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4X style games aren't the kinds of games you start to kill an hour or two, they're the ones you start when you want to kill days. I can remember whole LANs that were lost to games like Alpha Centauri, whoever was "dragging the chain" on their turn ridiculed endlessly until they were done. Indeed when I first spun up Stellaris, the latest game from Paradox Interactive, I recieved a message from one of my friends saying I wouldn't have time to finish it. As the unfolding hours showed he was 100% correct as even 9 hours with this game feel like you're barely even scratching the surface. Still I can see the appeal but unfortunately Stellaris tends towards repetition very rapidly, making longer sessions more of a chore than anything else.
You're the leader of a young civilisation that's just discovered the miracle of space flight. Like all good civilisations your first task is to set about exploring the universe in the hopes of finding other planets and solar systems ripe for exploitation. Along the way you'll likely encounter other lifeforms (some more or less advanced than you), relics of civilisations of the past and all sorts of celestial phenomena. The tools you'll have at your disposal will vary widely each time you attempt this and will greatly impact the way in which you expand into the universe. Whether your civilisation thrives or perishes is up to you and the decisions you make in your journey across the great black.
Like most games in the 4X genre Stellaris errs on the side of simple graphics without too much flair. Since you'll be spending most of your time zoomed all the way out this doesn't come up too often, although the lack of detail becomes glaringly obvious for things like the ship designer. Of course these low-fi graphics are a deliberate choice as most of your rig's horsepower will be focused on churning through the simulations required. For the most part this works well however there are some rather glaring issues with the simulation system which can make your experience far more frustrating than it needs to be (more on that later).
The core game of Stellaris is your typical 4X affair, centred around finding new planets, colonising them if you can and repeating that process ad infinitum. Stellaris shakes things up a little bit by taking a different approach to the upgrade/technology tree system, dividing all upgrades into 3 categories. Each of these categories can be researched by a scientist but what they can research is random. This means that you could, potentially, go the entire game without getting the technology required to build colony ships. Armies, rather than being pre-defined types, are all fully customisable. This means that there's another element of randomness when it comes to combat as you can never be quite sure how well your army composition stacks up against another. Finally since your aim in Stellaris is to be a true galactic empire there's a system to add planets to "sectors" which are then controlled by an AI for you. There's still more to Stellaris however even summarising them all would take longer than I have to write and you to read, I'd wager.
Starting off Stellaris is a daunting prospect as there's just so much thrown at you that it's easy to get overwhelmed. The tutorial system does a pretty good job of walking you through everything however it'll probably take a couple retries before you get the hang of the basics. Once you get past that point however the early game can be quite interesting as you try to pick out the best upgrades, figure out where to best place your outposts/colonies and how you deal with the hostiles getting in your way. Indeed I think my favourite part of Stellaris is the early to mid game as it feels quite varied, progress is consistent and there are no major issues getting in your way. It's once the game starts to creep past the 2 to 3 hour mark that things start to turn south, usually for a variety of different reasons.
Typically you'll spend the first part of your game defining your borders and trying to cordon off sectors that you can exploit later. Past a certain point though all your territory will be exploited and your borders brushing up against numerous potential foes. It's at this point you have a tough decision to make: either start preparing for total war with someone (although you should probably do that anyway as it'll likely come for your eventually) or start attempting diplomatic relations. The latter is, honestly, a total crap shoot as it seems most alien races aren't willing to do anything unless you lavish them with resources. The former is the option you will be forced into at one point or another as there's simply no way to expand your territory otherwise. Worse still if you do want to play pacifist there's every chance that another race will simply not take a liking to you and completely decimate you, something that happened to me on several occasions.
The sector system, whilst a good idea, does little to reduce the burden of ensuring that your system is running as well as it can be. Sure you can set goals and whatnot but issues like a mixed species population, developing factions, etc. will all keep drawing your attention. As your empire grows these problems become more and more frequent making it incredibly draining to run an empire that spans more than a few sectors. Indeed I abandoned a couple games simply because they became too tiresome to continue with, instead wanting to try my hand at starting again to see if there was a better way to set myself up. In the end I didn't find anything which is probably why I didn't play as much as your average Paradox Interactive fan does (around 30+ hours, according to the data I have available).
There are also some niggling issues which need to be addressed. The fact that achievements can only be acquired in Ironman Mode is something the game doesn't make obvious to you and is honestly a pain to get working. It took me more than 5 hours of game play to realise I hadn't gotten a signle achievement and then another 30 minutes of getting the cloud save feature working so I could actually start a game with achievements on. Worse still the Ironman Mode saves every month, something that freezes your game session every minute or so if you're playing on fastest. Honestly it's more frustrating than its worth which is why I think most simply don't bother. This isn't to mention some quality of life improvements that are required, like being able to filter planets you've scanned by say habitable status, or your colonies by the type of shipyard you have and so on. Essentially a lot of it relies on your memory or simple brute forcing, something which takes much of the joy out of the experience. Indeed I'm not alone in thinking this either as many of the threads I read whilst trying to find these things led me to other players looking for the same features.
The emergent stories of Stellaris can be quite engaging though, both from the perspective of how you grew your empire to the various little pre-generated story titbits that are strewn throughout the universe. One of my empires tried, with varying levels of success, to infiltrate a less developed race to prep them for our arrival. Another alien race found out about this though and accused me of enslaving them. Whilst that was partially the point on my end (it was a strategic planet) the fact that they reacted in such a way was a surprise to me. This did mean the end of my civilisation however as the other alien race was far better equipped for war than I was.
Stellaris is an adequately competent 4X game with a bevy of unique features that keep the experience fresh and interesting, at least in the early to mid game. The random technology trees, procedurally generated galaxies and random alien races means every play through will be unique. However the game rapidly becomes a burden the longer you play it, even with the AI systems that are designed to make your life a little easier. The niggling issues that are still present even a month after release only exacerbate this problem, especially if you're someone who wants to hunt down all the achievements. Overall I think Stellaris is worth the price of admission, especially for fans of Paradox or the 4X genre, but falls short of my "must play" list.
Rating: 7.5/10
Stellaris is available on PC right now for $39.99. Total game time was approximately 9 hours with 26% of the achievements unlocked.
I came so close to breaking one of my rules for Overwatch, I really did.
If you're one of my esteemed long time readers you'll know that I steer clear of betas and greenlight games. My reasons for this are twofold; firstly reviewing unfinished products feels like I'm doing a disservice to the game and to you, dear reader. Secondly I've ruined final releases of games for myself numerous times by playing betas but there is one exception to that rule: Blizzard games. I've been in numerous Blizzard betas and every time they've made me hungry for the full game. Overwatch was no exception to this and I very nearly did a full review based on the beta alone. It really is that good.
Overwatch takes place in the near future, some time after the resolution of the Omnic Crisis. This event took place after the Omnic artificial intelligence roused all robots around the world to rebel against humanity, causing war on a global scale. To combat this the Overwatch task force was formed, an elite group of soldiers who put an end to the uprising. For some time afterwards they stayed on as a peacekeeping force, ensuring that human and omnic alike could exist together in harmony. However rumours of corruption and foul play began to spread around Overwatch's activities and they were eventually disbanded. However the time has come for them to band together again as the world needs them now more than ever.
Overwatch isn't your typical low-poly aesthetic that Blizzard is known for, but you can definitely see and feel it's influence on everything. The heavily stylised aesthetic is reminiscent of other team based shooters like Team Fortress 2 but retains Blizzard's flair for colourful and vibrant environments. All of this comes to us via a new engine developed specifically for Overwatch, likely born out of the remnants of Blizzard's cancelled next generation MMORPG: Titan. Indeed Overwatch carries with it the essence of what that game might have been with many of the levels and characters drawn directly from said game. It should be unsurprising then just how polished everything is; that Blizzard trademark of "only releasing when it's done" aptly demonstrated here.
