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Weird West Review | Xbox One

11/4/2022

 
weird-west-review-xbox-one

​It's clear that WolfEye Studios' wanted to do something different with the Wild West. From the beginning, there's an element of otherworldliness that not only permeates the whole game, but drives the story forward, pulling the player along for a wild (sorry, weird) ride, full of intrigue, mystery and a whole lot o' kicking.

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by
Chris Brand

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​@SuperCrisco

Weird West Review Xbox One box art
Developer: WolfEye
Studios
Publisher: Devolver
Digital
Platforms: Xbox One,
PS4, PC
Players: 1

As we're introduced to our first protagonist, the cutscene subtly informs us of four more and, already, we're wondering just how many of them will survive.
 
The inhabitants of the Weird West are well aware of the supernatural threats that lurk in the shadows but, as a player, it's all new to us. Tooltips pop up frequently in the early game, making us aware of the basic, twin-stick shooter controls and giving some welcome hints about picking things up and/or kicking them. Whilst the controls are fine and dandy for the most part, it can be a little finicky when items you want to pocket are close together or friendlies are getting in the way of your shot. Despite this, we had very few friendly-fire incidents and never once did we accidentally steal something.

After the, rather long, but well-paced, opening mission, we find ourselves at a small town which serves as a hub, with all the amenities (crafting, selling, sleeping and all that) one could wish for.
 
A main mission points us one way, a side mission another, and a couple of bounties we picked up for extra cash take us further than we dare to go at this early stage. Limited inventory space tempers our wanderlust too, as we try to earn enough moolah to purchase a steed, not only to store items but to reduce travel times on the world map.

​Each location is its own instance and journeying between them entails watching your icon move across the map and hoping that any random encounters you stumble upon are beneficial. Most will provide loot of some kind, whether it's consumables, weapons or simply plain old junk to hawk in the nearest town.

Though some are barely worth the (admittedly small) time and ammo investment, others can reward a Nimp Relic or Golden Ace of Spades, used to invest in skills. The former unlocks abilities for your current character, whilst the latter unlocks permanent upgrades which you carry throughout the game.

With so many locations to visit, it seems there's an endless supply of goodies to unearth which encourages exploration and offers the chance to experiment with the skill trees without any risk of making a mistake.
 
Exploration can wear thin as most (but certainly not all) areas are relatively small and some are identical. There are different environments to discover as you're unveiling the world map but the graphical style, though it works well, prevents anything from being particularly noteworthy.
 
The sole purpose of exploring is for personal gain. If you're working towards unlocking a particular skill, you'll find what you need sooner or later, but, aside from a few core abilities that'll influence how you approach the game, there's nothing you can't live without.
weird-west-review-xbox-one-skills
Even stealthy types will want a few combat-focused skills though, as fighting is inevitable and, sometimes, it's just a lot quicker, especially with a companion or two supporting. Thankfully, firefights tend to be short affairs, as the combat itself is simple and not terribly exciting.
 
Plus, there's only a small number of ranged weapons available, though this, alongside the very basic crafting/upgrading system, can be a welcome change of pace. It cuts down a lot of the menu navigation that is required in other action role-playing games.
How much the story twists and turns is partly dependent on the player, making every action feel significant.
Weird West is more marathon than sprint and it seems a greater amount of time is spent with the first character than any other. This isn't a bad thing; the narrative can slowly build as players familiarise themselves with the various mechanics. Gameplay wise, characters play the same, with only a few select skills that are exclusive to each.
 
The story, however, deepens with every new soul you visit and every interaction you have. For a short while, the protagonists' lives are intertwined and their fates are in your hands. Many of your decisions will have consequences and, whilst it's easy enough to guide the overarching story where you think it should go, you could cause trouble for yourself in the short-term, by killing a key character before they can share useful info, attracting the attention of bounty hunters or having NPCs you've previously wronged start a vendetta against you, guaranteeing a violent altercation with them in the future.
 
It's not without its technical issues. Companions will sometimes freeze in place or completely disappear, your horse will often walk around whilst you're transferring items to or from your inventory (moving and, eventually, closing the menu) and at one point we became intermittently incorporeal. These issues, as annoying as they are, can be addressed by reloading an earlier save or forcing a loading screen by travelling somewhere.
Simplicity is at the heart of Weird West. Gameplay is straightforward, dialogue isn't long-winded, cutscenes are not littered throughout and the Narrator chips in sparsely enough to never overstay his welcome. The story being the only exception. How much it twists and turns is partly dependent on the player, making every action feel significant, as the big mystery surrounding these chosen few becomes ever clearer.
 
With enough dedication, you could spend 30 hours in the Weird West before reaching a satisfying conclusion and none of it would be wasted.

Pros
  • Easy to pick up
  • Engaging and compelling narrative
  • Lots of kicking
 
Cons
  • Minor, but too frequent, technical issues
  • Limited variety in a long run time
 
8/10
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Watch Dogs: Legion | Xbox One X Review

6/11/2020

 
Hacking a drone in Watch Dogs: Legion

While we're not quite living in the dystopian future that Watch Dogs: Legion predicts, Ubisoft Toronto couldn't possibly have imagined the world it was releasing its latest game into. 

James Michael Parry

​by ​James Michael Parry

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@james_parry

Watch Dogs: Legion
Developer: Ubisoft Toronto
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC, Stadia
Players: 1+

Besides the impact on personal freedoms in response to global catastrophe, Ubisoft itself is reeling from substantial accusations of abuse, mistreatment and corruption along with a series of resulting dismissals. Perhaps that explains why coming into Legion's version of London doesn't have quite the same sense of wonder and escapism we might be used to – it's all a little close to home.

