Geekly Review #134

We’ve had an extra long weekend with the Bank Holiday hitting which means a little more time to relax and geek out. So what have we been up to?

Stellaris

Whilst Stellaris from Paradox Interactive hadn’t been on my radar for too long it did start to peak my interest about a month or so before its release. I’d wanted a new strategy game for a while, something a little slower pace and a bit more relaxed for when you just want to chill and play something. I was a little worried about the learning curve – partly because it looked fairly in depth and potentially complicated, but also because I’ve never really been super adept at strategy games.

For the first hour or so I managed to just about bumble my way through although I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing, but I’d managed to create my own race of sloth like people – I’ve often thought the Sloth was my spirit animal so it seemed apt! And I had started to colonise my own little part of space. It wasn’t long before some other race declared war on me and wiped me out within minutes after sending huge fleets my way…

Over time I did start to get a good grasp of what I was meant to be doing though and now I’m in my second game – with the more traditional human race being controlled, I feel like I’m doing a lot better.

From what I’ve played so far – which is just under 6 hours, I really like Stellaris. It looks good, the soundtrack is great and its enjoyable to play once you start to understand what you’re doing. There is a lot more for me to get stuck in to with it though and I’m a long, long way off of becoming a proficient player.

The depth to the race creation alone is quite staggering, you can pick from a large number of races, change how they look, where they’re from, what traits the races has, what their ships look like, what their home world looks like, how they’re named… It’s pretty amazing really. If you’re new to the game I think it might be better to start with one of the pre-made races as they seem a fairly well balanced and mixed with the right traits etc… for them. I’m sure my Sloth race were a terrible combination, but they looked cute.

I think the one criticism I’d have so far is the lack of tactics when battling. You have a fleet strength and it seems if yours has a higher number then you win, that’s it. There seems to be a lack of tactical challenge and I think a lot of others have had that same criticism, but other than that I love it.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider is a game I’ve wanted to play since it came out. For whatever reasons I’ve only just picked it up though. I’m only a couple of hours in to it, but I have to say that I’m pretty impressed and I can understand why it got a lot of praise.

I was wondering if things would be a little less harsh on Lara this time around, but nope. Within a few minutes she was being engulfed in avalanches, attacked by bears and just generally getting lumps kicked out of her.

It does seem pretty similar to the first Tomb Raider reboot, but I don’t see that as a bad thing necessarily as that was also an excellent game. I’ve heard people saying that it’s just improved on that one, but I think it’s a little too early for me to tell really.

I’ll just leave you with a few pictures of it for now as I don’t really have much else to say with me being so early on in the game.

Table Top Racing: World Tour

I also got to play a little bit of Table Top Racing: World Tour. Think Micro machines mixed with a little bit of Rocket League and you’d probably on the right track to thinking what the game is. There are 90 races and events you can play in with a mixture of styles from time trials, combat races, normal races and 8 vs 8 multiplayer. There are 12 different cars you can choose from and each have a plethora of customisation options available on them meaning you can constantly tweak how you want your car to look.

I managed to squeeze in a quick few races before I was away for the weekend and it’s good fun – simple, but good fun. I’m looking forward to trying out the multiplayer as I can see that being pretty entertaining.

No Mans Sky

News broke last week that No Mans Sky might be delayed and over the weekend it was confirmed to be true. The new release date isn’t known beyond some time in August. Personally I’m gutted, but that’s just because I was looking forward to playing it so much in June and also because I would’ve had an entire free weekend to play it. Never mind. I guess this gives me some extra time to play some other games…

-Will

Sony E3 Experience

Sony have confirmed that they will be doing their E3 experience again with the show being streamed across cinemas in the United States. Tickets are free and are available to apply for from today. Shame it’s only a US thing though, means i’ll be in my spare room watching online at 2am again. Boo Sony… please can we Brits catch a break and have the show a little earlier one year?

https://playstation.com/E3Experience

F1 2016 Announced

Codemaster’s have announced F1 2016 for PC, PS4 and XboxOne. Last year’s version felt like a bit of a trial run with a lot of features missing from the current gen version, however this year it seems we’ll be getting the full game judging by the released info:

F1 2016’s new career mode spans 10 seasons and will take you deeper into the world’s most glamorous, exciting and prestigious motorsport, both on and off the track. The life-like recreation of the sport will be further enhanced by the addition of the sport’s iconic Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car, which have been written from the ground up, as well as the introduction of the challenging new street circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan for the 2016 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE.

Here’s what Principal Game Designer Lee Mather said-

“F1 2016 is a massive step forward for the franchise. The new career mode sits at the heart of the game and allows gamers to create their own legend over a career that can span for up to a massive ten seasons. Beyond improving upon the fastest and most thrilling on-track racing experience in gaming, F1 2016 uniquely offers the drama and vehicle development that goes on behind the scenes. A rich car upgrade system is fully integrated into a new and deep practice development programme which mirrors the tests carried out by the teams in real life.”

For the first time, the practice development programme allows you to take advantage of the tests done by the teams on a grand prix weekend. Master each circuit with our track acclimatisation tests, test your tyres and hone your race strategy to perfection, all whilst gaining valuable Research and Development points to spend on upgrading your car.

WWE 2K17 – GOLDBERG

Last night on Raw, we got our first tease for WWE2k17, and Goldberg was revealed as playable for the game. Bit of an odd one, especially if he goes on to be the cover star of the game. Not sure what this means for his real in ring future too. Is he coming back? Check out the trailer below:

– Murr