As I alluded to earlier Overwatch is a team based shooter, pitting you in a 6v6 fight against another team. Your team, if it's well balanced, will be made up of 4 different kinds of characters (attack, defence, tank and support) chosen from 21 heroes that are available at launch. There's only 2 types of game modes available currently: king of the hill, where you have to capture and hold a single point, and payload escort. You'll gain profile levels as you play and each time you level up you'll get a loot box filled with random cosmetics, voice lines and sprays that you can paint the level with. At its core Overwatch is astonishingly simple however the various combinations of heroes and maps means that game play stays fresh and challenging no matter how long you play for.
Combat is extremely slick, something which is likely unexpected given the fact that this is Blizzard's first foray into the FPS genre. Each of the characters has a very unique personality with each of them handling very differently given their wide discrepancies in abilities. For the most though it sticks to the more traditional FPS tropes: main/alternate fire on weapons, non-regenerating health and a tendency towards more run and gun style play. This doesn't mean it plays out the same way though as the various abilities each of the classes have make Overwatch feel anything but traditional.
There's two key things to take into consideration whenever you start an Overwatch match: the map and the enemy team's composition. Some maps play better to some characters than others: the big open ones favouring characters with better mobility whilst the tight, cramped ones favouring those who can surprise you with a lethal dose of damage. There's also some maps that will favour heroes with, let's call them "cheap", ways of instantly killing you by knocking you off the edge or down a bottomless well. I honestly didn't pay it much mind during the closed beta however playing with an organised group more in the final release has shown me just how impactful the map is on which heroes will work and which ones don't.
Overwatch encourages you to swap heroes to meet the situation at hand and you should if things aren't working out for you. Blizzard has been open about the fact that the heroes aren't balanced with 1v1 encounters in mind and each hero has a rival that will completely counter them. So an Overwatch match is all about adaptability, meaning that if you want to win games you'll have to be comfortable switching things up on a regular basis. For someone like me who enjoys playing all different kinds of heroes (although I do main support) this is a great thing and is what has kept me coming back time and time again. However I can see how that might irk some players who might be coming from other competitive FPS games as there's no one class to rule them all. Still I think Blizzards approach is far more welcoming to all kinds of players, something that is reflected in the sheer volume of people that have flocked to play Overwatch.
My only gripe that I have with Overwatch is the relatively basic matchmaking system which could do with a few tweaks to make it a little better. Once you join match that's going to be the team you're stuck with until people leave. This is great if you're with a bunch of great players who help you win, however if you're on a losing team that's not working together it's not so enjoyable. This is where Blizzard could take a leaf out of other FPS' books as shaking up the team composition every match would make for much fairer and streamlined game play. Of course you don't have to stay with the same team but having to leave and rejoin after every match can be a little tiresome. Strangely Blizzard isn't the only one to make this mistake with other big name titles like Star Wars Battlefront making similar errors in judgement. It's a small gripe but one I hope to see fixed in the not too distant future.
When I first heard that Blizzard was making a team based shooter I wasn't holding my breath for any sort of depth to the story however in true Blizzard fashion the backstory to Overwatch's world is deep, engrossing and just begging to be explored. The character biographies, the incredibly well done short films and the comics all build up a world that's so much bigger than what's explored in game. It really does make me ache for what Titan could have been as the story, and the characters Blizzard has built out of it, are some of the most interesting and deep that I've ever come across in this kind of game. I'm hopeful that Blizzard will keep exploring this world as the game progresses and, should the Warcraft movie commercial success be anything to go by, we could hopefully see it bridge out into other media as well.
Overwatch is everything I've come to expect from a Blizzard game and so much more. Whilst I may pine for what may have been with Titan what was born out of its ashes is nothing short of incredible, demonstrating Blizzard's dedication to quality games that are, above all, fun. The unique and varied classes, combined with the handful of maps, might not seem like much on the surface but in combination they provide near infinite amounts of replayability. The game is polished to the high standards Blizzard has set with all its previous titles, something which was clear even early on in the closed beta. However what clinches it all for me is the story that is woven in the background, something which I dearly hope Blizzard continues to explore. Overwatch has, for me, set the bar for what a competitive shooter should look like and I'm excited to see how it evolves.
Rating: 9.5/10
Overwatch is available on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 right now for $99.95 on all platforms. Game was played on the PC with approximately 10 hours played in the closed beta and 10 hours in the final release.
When it comes to the FPS genre they simply don't make them like they used to. Now I'm not saying this because I lust for the past as many of the characteristics of old school FPS games were born out of limitations more than anything else. Indeed many of the changes that your bog standard FPS has today were done specifically to address the deficiencies in the genre. However, as with all change, sometimes things are lost in the transition. The 2016 reboot of Doom looks to recapture the essence of the original, now 2 decades old, game play whilst amping it up with a modern embellishments.
You awake on top of a stone table, surrounded by candles and gore. Before you have time to think you're set upon by other worldly demons, hell bent on your destruction. Beside you is a gun, your only means of making it out of here alive. Seconds later the room is strewn with the corpses of your enemies, devastated by your rage. It's a scene that will play out time and time again as you battle your way through the facility you find yourself in. All of this because humanity needed to solve its energy needs by tapping directly into hell, indifferent to the risks that doing so might pose. You must stop them but as to why? Well, there's only one way to find out.
Doom is the first game to be released on the id Tech 6 engine which, whilst designed by the venerable John Carmack, was principally developed by Tiago Sousa previously of CryTek fame. The main improvement comes via the reintroduction of dynamic lighting, something which helps alleviate the bland, lifeless feeling that id Tech 5 games had. Visually it's quite impressive, even if the vast majority of it takes place in corridors or boxed in areas. What is most impressive however is how id Tech 6 is able to deliver consistent, smooth as glass performance even when there's all sorts of mayhem going on. Hopefully id chooses to license the engine more widely this time around as I'm sure there's a lot of developers out there who'd be keen to make use of this engine's performance.
Unsurprisingly Doom takes its inspiration from its predecessors, bringing back the core FPS game play of yesteryear. Weapons don't need to be reloaded, have alternate fire modes and you can carry each weapon with you, changing them as you see fit. There's no regenerating health, instead you'll be scouring the environment for health, armour and picking up slivers of health from downed enemies. There's an upgrade system for both yourself and the weapons you carry with the required points coming to you via completing challenges, killing stuff and exploring the map to find collectibles. Other than that Doom plays out pretty much exactly how you'd expect it to, being the definition of a corridor shooter.
The combat is fast paced, intense and unforgiving. Most encounters occur in rooms (both large and small) and you'll be fighting wave after wave of enemies before you're allowed to progress to the next section. As you progress through the game the number and variety of enemies increases linearly, meaning you'll need to be quick to adapt in order to make it through each challenge. You'll never be a one weapon wonder as most enemies have their way of making a good chunk of your arsenal useless against them. For instance the Hell Knights love to get up close and personal, making any of the longer ranged weapons largely ineffective. Thankfully nearly all of the guns have a good amount of utility in them save for possibly the super shotgun which just seemed horrendously useless.
It bears mention that when I say "intense" I really mean it. Playing Doom for extended stretches is quite the exhausting mental experience, enough so that I'm sure the "Save and Exit" button shown to you at the end of each chapter was put there deliberately. Whilst throwing wave after wave of enemies at a player isn't exactly a novel concept Doom makes it anything but boring. Indeed even in repeating the same encounter it's not likely going to play out in much the same way, even if you know when and where everything is going to spawn. So unlike many other FPS games, which I tend to play for hours at a time, I couldn't really do much more than a single chapter in Doom without needing a break. You'd think that would be a negative however, in this modern age of FPS games, it's actually quite refreshing as few games (even ones like Dark Souls) have tired me out that quickly mentally.