Ironically, the game's London setting is one of its most captivating features. Fairly comprehensive, if obviously condensed and altered, the entire map is open from the word go, and, though obscured by a shroud, navigating it is fairly straightforward thanks to plentiful fast travel points. Of course, there’s also a plethora of vehicles to forcibly commandeer and recklessly drive with little consequence.

In fact, the game as a whole feels almost bereft of consequences. Completing borough missions will turn the area defiant, supposedly signaling a public uprising against the government, oppression and surveillance, but the in-game impact is minimal. Tech upgrade points get marked on the map, in true Ubisoft open-world fashion, but NPCs still go about their usual routines and the city feels exactly the same.

Building up a team is a key element of Watch Dogs: Legion, since you'll need certain outfits and occupations to access different areas and complete specific missions. The main conceit we heard about when the game was announced is true – you really can recruit anyone just walking around on the street, or even the guards that oppose you – though characters won't be fans of you and returning hacker outfit, DedSec, if you choose to beat them up beforehand.

Fortunately, the aptitude of average Londoners seems to be exceptional. It’s straightforward to wander into a restricted area, like Buckingham Palace, and take down trained police and security officers as any old amateur.
Big Ben's clock tower in Watch Dogs: Legion
Firearms are sparse, as you'd expect in England, which favours the tech-orientated culture this series is known for. Drones of all shapes and sizes are everywhere and vehicles, as in previous titles, can be diverted with a quick hack. Environments are so interactive, in fact, that it's often difficult to focus on the small keypad in front of you as opposed to items in the surrounding area.

An option which helps to set Legion apart from the swathe of similar Ubisoft games is permadeath; if operatives die with this setting enabled, they're gone for good. Problem is, recruitable characters lack personality, so rather than hitting on a personal level it’s just annoying to lose whichever special skills or items they had access to.
Connections between characters raise questions like "Why is that construction worker being targeted by a hitman?"
One nice feature, which admittedly has the potential to get out of hand, is a HUD element that displays connections between existing recruits and recruitable characters. It raises questions like "Why is that construction worker being targeted by a hitman?" and encourages you to start to build out a wider team, members of which are connected by emergent stories. When you get into recruitment itself, however, the variety of missions is fairly limited.

​
Characters in general have a few shortcomings. Animation transitions are abrupt and occasionally wonky, while speech seems very skewed towards British stereotypes. That isn't necessarily a surprise, but, since you're hearing the same voice line or two whenever you get into a conversation, it gets old quickly. ​
Watch Dogs: Legion scanning at Tower Bridge
While cosmetic customisation is possible via numerous shops, some of the initial character designs clash with their intended roles. It isn’t a major issue, but it is another thing that highlights the shortcomings of procedural generation in Watch Dogs: Legion. It’s much harder to care about these characters than it would be a lovingly hand-crafted cast.

Watch Dogs: Legion’s core gameplay is good fun for the most part, but its procedural cast of soulless characters don’t lend themselves to helping players be absorbed by alternate London. Still, the sights and sounds of Blighty’s capital are exciting to explore - especially in lieu of being able to amble around the city in person at present!

Pros
  • Satisfactory hacking mechanics still shine
  • Exploring near-future London is great, especially as a local
  • Spiderbot and drone side missions are a nice change of pace

Cons
  • Bugs are fairly commonplace
  • Mission variety is sparse, plus flying around on a delivery drone makes most tasks trivial
  • Characters feel disposable and your actions have little impact

7/10
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Terminator: Resistance | Review | Xbox One

21/11/2019

 
Terminator: Resistance | Review | Xbox One - Pass the Controller

Arnold Schwarzenegger recently returned to the big screen in Terminator: Dark Fate, showing audiences a softer side to the relentless Cyberdyne Systems Model 101. That nostalgic entry is perhaps the best film in the long-standing action franchise since T2: Judgement Day, and similarly, Terminator: Resistance puts the series’ video game output on sturdier ground than most previous efforts. That being said, getting pegged as the best pick of a bad bunch isn’t necessarily worth much.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: Teyon
Publisher: Reef
Entertainment
​
Platforms: PS4, Xbox
One, PC
Players: 1
Resistance is a first-person shooter in which shooting is a weak link. Conventional weapons dribble out limp audio feedback and lack almost any recoil, making for gunplay that immediately lacks punch. Robotic enemies stand stock still and whiff their shots from point blank range, letting you hit their weak spots for maximum damage without reacting. When you later “graduate” to more powerful plasma guns, despite boasting a promotion in stopping power, the firearms manage to feel even more akin to children’s toys.

To be fair, it’s still a marked improvement over the last action movie adaptation that developer Teyon and publisher Reef Entertainment produced in collaboration. Rambo: The Video Game was a bizarre on-rails effort that launched during the last console generation, earning a mauling that’s at least unbefitting of this inoffensively mediocre Terminator outing. 

The game’s set in the midst of the apocalyptic “Future War” scenario which audiences caught fleeting glimpses of in the original films. A pair of optional tie-in comics do a good job of telling the prequel story that leads up to players adopting the role of a resistance fighter in-game, but unfortunately, the war against Skynet begins to fall apart as Resistance proper takes the reigns.

Anybody familiar with the source material already knows that humanity prevails, so any drama would be derived from whether on not the largely original Terminator: Resistance cast makes it out alive. Most central characters are civilians that protagonist Jacob Rivers saves at the beginning of the game, who you might then opt to get to know a bit better by engaging them in binary dialogues. Scripting and the accompanying voiceovers are equally unenthusiastic, however, making it hard to care.

