon to take back to the skiff.

​During our initial playthrough, we did happen to fall victim to an unfortunate bug that forced us to restart Act 2 (a hangover from the game’s rocky launch, perhaps) losing around an hour of progression, but we claimed it back in half of that time and the setback was less of an annoyance than Del's stubborn reluctance to revive us when playing solo, which resulted in many avoidable deaths throughout the campaign.

Gears 5 | Review | Xbox One - Pass the Controller
Jumping into Versus mode, the game’s multiplayer offering, for the first time can be daunting. Arcade is casual, class-based fun with loadouts unique to each character, which in no way prepares you for the competitive scene. At the other end of the scale, there's the Ranked playlist. Even with cross-play disabled, and those pesky mouse and keyboarders kept at bay, you'll occasionally run into God-like players who are capable of carrying their (and hopefully your) team single-handedly, especially in King of the Hill and Escalation. The non-ranked versus is more accessible and co-op against AI is a good way of learning map layouts and weapon spawns, while providing a safe environment in which to practice with the Gnasher, though the difficulty can be ramped up to suit all skill levels.

Horde and Escape, though very different, complement each other. The former, a mainstay of the franchise, tasks five players with surviving 50 waves of increasingly difficult enemies, whilst the latter offers a more bite-sized co-op experience. Your three-person team, having infiltrated a Swarm hive and planted a Venom bomb to destroy it from within, must escape before the deadly gas kills you, too. Beginning only with a sidearm and limited rounds, you'll want to be conservative with ammo until your party has tooled up.
In both modes, duplicate characters are forbidden, which can cause problems when matchmaking. Levelling up and completing matches will award Skill Cards to further raise your damage dealing and survivability. These Skill Cards will allow you to hold your own on higher difficulties but if someone has already bagsied your main, you're left with the choice of using an under-levelled character or re-queuing. Regardless, there's no barrier of entry and all of our encounters through matchmaking have been positive, though not always successful. 

Despite a few minor issues, the new Gears recipe is the best yet. The story has enough presence without overstaying its welcome, open world areas are a nice addition and there's adequate co-op activities outside of the campaign to complete the package for anyone averse to PvP.

Pros

  • A thoroughly satisfying campaign
  • New enemy types and weapons are designed so well that they feel familiar
  • That same Gears brand of fast-paced multiplayer

Cons

  • Horde and Escape are a little too restricted
  • The Snub pistol is more effective as a melee weapon than a firearm

9/10
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