The upgrade system is a nice touch, allowing you to mould the experience a little more to your liking. The map makes it easy to get all the tokens, trials and collectibles and most of the challenges are relatively easy to accomplish. Indeed I didn't do every level to perfection and had pretty much everything at max about 2 hours before the end of the game, meaning you won't be wanting for progression for long. Min/maxing the various stats that matter to you won't make the game that much easier however it will give you more leeway in how encounters play out. The only upgrade that made a noticeable difference to my game play were the early upgrades to the amount of ammo I could carry as they meant I could use my weapon du'jour for that much longer.
Doom is a mostly polished experience however there were a few rough edges that caught me out every so often. One particular section of the game seemed to randomly crash to desktop on me every 5 minutes or so. There was no error message or anything and it was gone after half an hour so I didn't bother investigating further. Additionally some of the enemies with physics based abilities (like punting you across the map) can sometimes cause the inevitable stuck in the wall or falling through the level glitches. I did notice a patch that came out just after I finished my play through however so it's likely that some of these issues have been smoothed out. For a first release on a new engine though it's commendable that there were so few issues.
Now FPS games aren't exactly renown for their deep stories and Doom isn't much of an exception to this. Sure there's a treasure trove of background locked away in the data files you can pick up but, for the most part, it's just your stereotypical action movie-esque tropes. Realistically you're not playing Doom for the plot, you're doing it for the action, so the amount of effort put into the story is above what I've typically come to expect. They do lose a few points for screaming sequel right at the end however, a sin from which no game can ever be forgiven. Overall it's above average but not something I'd recommend playing Doom for.
Doom is an homage to the FPS games of old, dragging them kicking and screaming into the present day. The id Tech 6 engine shines with its debut title, showing that id can still produce exemplary technology even in John Carmack's absence. The game is a fast paced, ultra-intense slugfest that's sure to delight FPS gamers both young and old. It might not be a perfect experience but those slight foibles are easily forgotten. The story is above average for its class but not a feature that I think many will come to care about. Overall Doom does exactly what it set out to do: to bring FPS gaming back to its roots whilst paying tribute to the two decades of time that have passed since.
Rating: 9.0/10
DOOM is available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One right now for $59.99, $80 and $80 respectively. Game was played on the PC with 10 hours of total play time and 58% of the achievements unlocked.
If there's one game that you should buy a PlayStation for it's Uncharted. Naughty Dog made a name for themselves by being a premier developer on Sony's flagship console and each subsequent release of Uncharted was simply another demonstration of how they were a cut above the rest. Of course that would be nothing if the actual game itself wasn't any good but the Uncharted series has been consistently good over it's almost 10 year life span. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is the final instalment in Nathan Drake's story and the last title in the series that will be developed by Naughty Dog. True to their pedigree this last hurrah is a fitting end for the series and another testament to Naughty Dog's exceptional craftsmanship when it comes to PlayStation titles.
Uncharted 4 explores the somewhat blurry past of the main protagonist, taking you back and forth between the present and the past. It's set some time after the events of Uncharted 3 where Nate has settled down with Elena. He's taken a job doing salvage and recovery work, a far cry from his adventuring days of years gone by. However adventure still calls to him with tantalizing prospects always nipping at his feet. It's not until his past comes back to haunt him that he heeds the call once again. This last adventure could be the end of him or at least all the things he cares about but Nate's obsession is a hard thing to ignore.
Uncharted 4 is an absolutely stunning game, one that clearly demonstrates just how powerful the PlayStation4 can be when it's fully utilized. Everything from the wide open vistas of the gorgeous tropical islands to the dark, cramped caves that you explore is brimming with detail. The extensive use of modern lighting effects, particle systems and an incredibly detailed physics system makes for some of the most realistic and immersive environments that I've seen to date. This is shown best by the screenshots I captured below, all of which are done in-game, not during a cinematic. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise honestly as this is what Naughty Dog is known for doing but, once again, Uncharted 4 sets the bar for all future PlayStation4 titles to beat.
For long time fans of the series Uncharted 4's game play will feel very familiar, retaining all the core mechanics of the previous games. You'll be running, jumping and climbing your way through all sorts of environments, most of which will be falling down around you while you do it. Combat comes in the tried and true 3rd person shooter format with the same 2 weapon limitation and infinite health regeneration. The stealth system has been improved somewhat, allowing you to tag enemies before making your way around the level to take them out. There's also extensive vehicle sections which allow you to 4WD yourself around various places giving you a nice change of pace from the usual running and jumping. Lastly you'll be solving various weird and wonderful puzzles, some of which do require a good deal of lateral thinking to solve. All in all Uncharted 4 is, at a game play level, a final evolution of the series more than it is a revolutionary one.
Combat largely feels the same as its predecessors as you'll be going from cover to cover, seeking out enemies and taking them out as you see fit. Weapons in the same category as each other feel largely the same, with the only differences being in special weapons like a grenade launch or a sniper rifle. Variation in the enemies you'll fight is also relatively low with their toughness directly related to how much armour they're wearing. This isn't to say that the combat isn't exciting or satisfying, it most certainly can be when you make it through in one go, it's just nothing we haven't seen before. However it is one of the most polished versions of this kind of game play that I've seen.
Stealth feels a little better than it did in previous titles however it's still missing a few additional mechanics that would polish some of the rougher edges. For instance whilst you can run away to regain "stealth" status there's no other way in which to regain it. It also seems like there are no silenced weapons in this game (I couldn't find any at least) which means that there are some situations where doing it all by stealth is either incredibly difficult or just flat out impossible. Lastly since there's literally no benefit to doing everything quietly you might as well just run and gun your way through it all since that's so much quicker and less prone to mistakes. Indeed if you asked me what I think Uncharted 4's weakest point was it would be this one mechanic as it's just not up to the same standard as the rest of the game is.
Exploration has been augmented in Uncharted 4 by the addition of a grappling hook, something which strangely didn't make an appearance in previous titles despite the story showing Drake using one often in his earlier days. This opens up a lot of the environments, allowing the developers to make them far more expansive but still enabling the player to explore them. The grappling hook also allows for some ludicrous action movie-esque scenes to take place, something which I'm definitely not adverse to. The climbing is the same as it always was which is not to say it's bad, just that climbing in these games is a pretty passive affair. Again it's like many elements of Uncharted 4's game play: unoriginal but refined and polished.
The addition of vehicle sections is one of the nicer touches that Naughty Dog added to Uncharted 4 as it further opens up the environments that you're able to explore. As a result Uncharted 4 feels so much more expansive than its predecessors did. Of course this also makes looking for the various bits of hidden treasure just that little bit more frustrating as there's so much more area to explore. I mostly gave up on doing that unless I saw what looked like an obvious hiding spot as you could lose dozens of hours trying to find everything. I'm sure there's a non-zero percentage of players that will love that however.
Uncharted 4's story is everything it should be, from the writing to the voice acting to the motion capture. All of the performances in Uncharted 4 are top notch which helps to bring the on-screen visuals to life. Each of the elements I've discussed so far are great on their own however Naughty Dog has managed to combine them all together seamlessly into a great experience. The only gripe I have is that the story starts to drag around the last quarter or so but the finale is worth it. I really don't want to say much more as you really should just play it, especially if you've been following the series since inception.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End yet again demonstrates Naughty Dog's domination of the PlayStation 4, showcasing their expertise in creating experiences on this platform. It is by far the best looking game on PlayStation 4 to date and will be for a while to come. The core game, whilst evolutionary and familiar, is extremely well done. The improvements might be formulaic but the entire experience is tied together so well that it's easy to overlook those aspects. As always the story is well done with the writers, voice and motion capture actors all coming together to produce a great performance. Uncharted 4, in my opinion, is the flagship title for the PlayStation 4 and a must play for anyone who owns this console.
Rating: 9.25/10
Uncharted 4 is available on PlayStation 4 right now for $77. Total play time was approximately 12 hours with 11% of the trophies unlocked.