Many of these lite companions dole out side quests that are a highlight if only for breaking up all the drab shooting. Plenty of levels are wide open and engaging to explore, despite the sluggish movement controls and floaty jumping mechanics that you’ll use to navigate. It’s possible to pick locks and hack your way into hidden areas housing additional lore snippets, ammo, crafting components and valuables for trading. None of the latter elements are particularly vital, with enemies being so brain dead, but looting is nonetheless good fun for the pack rats among us.
Resistance is a first-person shooter in which shooting is a weak link.
Unfortunately, a lot of good will towards the level design evaporates when you begin to notice frequently recycled assets and even complete area retreads. In these instances you can switch vision modes in order to see through walls and very easily sneak past enemies, though in the process you’ll be sacrificing experience and the associated skill points required to upgrade abilities from three basic skill trees.

Visually, it’s about passable – outside of the distracting lip sync and facial animations that further detract from wooden conversations. Aurally the game fares even worse, with an odd bootleg of the iconic main theme being the best element for its inherent novelty value.

If you’re a Terminator fan that can embrace mediocrity with open arms - you’ve had plenty of practice, after all - spending a tenner when the price drops and around six hours of your time completing Resistance isn’t the worst idea. For everyone else, occasional flashes of a good game are likely to cause frustration as you wade through its variety of just passable game mechanics.

Pros

  • Some wide open levels make for engaging exploration
  • Choose to engage in firefights or stealth your way through
  • Optional side quests and character interactions

Cons

  • Reuses locations, at times axing the game’s strongest feature
  • Lacklustre gunplay
  • Neither sign nor sound of Arnie

5/10
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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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A Plague Tale: Innocence | Xbox One | Review

14/5/2019

 
A Plague Tale: Innocence | Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC (Steam) | Review - Pass the Controller

Ever since previewing the game on PC back in March, we’ve been itching to rejoin Amicia and Hugo De Rune, the noble siblings orphaned and destitute in A Plague Tale’s opening chapters. After replaying those harrowing first hours on Xbox One X, we picked up where we left off on the journey to cure five-year-old Hugo’s undiagnosed illness.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: Asobo
Studio

Publisher: Focus Home
Interactive

Platforms: Xbox
​One, PS4, PC (Steam)
Players: 1
Controlling young Amicia, you’ll take Hugo by the hand and guide him through medieval France during the Hundred Years’ War, a time where the cultish Inquisition rose to prominence as much of the civilian population succumbed to deadly plague. It’s a grim setting which pervasively oozes death, disease and famine as you navigate mostly linear levels contained by invisible walls.

Whilst there are more elegant ways to guide the player, that’s not entirely a bad thing, since narrative-driven solo experiences are a breed currently facing their own plague of sorts. With its defined structure and gameplay pillars, which are consistently switched out, iterated on and reintroduced to keep a largely excellent pacing, A Plague Tale feels like one of those games from the “good ol’ days” we all like to reminisce about.

Asobo Studio and Focus Home Interactive tell a complete and uncompromised story here, which gradually builds and builds towards an almighty crescendo. Imagine Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons meets Resident Evil 4 for a sense of the tone, which might sound like an odd combination, but trust us – it works. A Plague Tale is one of the few more recent titles which has compelled us to keep playing through sheer intrigue as to what happens next, more akin to a good book or TV show than most games.

In spite of all the eventual craziness, empathetic relationships between family and friends are at the narrative’s very core. This helps to nip any resentment which might stem from the fact that, in many ways, A Plague Tale can be distilled down to an escort mission in the bud. It doesn’t feel like one, though, as Hugo and the additional young companions you encounter are all incredibly likeable characters, thanks to their unique practical gameplay contributions and the considered writing and delivery behind them.

It’s effective stuff, as evidenced by the fact we can forgive the cumbersome issues resulting from their presence. We’ve had character models duplicate, folks walk into walls and fall so far behind or run off so far ahead that their dialogue was inaudible, but most often it’s a simple case of clumsily stumbling over one another (figuratively speaking) in confined spaces.
A complete and uncompromised story, which gradually builds and builds towards an almighty crescendo.
You’re at least afforded a degree of control in telling your ‘main’ companion at any given time to wait, preventing them from getting in the way or meeting any misfortune during combat; unless you leave poor Hugo for too long, that is, in which case he’ll panic and unwittingly attract Inquisition guards.

Rats are too numerous to fight head-on, so when we say combat it pertains to humans, who take no issue with running Amicia through with a sword and snatching up her younger brother. You can dodge incoming attacks to open up a counter window, though most often it won’t come to that since encounters are incredibly easy with a few early upgrades under your belt. There aren’t multiple difficulty settings, either, which makes toggling the incredibly generous aim-assist and HUD off the only ways to inject some challenge.

Ms. De Rune’s weapon of choice - the humble sling - at least unleashes projectiles with a satisfying thwip. As well as slinging rocks, you’ll routinely need to craft and chuck alchemical concoctions to turn the tides in your favour, for example corroding an armoured helmet in order to expose the wearer’s dome for a lethal headshot. Alternatively, you could take a more indirect approach, maybe breaking a lantern as means to ring the delicious dinner bell on an all-you-can-eat rat buffet.

Should you need to conserve resources (which we always had in abundance), it’s also possible to opt out of the murder game for the most part. More likely to have you playing pacifist are the instances where your actions are questioned by the impressionable young cast, which, in the absence of a concrete morality system, serve to make you think.

Following a guilt trip, it’s time to engage with the familiar stealth systems. Checkpoints are pretty frequent, so you’ll most often just need to memorise set enemy patrol patterns in digestible chunks, maybe throwing a few odds and ends to manufacture helpful distractions along the way. Getting spotted can result in an instant fail state, necessitating some trial and error to discern the best routes, probably to the frustration of some. There’s no real cause for concern though, since you can get away with basically sitting in an enemy's back pocket while crouched.
There’s no sneaking past rats, on the other hand, who’s beady red eyes can number in the on-screen thousands. These black-furred vermin tirelessly scuttle over one another in their endeavour to escape light, so you’ll often need to utilise makeshift torches to cut a path through them and between more substantial stationary light sources. In the later stages you’ll need to use advanced alchemy and your sling to set and extinguish specific fires from afar, herding and trapping them to facilitate your safe passage.