Having been playing games for as long as I have it's interesting to see certain ideas come and go. I remember about 5 years ago a quirky little offshoot of the Spore franchise was released, called Darkspore. In it you played a creature that you could modify with different pieces of…other creatures, much like you could in the original Spore game. You acquired these by defeating enemies, usually co-operatively with other players. Whilst it was never really mainstream it did manage to stick around until March this year before closing. Battleborn is a similar idea brought to us care of Gearbox, renowned for their prowess in developing loot-focused FPS RPGs. However its release coincided with the open beta weekend of Overwatch. Whilst they are decidedly different games it's going to be a challenge for Battleborn to shine in Overwatch's shadow, even with Gearbox's pedigree behind it.
The universe is dying. A cataclysmic event has seen all the planets and stars die out, leaving behind nothing but darkness. There is but one star left, Solus, and all the remaining life forms have gathered around it in hopes of protecting it. However many evil forces would see Solus meet its end long before its due. That is where you come in, dear Battleborn, being part of an elite group charged with defending Solus from all the threats it faces. Of course we understand that your services aren't free and you'll have your share of phat lewts and credits to make it worth your while. So, are you ready to save the universe?
Battleborn brings with it Gearbox's trademark cell shaded aesthetic that was made popular with the Borderlands series. Graphically there doesn't appear to be much in the way of improvements since The Pre-Sequel, likely because they're both powered by the same Unreal 3 engine under the hood. However there's usually quite a lot more going on in Battleborn so keeping the graphics at a similar level is likely to ensure it remains playable under load. In that respect it does well being able to maintain constant framerates even when there's a cacophony of destruction happening on screen. I would have liked a few more in-game options to tweak the visuals up a little more like AA or something similar (I can't remember seeing an option for that in-game).
Mechanically Battleborn feels very similar to Borderlands in some respects, what with it being a FPS RPG. However the progression system is vastly different with in-game levels and talent tree choices being for that particular mission or PVP match only. You'll still get oodles of loot though, most of which is not character specific and thus can be used to customize any of the Battleborns you have unlocked. There are character and player levels however and each of those will reward you with new perks, characters and various cosmetics. The core game mechanic can either be a kind of single-instance PVE mission or a straight up PVP match. Either of them will last about 30 minutes in total and can be played solo or in groups. If it's sounding like there's a lot going on in Battleborn then you're right and it's really quite hard to summarize it in a single paragraph. If you ever played Darkspore though a lot of this will seem familiar to you as it largely similar, just with Gearbox's usual flair for the comic and ludicrous layered on top.
Matches or missions start out the same: you and your team pick out which characters you want to use. Whilst you could say that all characters fit into the tank/dps/support paradigm most of them broach more than one of those categories. Group composition still matters however as lack of sustain, damage or the ability to soak up damage will make your life a lot harder than it should be. Once you've chosen your characters you're stuck with them until the mission is over, something which can be a little annoying if you come up against another group that counters you well. Still, just like with other MOBAs, even heroes that counter each other can be overcome with skill and good teamwork, something which you'll need a lot of to succeed in Battleborn.
The in-game progression system, whereby you can get up to 10 levels per game and choose talents to suit, is an interesting twist. It encourages you to experiment with different combinations of talents between games and helps ensure that playing the same character over and over doesn't get boring. Similarly the loot you get through playing, which has to be activated with the in-match currency of shards, allows you to further refine your character to the situation at hand. One gripe I will make here is that the levelling system can seem to vary wildly. Sometimes I'd get level after level whilst other times, seemingly doing the same thing I was doing before, would result in a trickle of XP. This isn't too much of an issue in the PVE scenarios however for PVP it can make quite a huge difference. I'm sure there's an explanation for this somewhere but it's not explained clearly in game.
Of course the hook that Gearbox built into Battleborn is the loot which comes to you via random drops or purchasing loot packs using in-game currency. The attributes are random, as is the loot quality, meaning that you'll be working for some time to get that perfect piece of kit for your load out. I lucked out with a few good drops early on which made my healer classes quite powerful and hence tended to play them more often than not. If you're the kind of person who spent many hours farming pearlescents then I'm sure this kind of loot system will appeal to you. However it does mean there's a drastic gap between new and old players, something which can become readily apparent in the PVP matches. A few decent drops can close that gap a little bit, but a person with all greens is going to be far less effective than someone who's got legendaries across the board.
Initially Battleborn is quite overwhelming as there's just so much going on at once it's hard to get a handle on it all. After a few hours though things start to make sense at it becomes one of those oh-so-fun min/maxing problems that RPG fans like me love. If gear is what you're after you are best placed to do the PVE missions although getting a good group (who will mean you get more loot) can be a little hard. You can, of course, run this with friends which would make the whole thing a lot easier. Unlocking all the Battleborns will take some time however as even with my 13 hours of play time I was barely halfway through unlocking them all. I'm sure this is by design however as Gearbox is hoping that Battleborn will be the game to hook its fans for the next few years.
One small gripe I want to level at Battleborn was some of the limits of the matchmaking system. You can't, for instance, queue for specific missions. If you're trying to complete the main quest line this can be rather frustrating, especially when people don't vote for the map you want to do. Additionally should the matchmaking system not find someone for you to group with it'll put you in solo, something which I think most players would not want. Indeed there's an option to do it privately so, by definition, choosing matchmaking means you want to play with others. This could be easily fixed by including an option to find a full group before proceeding, something which I would've gladly used instead of trying to struggle through a mission myself or with just one other player.
The story of Battleborn comes with Gearbox's usual flair for the comedic and absurd. It definitely helps to lighten up what can otherwise be a bit of a dull grind, especially on some of the longer missions, although it does mean that the story doesn't go terribly deep. Of course you're not playing Battleborn for the story, you're doing it for the loot, so the fact that most characters are fleshed out well is just a bonus. It looks like Gearbox are planning additional PVE story missions as part of their DLC too which will only further expand the story. Overall it's a solid story experience that keeps it light and fun, as we've come to expect.
Battleborn brings a lot to the table, so much so that its hard to describe the game in a few sentences. At its heart it shares the same FPS RPG mechanics that Gearbox developed so well with the Borderlands series but the differences between the two games could not be more stark. The inclusion of both PVE and PVP game modes, both of which offer solid avenues of progression, means that Battleborn is targeted to a much wider audience than the gun grinders of Borderlands. Suffice to say if like shooting things, characters that bring with them a truckload of levity and love a good loot chase then Battleborn is right up your alley.
Rating: 8.75/10
Battleborn is available on PC, XboxOne and PlayStation4 right now for $59.99, $77 and $77 respectively. Game was played on the PC with approximately 13 hours of total play time and 24% of the achievements unlocked.
I have a love/hate relationship with pure logic puzzle games. On the one hand I do enjoy the challenge they provide, especially when they encourage you to think in new ways in order to solve a problem. On the other hand however they tend to have strict solutions, something which irritates me when I find what I think is a viable solution. SquareCells is the latest game I decided to frustrate myself with and, whilst I'm sure it's logically sound, I can't help but feel that the puzzle design is sometimes lacking the required information in order to solve it correctly.
The rules of SquareCells are relatively simple, you have to remove a certain number of blocks based on a series of numbers provided. These numbers can indicate how many cells are in a particular row or column, how they're grouped together or even the order in which they appear. The rules are introduced slowly so you have a chance to get a feel for them before another layer of complexity gets added in. The boards also get substantially larger over time making simply guessing the correct squares that much harder. You can, of course, click your way through everything to find the solution and then go back and redo the puzzle but that feels like cheating yourself more than anything else.