These lite light puzzles feel rewarding, despite the fact that you'll never really need to pause for thought, rather tackle them instinctively. As the rodents grow to become more aggressive, however, some set piece moments require you to switch off your brain and run for it; here the evocative original soundtrack is perhaps at its best, accelerating from sombre to breakneck as the orchestral string section frantically work up a sweat, inducing absolute panic in the player.

Much like the soundscape, A Plague Tale’s visuals are diverse and affecting, reveling in displaying the gnawed and gnarled reality of widespread death through a liberal littering of ravaged corpses. You’ll wade through human and porcine viscera, as well as slimy rat nests that almost reek right through the screen. It’s unpleasant, but outstandingly so, with exquisite lighting and textures telling a story which justifies the lengthy load times.
Much like the soundscape, A Plague Tale’s visuals are diverse and affecting.
Thankfully, the same is true at the other end of the spectrum, where A Plague Tale’s changing locations and weather effects can segue tone at a moment’s notice. These effective shifts don’t just mirror the current mood, but reiterate the wider theme of perseverance, and emphasise the extreme ways in which the sheltered De Rune children experience the world outside their estate for the first time. Rarely is a game’s presentation this meticulously considered, making it a real shame when character models and animations don’t meet the high bar now and then.

Their first original project following a history of ports, A Plague Tale: Innocence has put developer Asobo Studio on the map and almost certainly secured their creative future. Aided by Focus Home Interactive, Asobo have crafted a memorably melancholic adventure with a life-affirming side of joy.

Pros

  • Amicia and Hugo are a lovable leading duo, as are the extended cast
  • Page-turner of a story; you’ll want to play the next chapter to see what happens next
  • Meticulous, evocative environments and orchestral score
  • Rats are a unique enemy, giving rise to engaging puzzles and set pieces
  • Linear, single-player title without microtransactions(!)

Cons

  • Friendly AI quirks can be really distracting
  • So too can all of the invisible walls
  • Combat and stealth sections are competent, but lack challenge and excitement

8/10


If you fancy playing A Plague Tale: Innocence, be sure to enter our giveaway before 23:59 on Friday 17 May 2019 for a chance to win an Xbox One copy.
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World War Z | PS4 | Review

23/4/2019

 
World War Z | PS4 | Review - Pass the Controller

Based on the 2013 film of the same name, which was loosely based on Max Brooks’ original novel, World War Z the game doesn’t share a great deal in common with either. This survivalist shooter will be much more familiar to fans of Left 4 Dead, the zombie-slaying series which spawned and has defined a sub-genre for over a decade now.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam
​


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Developer: Saber
Interactive

Publisher: Mad Dog
​Games

Platforms: PS​4, Xbox
​One, PC (Epic Store)
Players: 1 - 8
There’s no hiding that WWZ is an untimely and somewhat derivative release, but, regardless of that, developer Saber Interactive and publisher Mad Dog - responsible for other bizarre licensed games like NBA Playgrounds and Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn (which might not be as bad as you think) - have done a decent job of ensuring that perhaps their biggest project yet is still a good time.

Played from a third-person perspective, unlike Turtle Rock Studios’ seminal L4D and more recent cohorts such as Vermintide 2 and Earthfall, the undead epidemic at the centre of WWZ has already spread on a global scale. You’ll see that scale translated throughout the campaign’s four globetrotting episodes (playable solo or co-op), as you take in the iconic sights of New York, Moscow, Jerusalem and Japan.

Each location has a bespoke cast of four survivors, with each story being entirely standalone and comprised of two to three digestible levels. Barebones cutscenes accompany the brief character and location bios which are hidden away in menus, so there’s very little in the way of narrative motivation here, rather the cathartic pleasure of mindlessly deanimating the reanimate is what’ll spur you on.

With a hefty 16 selectable characters in total, it’s great that none are pre-assigned fixed classes, leaving the player free to mix and match their favourite aesthetic and mechanical choices in tandem. The six recognisable class archetypes - encompassing the likes of healer and different weapons specialists (firearms, melee, explosives) - each feature unique perks and starting loadouts which can be further customised in time.

You’ll begin any given level with a silenced pistol, or at least a basic melee implement, so it’s generally best to start things off stealthily. Anybody that’s played even a little Payday will know that many online players don’t have the patience for that, however, so docile pockets of undead will soon become a unified swarm.
There’s very little in the way of narrative motivation, rather the cathartic pleasure of mindlessly deanimating the reanimate is what’ll spur you on.
Zombies become a sort of hive mind once alerted to your presence, unflinchingly running towards their demise with no regard for anything other than killing their quarry. This is largely familiar stuff, but it takes on new life during regular scripted moments where they frantically clamber into fleshy pyramid structures to reach higher ground (launching explosives at the base to topple these is delectable) or fling themselves from above as makeshift projectiles.  

You’re given enough firepower that these imposing setpieces are never outright frightening, which could be good or bad depending on your perspective. Fixed defence units including barbed wire, electrified floor panels and turrets can be placed in designated positions, while devastating heavy weaponry can be carried on your person to eradicate entire swarms single handed.

Special infected types are where you’ll need to employ a greater degree of finesse, although L4D players will already be acquainted with the sparse selection. Lurkers are Hunters that do a great job of waiting around corners before taking you by surprise with the ol’ pounce-and-pin manoeuvre. Gasbags are a marriage of Boomer and Spitter. Bulls are Chargers. Most telling of all, the Screamer is equivalent to... the Screamer.