For the first two "worlds" I felt like there was a pretty logical way to approach most of the puzzles. You had to find the single row which was immutable, I.E. one that was fully described by it's row numbers. Then from there you could continue to extrapolate the composition of the other rows. However past row 3 I couldn't seem to locate the first row which often meant I had to take a few wild guesses in order to get started. Whilst I'm sure I was missing something it certainly seemed like some puzzles didn't have enough information to get you past that initial hump. This, of course, only really matters if you're wanting to do the puzzle right on the first go but going back and redoing puzzles feels counter to the SquareCell's purpose.
There were a couple of the smaller puzzles which I felt like I found a perfectly valid solution to which, sadly, weren't correct. I get that this isn't a game that allows for emergent behaviour but it did annoy me that a solution I thought should work didn't. Upon closer inspection I did see that there was some information I wasn't incorporating (number of blocks left to remove) but that didn't make me feel any better.
Overall I felt SquareCells was a very well designed logic puzzle game even if I felt that I was operating on less information than what was required to complete it. Indeed given enough time I'm sure I could've figured out the requisite tricks to pass every level perfectly however the reward just wasn't there to keep me coming back. Still I'm also the kind of person who gets inappropriately mad when trying to complete a sudoku puzzle so maybe I'm not the best judge for a game like SquareCells.
Rating: 7/10
SquareCells is available on PC right now for $2.99. Total play time was 2 hours with 43% of the achievements unlocked.
The Souls series of games require a certain kind of mindset if you are to enjoy them. It's simply not about being a good gamer as many of my highly skilled gamer friends find little joy in this series. No it's more about overcoming the numerous, overly punishing barriers that the game throws at you. That moment when you take down the boss that's been blocking you for hours, where you can scream obscenities and flip off your TV, is a feeling few games are able to evoke. Dark Souls III doesn't differ much from its proven formula and, as my first true Souls game, managed to evoke that same "fuck you" attitude that drew me deep into its predecessor Bloodborne.
The age of fire is coming to an end, a time where all are able to rise from death within the flames of a bonfire. It is time for the 5 lords of cinder to come back to their thrones and link the first flame, which will prolong the age once again. However many of the lords have abandoned their posts, seeing the endless cycle of rebirth in the flames as a curse. Ashen One, you have arisen once again and have been chosen to bring the lords back to their thrones and prevent the age of dark.
Details of Dark Souls III's graphical engine are scarce but it's clear that there's been a significant overhaul of the underlying engine from previous series. Whilst the graphics are no where near the cutting edge (completely maxed out settings still ran at 100+ fps on my machine) the environments are more expansive, the number of enemies on screen increased and they've been far more generous with the lighting effects. The greater graphical horsepower at their disposal then has been used to amplify, rather than refine, the Dark Souls experience. The aesthetic remains largely the same as it has, with the exception being the ash and ember effects that have been lavished across everything. All this being said Dark Souls III does have many screenshot worthy moments, some of which I'll show off here.
The Souls formula hasn't changed much in Dark Souls III with the majority of the mechanics being familiar to fans of the series. Whilst the changes are no where near as drastic as they were in Bloodborne many of the ideas have made their way across. The combat retains the Souls series essence, bringing back the shield but also making it more action oriented than previous instalments. The estus flask makes a return with a twist, it's charges are split between HP restoration and FP (mana) restoration. Armour however has been played down somewhat with the focus now on your sword and shields as the main upgradeable items. The humanity mechanic remains however now it's being "embered", giving the same benefits and nice fiery glow to your character. So overall Dark Souls III is likely to feel like much of the same with a few small tweaks that were most certainly Bloodborne inspired.
Combat is, as it always in the Souls games, incredibly challenging and unabashedly unforgiving. To me Dark Souls III felt a lot easier than Bloodborne did however I'm not sure if that's because I'm now used to the Souls' series quirks. This is not to say I breezed through the game, far from it, indeed Dark Souls III quickly evoked the same levels of rage that Bloodborne did before. The shield mechanic certainly took some getting used to however I found it much easier to understand than Bloodborne's gun/riposte mechanic. What was interesting to me was the sheer amount of variety, both in terms of the weapons and potential ways to build out your character. As someone who likes to min/max everything this was initially quite frustrating but after a while it became a fun little quest in developing the best character for me.
In the end I settled on a very similar build to what I used in Bloodborne: straight STR whilst focusing on the other attributes which had low soft caps. For the first quarter of the game this was pretty great however it quickly became apparent I'd have to seek out some very specific gear to make it work long term. Thankfully, after hours of farming darkwraiths, I had the required Dark Sword and a heavy gem that gave me a great scaling sword that lasted me for the rest of the game. I still had various weapons and armour to cheese some fights but I never invested much into them. Indeed I was a little annoyed that armour didn't have as much of an impact as it did in Bloodborne however that did make it easier to switch up and adapt to fights as I needed to. If it's not clear already the depth and breadth of Dark Souls III's combat and gearing system is streets ahead of many similar action RPGs and should provide countless hours of replayability.
Progression comes in much the same format as it always has: you farm souls, take them back to the shrine and then spend them on attribute points. What each point will get you has been tweaked a little bit so it's worthwhile looking up the stat curves and figuring out what you'll need. The secondary upgrade system is your armour and shields which will use a varying array of upgrade materials found throughout the game. I rarely found myself wanting for either, especially after long item farming runs that netted me a truckload of souls. There's also a couple tertiary upgrade items in the form of estus shards (gives you more charges) and undead bone shards (make your flasks more effective). If you do a modicum of exploring you're not likely to miss any of these but, even if you do, they're usually not more than a few minutes of running to find anyway. Suffice to say you won't find yourself wanting for progression in Dark Souls III, something which helps when you're stuck on a boss for a long period of time.
The boss fights are as challenging as they always are and for the most part are linearly scaled up in difficulty. There are, of course, a few gear/level check bosses that will likely hand your ass to you if you're not sufficiently progressed. However you're likely to run up against a few that are strongest where you're weakest and vice versa, something which can provide challenge and frustration in equal amounts. These bosses will likely require you to adapt your playstyle to suit them, something which can take quite some time. Pontiff Sulyvahn and the Dancer of the Boreal Valley for instance are both bosses that can be relatively easily defeated with proper use of shield. As someone who's used to rolling when he's in trouble shifting my playstyle to these bosses was probably one of the most challenging things I had to do.
I chose to play my game online and I have to say that the multiplayer experience, at least at launch, was a little lacklustre. I spent hours in embered form and only got invaded once and I'm guessing they simply timed out as I never saw them. When I attempted to recruit others to help with a boss I'd often get the dreaded "Unable to summon phantom" message until I logged out and back in again. Even then I often had phantoms unable to join me in the fight, instead having them running up against the fog wall helplessly. I'm all for the lack of hand holding in the core game however when it comes to issues like this I'd like a bit more info than what was provided.
From a core game perspective Dark Souls III is well polished although like its predecessors there are some rough edges. Hit detection is fine about 95% of the time however there are a bunch of edge cases where things get really squirrelly. Enemies have retained the ability to hit through walls, even when they should be unable to see you. Walls have varying ability to stop your swing, sometimes allowing you to swing right through them and other times stopping you on a wispy branch. There's also the whole debacle about poise working or not working something which could be easily clarified by FROM if they'd just take the time. None of these issues will stop you from completing the game however they can end an otherwise productive session, especially if these raise their ugly heads at the end of a boss fight.
Dark Souls III does a good job of setting the scene early on however, like all Souls games, it rapidly descends into vague allusions and tiny nuggets of lore hidden in all manner of places. This does make for good discussion and speculation but it does little to help drive the game forward. Dark Souls III thankfully is so strong mechanically that this doesn't matter but I can't help but feel it would be that much better with a little more meat in the story elements. This is probably my biggest issue with the Souls series games overall as someone who tends to favour a good story over mechanics, if given the choice. Still at the very least Dark Souls III doesn't extol itself as a deep, story first game so it's hard to lay criticism on it for that.