You can mark these nasties on your teammates’ HUD, though in-game dialogue will most often vocalise their presence anyway, which is one of the few ways allied AI proves to be dependable. They can’t interact with mission objectives, don’t level up alongside you to meet the difficulty curve, and can’t be switched from the default Gunslinger class in order to compose a balanced team. You don’t even gain the ability to pause when playing offline, but hey, they’ll never incur friendly fire (which is always enabled) if you really must go solo.
Should sticking with the normal difficulty setting be your speed – meaning you don’t anticipate toughing it out being a problem – just be aware that an initial playthrough should only take around five or six hours. Longevity thereafter is gleaned by upping the stakes to earn better weapons and perks, which you’ll then use to repeat the cycle, only one notch higher on the five-step difficulty rung. Levels subtly change between runs, mainly in terms of enemy and item spawn frequencies and locations, helping to keep things a little more fresh along the way.

​
Even with randomisation it can become repetitive if you don’t dip in and out, which makes the unique PvPvE multiplayer a smart addition. Featuring separate classes and progression to that of the campaign, the mode has five classic game types in which two teams of four fight against one another and, at the same time, CPU-controlled zombies.

Its largely no-frills approach harkens back to a period during the last console generation where almost every game had competitive multiplayer, though in an oddly nostalgic way. That feeling is certainly helped by the fact it’s competent and fun enough on a base level not to feel just tacked-on.
Levels subtly change between runs, mainly in terms of enemy and item spawn frequencies and locations, helping to keep things fresh.
There’s an established early playerbase sticking around for the interesting dynamic of undead swarms which can cut off parts of a map entirely, but how long they’ll put up with the current balance issues is up for question. You can’t switch class mid-match, so if you made a choice that doesn’t synergise well with your team or effectively counter the opposition, you’re left no choice but to ride it out or quit. Certain weapons and strategies are overpowered, namely sprinting around with a double-barrelled shotgun and unloading both slugs or popping around a corner with the (thankfully quite limited) rocket launcher, yet the funk doesn’t end when you die. Spawns are incredibly inconsistent, as sometimes you’ll pop up right in front of an enemy with no temporary invulnerability to save your bacon, or, more to your advantage, right next to an unguarded objective.

​
Whether online or off, in our experience, the PS4 Pro and WWZ servers at least do a good job of handling all the hectic on-screen action. Visually the game is just decent, with some jumpy animations being the biggest sore thumb, but that’s always a worthy trade-off in favour of securing a solid technical performance.

At a budget price point, World War Z offers completionists a lot of game for the money, but anybody with a more one-and-done approach might end up feeling shortchanged by the brief campaign. For either camp, in spite of the strong sense of déjà vu overpowering a few original ideas, WWZ is a good candidate to kick back and relieve a hard day's stress with whenever the time is right.

Pros

  • Fundamentally solid, owing to the established Left 4 Dead structure
  • Ramps the scale up beyond L4D and other peers
  • Level randomisation and a glut of upgrades add staying power
  • Loads of characters, none of which are locked into a specific class
  • Old-school competitive multiplayer with an engaging twist...

Cons

  • … Which could’ve used a modern level of polish
  • At times uninspired and always familiar
  • Mostly ineffective use of the World War Z license
  • Friendly AI makes the campaign much weaker played solo
  • Undead tsunamis aren't as scary as they should be

7/10
0 Comments

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden | Xbox One | Review

6/12/2018

 
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden - Xbox One - Review - Pass the Controller

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden takes the turn-based tactics integral to its tabletop namesake and mixes them with real-time stealth and exploration, giving life to a hybrid brand of gameplay which fittingly mirrors the title’s overarching themes.

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by Sam Sant

Picture

@SlamShotSam


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Developer: The
Bearded Ladies

Publisher: Funcom
​Platforms: Xbox One,
PS4, PC

​Players: 1
Developed by some of the talent behind Hitman and Payday, it’s perhaps easiest to liken Mutant Year Zero to the thoroughly excellent Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, in that combat heavily channels XCOM and encounters are separated by spates of third-person adventuring as a party of three. While the anthropomorphic, oddball cast of mouthy mutants in Road to Eden are likeable enough, they really can’t hold a candle to Mario and co., so it’s fortunate that the game does a better job of tying its seemingly disparate styles of gameplay together.

Combat and exploration are seamlessly married here, as, rather than simply crossing the threshold into a designated arena to kick things off, you’ll utilise stealth to ensure you have the greatest possible advantage before manually triggering a battle. Using silent weaponry, it’s possible to pick stragglers off to gradually thin core groups of enemies and allow access to advantageous positions - like full cover or high ground - in order to better plot and execute a meticulous ambush on the main, unmoving force.

You’ll need to build that plan around your character loadouts and abilities, in addition to enemy weaknesses, as a carefully considered approach is all but compulsory. If you’re careless and get spotted in the act, you’ll forfeit good cover and the first turn, which means you’ll quickly feel the opposition's full force. At that point, you most often might as well forfeit, as MYZ is pretty punishing even on the lowest difficulty setting.

By nature, random chance can also play a part in turning the tides either in or against your favour, but there thankfully isn’t a great deal of scope for missing at point-blank range here, with hit likelihoods kept to nice 25% increments. Still, you’d need to be a bit of a masochist to tackle Hard and/or Very Hard, especially with the Iron Mutant permadeath modifier enabled...

The level of challenge does help every victory feel hard earned though, which is a feeling then compounded by rewarding incentives. You’ll gain experience points to spend across refreshingly concise character skill trees, often in addition to Scrap to spend on gear and weapon parts used to upgrade your arsenal.
Straying from the main path to explore offshoots in the game’s “post-human” take on Earth allows you to uncover these materials in abundance, as well as new weapons and armour, plus even the odd side quest. The latter pair with collectibles to flesh out an intriguing background for what’s a rundown-yet-lush world reclaimed by nature; environments are thick with fine visual details, noticeable even from the game’s somewhat removed, isometric perspective, which makes it a shame that the camera can’t be zoomed in to appreciate them to their fullest.

After any stint outside the one remaining safe haven, a hub area known as the Ark, you can return to tune your kit before heading back out into the Zone, which encompasses the rest of the uncharted world, except for the vague promise of Eden. It’s this illusive, titular paradise you spend the game seeking, initially just as Dux and Bormin, a squabbling and lovable duo comprised of (shockingly) a duck and a boar respectively.

More humanoid companions are acquired along the way, but despite their appearance, everyone in MYZ is mutated in some way or another in order to survive the harsh landscape. All of the party characters are decent, but they only ever share playing third fiddle to the more charismatic leading duo; everyone at least maintains the pervasive air of silliness, quite humorously misinterpreting “ancient” technologies to cut through what can otherwise be quite a bleak atmosphere.
MYZ is a strange game, but in the best way - it’s a mechanics and lore-focused gamer’s game not requiring the sort of time and energy commitment many of its ilk do.
If you can put aside the somewhat cumbersome HUD and a few performance hitches - which aren’t too invasive, due to the game’s methodical pacing - there’s an awful lot both to get to grips with and to be gripped by. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a strange game, but in the best way - it’s a mechanics and lore-focused gamer’s game that doesn’t require the sort of crazy time and energy commitment many of its ilk do. For a budget buck, or no extra cost to Xbox Game Pass subscribers, it’s one that fans of role-playing and strategy shouldn’t sleep on.

Pros

  • Ties turn-based combat & real-time exploration together through stealth
  • High level of challenge makes every victory satisfying
  • Bleak-yet-lush world is enticing to discover & explore
  • Strikes a good balance between being comedic & serious
  • Budget asking price for a game that outshines recent AAA disappointments

Cons

  • HUD can be cluttered & inaccurate
  • Frame rate takes the occasional hit
  • Random chance can undo a lengthy, hard-fought combat encounter

8/10
0 Comments

Hitman 2 | Xbox One | Review

12/11/2018

 
Hitman 2 review - Meet Hitman

​The trap was set. Disguised as a barber, Agent 47 waits patiently for his prey. The barber himself was simple enough to subue, as was his wife (who he’d been arguing with only moments before) once she objected to her apparent husband’s sudden change in appearance.

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by James Michael Parry

Twitter - @james_parry

​@james_parry

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Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: WB Games
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, PC
Players: 1-3

Minutes ticked by, the target sauntering ever closer, but just short of entering the barber’s shop. Something was missing. Some sort of spiked face lotion which made him feel compelled to get a shave? Hurtful comments about his beard shouted in the street? Alas, it wasn’t to be and he walked on.

The target was slipping away, which called for drastic action. Scaling a nearby ladder, 47 readied his silenced pistol and from the gangways above the packed street below squeezed the trigger. Target down.

Memorable gameplay experiences like this are par for the course in the world of Hitman. While there are elaborate, pre-planned scenarios which you can follow to set up delightful, elaborate deaths, more often than not (even on the easier difficulties), things don’t quite go to plan.

​Hitman 2 sets off in Bond-lite fashion, the iconic Agent 47 arriving by sea to search a beachside property for intel. While the prologue naturally acts as a tutorial, it’s difficult not to feel slightly pandered to by the extremely basic introduction, where scope is limited to a point that first impressions are unrepresentative of the game to come, at least for the most part.

Across the six main levels, there’s an emphasis on depth and variety. Miami and Mumbai are teeming with activity and huge crowds to merge with, while the fictional Santa Fortuna in Columbia is more of a remote wilderness, complete with a local shaman who you can impersonate to enact one of the game’s more obvious, but nonetheless satisfying, scripted kill sequences.

For this sequel - actually the ninth outing for 47, counting two mobile titles - the episodic format is out (as is Square Enix as publisher), but Elusive Targets, which served to keep players coming back for more after the game’s initial release, will return, kicking off with none other than terminal on-screen casualty Sean Bean in mere days time.
Star power gives us something to look forward to, but the game as it is on release day is something of a mixed bag. While the mission stories (previously known as opportunities) reveal themselves fairly naturally as you explore the world, normally when overhearing a conversation about one of the targets being in need of something from a certain person, who you can then impersonate to get close to them, the scenarios come off as somewhat contrived.

For example, dispatching one cartel boss in the jungles of Columbia, inside his compound no less, can be achieved by impersonating a renown tattoo artist (presumably whose face is known for him to be internationally recognised) and finding an excuse to get everyone else out of the room before doing the deed.​

Afterwards, you might hear the guards you pass by noting how quick the tattoo process was, but otherwise you can be clear of the compound before his body is ever discovered. It all feels a bit convenient… but of course, this wasn’t on the hardest difficulty, which even limits you to one save per level, similar to the restriction found on earlier titles in the series.

To take it too seriously though, would be a mistake, and largely that’s a tone which developer IO Interactive manages to strike effectively. Miami is probably the level in which you see the most madness going on all at once, with an F1-style race happening in the background and you somehow being able to blend in by dressing as a ridiculous mascot character, but there’s no denying it’s extremely satisfying to explore these dense sandboxes.​​
Hitman 2 review - Sniping
Where the tone does take an odd left turn is in the game’s story, which presents itself very seriously in cutscenes, but doesn’t hold up to too much thought. Fortunately you can skip and forget the cinematics, jumping straight back into another adventure, but it’s a shame that IO didn’t find a way to effectively marry the two.
Miami is probably the level in which you see the most madness going on all at once, with you somehow being able to blend in by dressing as a ridiculous mascot character.
Largely speaking, the game is a perfectly serviceable entry in the franchise and certainly has some memorable locations to boast about, but perhaps for those steeped in the series things might not feel so fresh.​

The biggest additions this time around are new multiplayer modes like Ghost, which has players competing to stealthily assassinate the most targets in parallel versions of a level, while doing what they can to sabotage one another, and the Sniper Assassin mode, which sees you working cooperatively, or alone, to take out multiple targets using, you guessed it, sniper rifles.
Himan 2 - Mascot
Overall, Hitman 2 isn’t a step too far from the 2016 iteration of the game, so those that had fun with that release will find plenty more to get stuck into here. The levels are effectively designed with replayability in mind, and there are certainly great moments hidden in various nooks and crannies for an exacting specialist to discover - or, if you’re so inclined, you can simply grab the biggest gun to hand and shoot the place up (at the cost of a decent mission score) while having almost as much fun.