Dark Souls III brings with it much of the same with a twist of the new, much to the delight of long time fans of the series. It is as unforgiving as its predecessors were, punishing you heavily even before you begin to overextend yourself. The combat, upgrade and progression systems are all deep, complex and rewarding, gifting those who spend time to unlock their secrets with power will beyond their station. The graphics might not win any awards but they are definite steps up for the series, both in terms of quality and scale. It's not without faults, many of which have been present in previous incarnations, and the vague story isn't likely to be the one feature that wins you over. Despite those flaws however Dark Souls III is a challenging and rewarding title that does not care if you play it, but you should.
Rating: 9.25/10
Dark Souls III is available on PC, XboxOne and PlayStation4 for $59.99, $89 and $89 respectively. Game was played on the PC with 32 hours of total play time and 49% of the achievements unlocked.
The links between games and other forms of media have always been…cumbersome. Movie tie-ins are that first that come to mind and are often derided as being low-quality cash grabs. Similarly games that included full motion video (like the Crusader series) were met with criticism, often for their relatively low budget and quality of acting. However those perceptions haven't stopped those kinds of games from being developed and indeed many games, like Defiance, sought to expand on the idea further. In similar vein Quantum Break, from Remedy Entertainment, attempts to integrate an episodic TV show with a player-controlled narrative. Whilst the mix-media approach has definitely come a long way there are numerous unfortunate decisions which marred the overall experience that Quantum Break was aiming to provide.
You are Jack Joyce (Shawn Ashmore) brother of renowned physicist William Joyce (Dominic Monaghan) and long time friend of Paul Serene (Aidan Gillen) a prominent businessman. You haven't spoken to either of them in years however as you've been travelling the world, getting yourself into all sorts of trouble. Then out of the blue Paul contacts you and arranges for a first class flight back home. He needs your help but he won't tell you what for. The events that unfold from that pivotal moment when you arrive back home will change the course of time as we know it, with you at the centre.
There's no denying that Quantum Break is an extremely pretty game, making use of every inch of computing power you can throw at it. Unfortunately the film grain effect can't be switched off meaning that no matter how high you crank the graphics there will always be a little fuzz everywhere. Additionally, due to the fact that it's a Universal App (only available on the Windows store, which I'll get into more later) there's a few graphics options that will either not work or cause major issues. G-SYNC appears to cause it to use software rendering only as my graphics card reported a mere 7% usage when it was on. Disabling it however allowed Quantum Break to flex its muscles a little more although I did have to tone down a few settings in order to get it to run properly. This is even after the massive patch that was released so there's still some work left for Remedy to do to make Quantum Break run a lot smoother.
From a core mechanic perspective Quantum Break is a 3rd person, cover-based shooter that integrates a whole host of abilities centred around time. You'll be able to freeze enemies in place, blow them up and zip your way around the battlefield. You can carry a maximum of 3 guns, one of each type (pistol, regular and heavy). There's also a few time based puzzles that will need solving although they only use a few of the half dozen abilities you'll be imbued with. You'll also have a decent amount of sway over how the story progresses which, interestingly, have a direct impact on events in the show. Most of these come in the form of major decisions made at critical points however there are collectibles around the world which will change the show in small and sometimes incredibly amusing ways. So at its roots Quantum Break might be exactly revolutionary but it does manage to do many things well that others have done badly in the past.
Seasoned shooter players will likely find little challenge in Quantum Break's combat as the treasure trove of abilities, especially when they're upgraded, make you almost invincible. After about halfway through the game the only way the game challenges you is by throwing more of the same kinds of enemies at you which doesn't really ramp up the challenge significantly. The only real challenge is ensuring you have enough ammo for the gun you like as the amount you can carry for most guns is ludicrously low. If you're so inclined you can mix things up a bit by using the various environmental traps however it's usually easier to just take out enemies directly. Suffice to say that Quantum Break doesn't really trend much new ground with its core mechanics but I get the feeling that was largely intentional.
If you've been reading much of the news around Quantum Break you've likely heard about how broken the release is and, unfortunately, my experience was no different. Buying the game in the Windows Store was a true pain as the download would seemingly stop and start randomly. As it turns out it was pre-allocating the disk space, something it couldn't do at the same time it was downloading it (Steam has managed to solve this problem, however). The aforementioned G-SYNC issue was the cause of much frustration as was the various issues induced by the games varied performance, even with the frame rate cap on. Whilst other games have shown that being a Universal App doesn't have to be a bad thing it certainly hasn't helped Quantum Break. Whilst there has been a commitment to iron out most of these issues in future updates in July that does little to help the problems happening now. That and the fact that everyone will still want everything on Steam anyway.
The mixed media approach of Quantum Break is done quite well with big name actors gracing both the in-game and television series world. Whilst the story is little more than your usual sci-fi doomsday scenario guff having a little influence over what happens in the show is a nice touch. The little collectibles, like the audio book you can play over the radio (which then happens in the series), are a real nice touch too. I have to take points off for the ending screaming "HEY SEQUEL" so loudly that it hurt my ears however, as that's the one unforgivable sin that any story teller can make. Overall I think Quantum Break shows that game/movie/tv series hybrids can work, they just need the same level of investment and polish on both sides to make the whole experience work well together.
Quantum Break evokes a time long gone past, when full motion videos in games were a novelty and production budgets were low. Instead here we have a game that's staffed by big name actors and large production budgets. The game is nothing new, mixing together power ups and cover based shooting to give us an experience that we've likely all seen before. The TV show, and its integration with the events in the game, are done well enough that I feel that Quantum Break largely achieved the goals it set for itself. However the overall experience is marred by technical issues, some of which stem from the fact that it's on Microsoft's new Universal App platform. Overall it's a good but not great experience, one that's worth a look in if you've got a craving for the mixed-media experiences of years gone by.
Rating: 8/10
Quantum Break is available on XboxOne and PC right now for $79 and $59.99 respectively (Only on Windows Store for PC). Game was played on the PC with approximately 9.5 hours of total play time and 93% game completion.
In RTS circles the Total Annihilation series holds a special place in many player's hearts. Whilst many games in the genre focused on tactical play Total Annihilation was a far more strategic affair, pitting giant armies of units against each other. However the series has fallen flat in recent times, the most recent instalments in the form of Supreme Commander 2 and Planetary Annihilation failing to evoke that same kind of response that its predecessors did. Few have tried to enter this niche genre and Ashes of the Singularity is the first title I've even bothered to give a look in. There's nothing I'd love more than to say that the torch has been passed to a new generation however Ashes of the Singularity makes the same mistakes as its predecessor does whilst adding in a few more of its own.
Like most RTS games the story is a little thin on the ground but enough to keep you somewhat engaged in what's going on. Humanity has entered the post-physical stage of its development, with humans transcending their bodies and converting entire planets into computing power to support their now expanded minds. However some minds have started going rogue, disconnecting from the overmind and waging war against it. Even with their vast computing resources at their disposal humanity cannot quite figure out what is causing this and so it's up to you, neophyte, to find out the cause and stop it.
Ashes is one of the few games that can make use of DirectX 12 however there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of point in doing so. In my, admittedly very subjective, testing I couldn't really see much difference between the two when running at the same settings. Worse still both the Steam overlay and FRAPS refused to work with it making screen capturing a rather tedious process. Ashes does look quite good however and does surprisingly well even when the unit count starts tickling the hundreds. The UI is pretty rudimentary however and wouldn't have been out of place in one of its older predecessors. Still for games like this it's all about the quantity and it's admirable that Stardock has made a RTS that can withstand the torment of a stupidly high unit count.