Pros

  • Six levels packed with disguises & inventive things to mess with
  • Accessible on lower difficulties, suitably fiendish on higher ones
  • Mission stories are inventive & memorable...

Cons

  • … but can feel a bit contrived or convenient at times
  • AI can have a very short memory, or be very belligerent
  • While it’s made to be replayed, a single playthrough won’t take too long

8/10
0 Comments

Agony | Xbox One | Review

8/6/2018

 
Agony Xbox One reviews - Pass the Controller

A runaway crowdfunding success story, Agony and its grotesque realisation of Hell recently made it to market with the help of nearly 4,000 passionate backers. While there are plenty of grisly sights to quench the thirst of the gore hounds amongst them, anyone looking for anything more than the modern interpretation of a cheap video nasty will be sorely disappointed.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam

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Developer: Madmind
Studio

Publisher: Madmind
​Studio

​Platforms: ​Xbox
​One, PS4, PC

​Players: 1
Initially refused rating due to graphic scenes of rape and infanticide, which were cut to secure an 18 certificate, Agony revels in controversy. It places gore, nudity and satanic symbolism on a pedestal in a desperate effort to shock, but its for none of these reasons that the game is deeply offensive. Awful menus and loading screens adorned with what look like poorly cut out JPEGS offer an immediate indicator of what’s to come, proceeding to drop you at the gates of Hell with the task of seeking the Red Goddess and a hard pass on eternal damnation along with her.

Madmind Studio’s hellscape is hideous in both an intentional and unintentional sense, constructed of bloody bones, entrails and malformed limbs that are poorly realised on a technical level. Despite the familiar, biblical interpretation of the setting, there’s undeniably some intriguingly disturbed imagery to ogle when environments aren’t obstructively lit. You’ll probably need to crank up the gamma setting to comfortably traverse Agony’s dark and winding corridors, unattractively washing them out in the process.

While areas are interconnected and peppered with secrets, everything looks so samey that it’s exceptionally easy to get lost. This is frustrating enough in itself, but once you also account for the sluggish walk speed and highly limited stamina supply, simple traversal becomes laborious. Hell feels labyrinthine in the worst way, making a punishing early venture into a literal maze the point at which many will likely throw in the towel.

That’s also where Agony remembers to shoehorn in its weak, wider gameplay mechanics, incorporating simple puzzles and, frankly, dreadful stealth. You can’t engage demonic denizens in combat, aping the likes of Amnesia and Outlast, but the vagina-faced foes can’t hope to instil the same helpless feelings of dread. They’re pretty thick (in terms of intelligence) for starters, easily distracted with flaming torches and evaded simply by crouching and holding your breath, though that’s not to say they aren’t deadly if you get careless.
Anyone looking for anything more than the modern interpretation of a cheap video nasty will be sorely disappointed.
Sneaking slows the trudging pace to an absolute crawl, which means you’ll inevitably get bored and make a run for it, almost guaranteeing that you get spotted and face swift murder. After succumbing to a screenful of bare busters, your soul leaves the body and you’re presented a window of time in which to possess a lesser thrall and pick up where you left off. Possessions are automatic on easy difficulty, but require input on normal and send you back to the last poorly-placed checkpoint in the event of failure.

Finding and eating Forbidden Fruit - or Fanny Smith apples, as we call them for reasons you can probably extrapolate - allows you to acquire and upgrade skills that’ll at least give you a better chance at survival. That’s assuming you actually want to extend the trip, mind, as masses of alternate endings and a couple of additional modes - one offering endless procedurally generated challenges and the other the chance to replay the story as a succubus - did absolutely nothing to tempt us into holding the controller for any longer than absolutely necessary.
You might think all that seems a tad harsh, but we haven’t even touched on the crippling technical issues yet. Agony’s frame rate is choppy at best, glitches prevented us from making progress on a few occasions, and the audio is completely bust. Diegetic sounds emanate from the wrong directions, while ambient effects and voice overs constantly cut in and out and jarringly loop back on themselves; missing dialogue makes the unengaging narrative harder to follow than it should be, but, more egregiously, deprives you of relishing every syllable of the hysterically awkward scripting and delivery.

​
Let’s not mince words here: Agony is a sub-par, early access product masquerading as a finished release. Patches can only hope to make it stably abysmal, as opposed to plain broken, so you should absolutely avoid the unnecessary agony it’ll so ironically impose upon you.

Pros

  • Environments are occasionally interesting
  • They didn’t steal the Kickstarter money

Cons

  • Totally borked audio
  • All shock value & no substance
  • Moves at a gruellingly slow pace
  • Tedious stealth sections
  • Hideous visuals

2/10
0 Comments

Vampyr | PS4 | Review

5/6/2018

 
Vampyr PlayStation 4 review - Pass the Controller

The latest entry in the rapidly expanding Focus Home Interactive stable, Vampyr is brought to life by sleeper development studio DONTNOD Entertainment (Life is Strange, Remember Me). An ambitious action RPG, Vampyr casts players as Dr. Jonathan Reid and unleashes them on an occult interpretation of 1918 London, framed by relevant Victorian themes in class, disease, race and religion.