For strategic RTS players the game play is pretty familiar. You'll start of with your main building, the Nexus, from which you can create engineers to start building out your base further. There are two main resource types, metal and radioactives, with a secondary resource called quanta that's used for upgrades and using special abilities. There's 4 categories of units: 3 land (frigates, cruisers and dreadnoughts) and 1 air. For the most part you'll do the usual build up a massive army, smash it against the enemy's and hope that you have a higher unit count than they do. There are ways you can sway the battle in your favour, like using orbital abilities that can bolster your army or devastate theirs, but most of the time it comes down to making sure you're ahead in army and resource count. They have to be used wisely however as they continually increase in cost as you use them. Overall the game play will feel largely familiar with a few little twists to keep it interesting.
Ashes does a decent job of introducing its mechanics to you through the campaign missions although some of the nuances are left to one side. For instance I can't for the life of me recall when it introduced the upgrade mechanic as I only stumbled upon it in the last mission. Similarly some of the more nuanced game mechanics aren't spelled out for you, like the increasing quanta cost for using orbital abilities. This was a touch frustrating when I was coming up against the tougher enemies that were obviously making use of all the mechanics so I do feel a few improvements to the way mechanics are introduced are in order. That being said since Ashes is a little more constrained in terms of the units available to you it doesn't take as long to pick up on what you should be doing.
As I've alluded to Ashes is a strategic RTS, wanting you to focus more on the macro elements of waging war than the tactical aspects of smaller battles. This means resource management, unit pipelines and distance are for the most part more important than the units themselves. Indeed my unit composition barely changed over the course of the campaign. The strategies I used to get up and running however changed a lot depending on the map and the resources available to me. Indeed if there's one feature of Ashes that stands out for me is just how much of a difference a map can make to the overall experience. No longer can you simply have one giant megabase sprawling the entire map, no you'll need tightly guarded outposts clustered around resources that are churning out unit after unit. In that way I feel like Ashes does a better job of being strategic than its spiritual predecessors did which could be easily cheesed by nuclear reactors and metal generators.
However Ashes also suffers from the same issue that Planetary Annihilation did before it in that there's not a huge variety of units available, especially in the campaign. There's a grand total of 2 factions and each of them have roughly similar crafts apart from the dreadnoughts. Experimenting with different strategies never seemed to work out too well for me once I hit on my preferred build and then it was only a matter of time to build up the requisite army. I understand that the more units you have the harder it is to balance things (a large consideration for Ashes since it appears to be attempting to foster an online competitive community) but that was one of the reasons I enjoyed the original Total Annihilation so much. Perhaps this will change in future DLC instalments.
Ashes comes with a few irritating bugs which I got tripped up on far too often. Right-clicking is something of a gamble as sometimes it'll just simply refuse to issue a command. In order to get it to work again I'd have to left click then right click again, signalling it thought I was trying to do some other action for which right-click was not an option. This only gets more frustrating as the unit selection and grouping feels hit and miss too, making moving large armies a real chore. To top it all off the AI has a propensity to cheat in a very obvious fashion, something which is down right infuriating when you're on the cusp of victory. The screenshot previous shows me completely dominating the AI until it used two nukes in a row to decimate my army completely, something it simply couldn't have done with the resources it had at the time.
The story is serviceable however I felt like it could have been vastly improved if it was fully voice acted. The text exchanges just felt flat by comparison and the fact that they also took you out of the action whilst they were playing just made it all the more jarring. Had it taken a cue from nearly every other modern RTS and used voice actors playing in the background I'd likely be far more engaged with it than I was. It also felt a bit weird that this super-intelligences, ones that have several planets dedicated to powering their ever expanding minds, were so flummoxed by nearly everything they encountered. Honestly, whilst having a little irreverence can be refreshing at times, it just felt amateur in Ashes.
Ashes of the Singularity is a solid attempt at the strategic RTS genre however it, like the most recent entrants in this space, falls a little flat in its execution. Technically it's a triumph being able to run on both DirectX 11 and 12 and handling more units on screen than most RTS' can manage. The game itself however suffers from from a few glaring faults that keep it from being the title that will revive this genre. The story also lacks a few elements that could have improved it significantly which would have tied the whole experience together a little better. Overall, whilst I don't recommend against playing Ashes, it's really only aimed at fans of the genre and I don't believe its appeal extends much further beyond that.
Rating: 7.0/10
Ashes of the Singularity is available on PC right now for $49.99. Total play time was approximately 8 hours with a total of 54% of the achievements unlocked.
There's a small file on my desktop and in it is the list of all the games I intend to review. It's also a file of missed opportunities, listing off the games I thought would be worth a look in but never got a chance to play. Many of the games have been in there for quite some time, long enough that I often forget what made me put them there in the first place. ADR1FT is one of those games and, whilst you can probably guess why I put it down, I certainly don't remember it being billed as a walking simulator in space. Regardless ADR1FT is best described as the unofficial game of the movie Gravity, even if it was conceived long before the movie's release.
You awake in your spacesuit with destruction all about you. Something's happen, something bad and your spacesuit is quickly losing oxygen. Worse still your suit's propulsion system is broken, forcing you to use the very oxygen that's keeping you alive to move around. There's only one path to safety and that's to revive the crippled station to the point of being able to launch one of the escape pods. To do so however you will have to traverse the wreckage of your once mighty craft and find out just what caused this catastrophe.
ADR1FT has a beautiful, futuristic aesthetic to it. The undamaged parts of the space station are almost exactly as you'd expect them to be: clinically clean and densely packed together to make the most of the limited space. It's interesting then to contrast them against the utter destruction that abounds outside with pieces of space debris flying around everywhere. This is most certainly done as an aide to the overall plot, giving you a glimpse into the past which has now been shattered. Of course the best visuals come when you take yourself far away from the station and take in the glorious vista below. That might just be the space nerd in me though.
ADR1FT is, well, I guess you'd call it a space-walking simulator since you don't do any actual walking in it. Your job is to repair the space station's various subsystems in order to activate the escape pod that can take you back down to earth. To do this you'll have to repair at least 3 critical subsystems, all of which require the same routine of activating the mainframe, manufacturing a new core and installing said core into the mainframe terminal. The challenges you'll face between each of those will be different, depending on what arm it was (organics, navigation, power, communication) but it will all come down to the same mechanic: trying not to bump into anything and not running out of oxygen.
Navigating the environment is more challenging than you'd think it would be, mostly because it seems like your spacesuit is made out of paper. Any slight bump is enough to send cracks across your screen and turn the UI into a wobbly mess, making the already taxing task just that much more different. To the developer's credit though this does work as a good motivator to not hit anything and you'll likely improve rapidly. The movement mechanics are mostly accurate when it comes to movement in space however there are some limitations which prevent you from speeding through everything. For long time walking simulator players this probably won't come as much of a surprise as it's par for the course in this genre.
That slow speed however does make it a rather tedious affair at times, especially when you get turned around or misjudge where you're supposed to go next. Done correctly I'm sure the game could be completed in as little as 2 hours however it's quite likely you'll get lost enough that that time is doubled. This would be ok if exploration was rewarded aptly but in ADR1FT it unfortunately isn't. Sure you might uncover an audio log here or another collectible there but it's not enough to drive you to do it more. It's a shame because the voice acting and writing are quite well done, there's just not enough of it to make me seek it.
As I mentioned before the main plot of ADR1FT is driven through various pieces of dialogue drip fed to you through audio logs and walls of text hidden throughout the environment. There's enough to get a sense of what could have led to what happened on the space station but some of the larger questions are left unanswered. It's a shame as there's a lot of potential avenues left unexplored, some of which could have given the story a lot more depth and interest. Indeed it feels like ADR1FT falls into the same trap that many similar games have done in the past: letting the game mechanics get in the way of telling the story. If more of the main story was fed through more accessible means I'm sure I'd be singing a different tune.
ADR1FT is a gorgeous space-walking simulator but little beyond that. The infinite expanse of space is expertly contrasted against the almost claustrophobic interior of the space station, giving you a sense of what came before and where you must go. The space walking is done well, with the expected kinds of limitations put in place for this genre. Unfortunately this slow movement hides much of the game's dialogue which hampers its impact significantly. Overall I feel that ADR1FT is a well crafted game, and one worth playing just for the glorious views it provides, but unfortunately doesn't deliver much more beyond that.