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by Sam Sant

Picture

@SlamShotSam


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Developer: DONTNOD
​Entertainment

Publisher: Focus Home
Interactive

​Platforms: ​PS4, Xbox
One, PC

​Players: 1
It’s an immediately engaging premise, all the more so when the good doctor awakens to find himself amnesiac, undead and succumbing to an insatiable bloodlust; unable to resist feeding on the first person he sees, the newborn vamp unwittingly draws the ire of a professional beast hunting company. Flashbacks piece together how Jonathan came to be in such an unenviable situation, leading him to seek concealment by pursuing a job as resident surgeon for a struggling hospital.

From here on in, you’ll aim to seek out the vampire responsible for turning Dr. Reid, whilst also juggling occupational and moral commitments to hospital staff and patients. It’s easy to dismiss the familiar exclamation that your choices will carry significant consequences - they very rarely do, in spite of many games spuriously spewing similar boasts - but through its dynamic difficulty and community systems, Vampyr makes good on its promise.

Every single citizen you encounter has a personality, relationships and community standing within their borough. As you interact with the people of London you’re drip fed tidbits that slowly lead you to unfurl the city’s intricate social tapestry, gleaning valuable knowledge that can be employed in numerous ways, for example unlocking unique dialogue options that might lead to optional side quests.

Dining on these rounded townsfolk is by far the most efficient way to acquire experience points, which you’ll need to evolve and acquire a wide range of powerful abilities. Deviously, the experience you earn from ‘embracing’ a character increases alongside your perception of them, so supping on those closest to you is the most rewarding. In a world so desperately bleak, you’ll find that every character is sympathetic to some degree, making for a constant moral quandary as combat encounters grow increasingly more difficult should you choose to abstain from having a friend for dinner.
Every single citizen you encounter has a personality, relationships and community standing within their borough.
Furthermore, should your moral compass be broken, you aren’t entirely off the hook. Mounting homicide cases may lead people to flee, stores to increase their prices due to the dangers of operation, or, if you’re a real glutton, even plunge a district into irreparable chaos and eradicate its population. That’ll lock you out of any content tied to the unfortunates at hand and also prevent you from rearing any more meat in the area, so it’s best to use your skills as a medical practitioner to craft cures from looted gubbins and subsequently use ‘em to keep the health of a borough at an even keel.

When Shadow of Mordor and later Shadow of War were lauded for their ‘revolutionary’ Nemesis Systems, which supposedly served to build meaningful rivalries, we wondered if we might’ve missed something. The community systems within Vampyr don’t fall similarly flat, realising the potential in attaching a player to what would otherwise be secondary NPCs by making every exchange consequential on multiple levels.

Exploring the quasi open world, rich with environmental detail and written lore as it is, can be as fruitful as conversing in the pursuit of useful information. You’re often kept to a relatively linear path by unpickable locks that gate progress, which isn’t an inherent issue, but is somewhat galling when you consider Jonathan has the ability to teleport and could feasibly get anywhere, but arbitrarily can’t outside of designated contextual prompts. Regardless, streets and interiors alike are a dark and moody treat to turn over for crafting components, used to upgrade weapons and produce injectable buffs that aid in violent confrontations with humans, vampires and additional beasties.

As an immortal, Dr. Reid eats bullets for breakfast, but the likes of fire and holy symbols will quickly turn the tides. Each enemy has their own unique strengths and weaknesses, which, when coupled with a range of classes, create a varied opposition that present challenge in numbers. They’ll work in synergy to bring you down, necessitating knowledge of their respective attack patterns and target hierarchy.
Vampyr PlayStation 4 review - Pass the Controller
The community systems within Vampyr attach players to what would otherwise be secondary NPCs, making every exchange consequential on multiple levels.
Bouts are fast paced and scrappy, very similar to Bloodborne both visually and mechanically, seeing you lock-on to a single target before launching attacks and dodges at the cost of stamina. Firearms can be equipped to the off-hand when using a one-handed weapon and unloaded without need to manually aim, or, alternatively, a secondary off-hand melee weapon can be used to inflict negative status effects, like a stun that presents feeding opportunities.

This is where the more unique aspects of combat come into play, as you’ll periodically want to clamp your jaws around someone’s neck to keep your blood gauge topped up - blood being required to perform a range of lesser and ultimate abilities that range from simply healing yourself to boiling an opponent’s blood. There’s really a lot at your disposal, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that combat here isn’t nearly as polished as its clear inspiration, lacking the same engaging challenge thanks to some simple exploits.


Animations can also come off as a little stiff, pulling you out of the moment in the midst of an otherwise satisfying combo, but even on the odd occasion that Vampyr underwhelms visually it continues to impresses aurally. Battlecries are particularly guttural, while theatrical voiceovers commit to the patchy script with convincing verve, all complemented by the bellowing chelos and screeching violins of an excellent - and also decidedly Bloodborne-esque - ambient soundtrack.
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Whilst Vampyr can feel overly familiar in certain areas, it borrows from the top and at its core holds a unique and intelligent social framework that intertwines engaging themes and characters to birth an enthralling, meaningfully manipulable narrative. It mixes up the conventional RPG structure whilst maintaining a nice balance between management, conversation, combat and exploration to retain the same moreish X factor that made so many fall in love with the genre to begin with. If you can take the rough with the smooth, you’ll find a lot to love in what’s easily DONTNOD Entertainment’s best game yet.

Pros

  • Thoroughly engaging social systems
  • Dynamic, morality-based difficulty
  • Impactful decision making
  • Developed characters & setting
  • Satisfying, varied combat...

Cons

  • … Which can at times feel derivative & exploitable
  • Some jarring animations & ugly character models
  • Areas are restrictively gated

8/10
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