Rating: 7.5/10
ADR1FT is available on PC right now for $19.99. Total play time was approximately 4 hours with 45% of the achievements unlocked.


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Chicken, Fresh Red Jacket New Potatoes, Carrots, Snow Peas, and Red Delicious Apples
Feed your dog 1/3 can per 3 pounds of body weight per day; 2/3 can per 6 pounds of body weight per day; 1 can per 10 pounds of body weight per day; 1-1/4 can per 15 pounds of body weight per day; 1-1/2 can per 20 pounds of body weight per day; 2 can per 30 pounds of body weight per day; 2-1/2 can per 40 pounds of body weight per day; 3 can per 50 pounds of body weight per day; 3-1/2 can per 60 pounds of body weight per day; 4 can per 70 pounds of body weight per day; 4-1/2 can per 80 pounds of body weight per day; 4-3/4 can per 90 pounds of body weight per day; 5-1/4 can per 100 pounds of body weight per day. Shake well before opening. Adjust feeding level to maintain optimum weight and condition. Feed your dog according to the level of activity and individual needs. Refrigerate unused portions. Keep fresh water available at all times.
Compare to Similar Items
This item: Merrick Grammy's Pot Pie Dog Food 13.2 oz (Pack of 12)
|Customer Rating
|FREE Shipping
|FREE Shipping
|FREE Shipping
|FREE Shipping
|Sold By
|Quidsi Retail LLC
|Age Range
|Grammy's Pot Pie
|Pappy's Pot Roast
|9 inches x 12 inches x 4 inches
|17.75 inches x 4 inches x 6.25 inches
|17.75 inches x 4 inches x 6.25 inches
|2 inches x 3 inches x 1 inches
|Item Weight
|12 pounds
|10 pounds
|10 pounds
|1 pounds
|13.2 oz
|12/13.2-oz cans
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Customer Reviews
Top Customer Reviews
When you hit review, do you guys see the review left by Koko on May 13, 2013 about checking the bottom of the cans? Or the 1 star review left by Victoria Dominguezon on April 23, 2014 with, quote, "The food was ROTTEN and had MOLD on it!" Well, everyone should hit helpful on those reviews because that is exactly the problem that I ran into today. Here is my 2015 review and hopefully in 2016 there isn't another similar review posted (for the sake of the consumer and the company). I opened my box and noticed a rancid putrid smell that I have no idea how anyone got past while organizing and boxing up my order. I checked the lids for signs of botulism (raised lids) and all the lids were fine. It was the bottom of these cans that are causing issues and I think Merrick or Amazon needs to either address how they store and ship these products, or create a new durable can with a reinforced bottom because the issue with this product is that the bottom seam splits and wrecks havoc on consumers.
I have always been a fan of Merrick, but this review is for this canned product and I would highly advise AGAINST buying this product online. Since others are speeding through the process or not even checking these cans, the best you can do is check them out for yourselves before purchasing (if you even still want to). I think I will be using another product for my puppy's kibble topper for awhile.
Customer Images
Most Recent Customer Reviews
My dog was not eating her dry food,Natural Balance L.I.D. Limited Ingredient Diets Sweet Potato & Fish Formula Dry Dog Food, 26-Pound, so I started mixing this food in with my dogs... Read morePublished 2 days ago by Jeffrey Ragsdale
My dogs LOVE most of the Merrick Dog Foods and I wanted to try a new variety, so I order the Chicken Pot Pie, not realizing it was NOT one fo the "CHUNKY" versions. Read morePublished 4 days ago by ThePurplePlace
My dog absolutely loves this food. Her vet was shocked when I showed him the can, he said it was probably the healthiest wet dog food he's ever seen. Read morePublished 7 days ago by Kate Blouch
Merrick sold out to another company, so hope Amazon keeps this online. My dog, Allie loves only this product.Published 11 days ago by marylou weber
my dog loves this stuff. very healthy but had a different consistency than the ones in the store. and these are expensive so it is a special treat for him half a can before and... Read morePublished 16 days ago by Willis
My senior westie likes this mixed with his dry Merrcik food. His dry is for a dog with arthritis and it helps him. But this canned food smells great! I could eat it easily!Published 16 days ago by Gayle C.

subset: commoncrawl


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Installed the hitch on my driveway. Probably the most difficult part was loosening the muffler/tailpipes. Not a lot of room, and use lots of lubricant makes the rubber hangers come much easier. You need two people to bolt the hitch on and I used the box it came in to set the hitch on before lifting the hitch into place.
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Every Friday afternoon, I begin to ponder what I will be playing on the weekend since I suffer from what I like to call "Gamer's ADD" where I tend to get bored with playing one game at a time until completion. I was playing Metal Gear Solid 4 up until a week ago and i decided to give it a break to play Final Fantasy 13-2 and White Knight Chronicles 2 online with a buddy. I think I am going to play WKC2 as well as some MW3 this weekend with an occasional play of FF13-2. What are my fellow 1up-ers playing this weekend?
Weekend gaming.....
Oct 05, 2012 11:19AM PST
Comments (1)
My listPosted: Oct 05, 2012 12:00AM PST by BumSkiddlyUm
First off, I am all about playing no more than two games at a time, because I find I lose a lot if I go overboard (for example, I one time tried mixing Final Fantasy VI in with like 5 other titles and quickly wondered where the hell I was in FF every time I returned to it). So, this weekend, I will be busting in to my new copy of Resident Evil 6, and will continue my replay of the original Fable on X-Box. I normally like to sneak a game or two of MLB The Show in there as well (little commitment and quick pay-off).


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Somalia Names Abrar as Its First Female Central Bank Governor
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Somalia has been wracked by civil war since the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Government forces and African Union peacekeepers have been battling Al-Qaeda-linked militants in the country for at least the past seven years.


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Mercure Brandon Hall Hotel and Spa Warwickshire4
Main street, Brandon, COVENTRY, CV8 3FW
Price FromView Rooms
- Very Good
- 29 guest reviews
"Excellent staff...."
"Impeccable service...."
"the bed was not that comfortable..."
"Room was okay but had very sqeeky floorboards, very poor flshing toilet, very poor shower output...."
"Large, spacious room and bathroom. Clean, comfortable. Bathroom floor freezing (but they often are) but with bath and separate shower. All v..."
About the hotel
Mercure Brandon Hall Hotel and Spa is set in the beautiful Warwickshire countryside, surrounded by 17 acres of tranquil grounds. This 4-star Coventry hotel has 120 contemporary rooms, perfect for a weekend break and as a spa destination in Coventry. Enjoy a locally inspired elegant lunch or sophisticated dinner, served from the Clarendon Restaurant at Brandon Hall Hotel and Spa.
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Read MoreLess
Facilities Show/hide
- Main
- Disabled Facilities
- Hotel services
- 24 Hour Reception
- Dining
- Restaurant , Bar
- Leisure
- Indoor Pool , Sauna , Massage , Beauty Salon/Manicure , Solarium
- Family friendly
- Pets Allowed
- Other
- Lift to all floors
- Business
- Wi-Fi Available In Public Areas
Useful Info Show/hide
- From 14:00 hours
- Until 12:00 hours
- The price shown is based on the occupancy and dates you have searched for. Prices and availability are subject to change based on the arrival date, number of nights and occupancy searched for. All prices are inclusive of all local taxes.
- Pets are allowed
Customer Reviews
Our reviews are from genuine LateRooms.com customers. We verify that the customer has stayed before leaving a review.
Very Good
90% would recommend it to a friend
Customer service
Food quality
Room quality
Short stay
Excellent staff.
Mercure Brandon Hall Hotel and Spa Warwickshire
Impeccable service.