Happy New Year to all you Geeks!
After almost two weeks off from work, I’ve had quite a lot of time to play games of the festive period.
Arma 3
I’ve been spending a lot of time playing Arma 3 Battle Royale, with me and some friends discovering you can play on team servers and can group up to work together. This makes the experience so much more enjoyable and fun. A lot of the time we end up messing around, but it’s also great for some really intense team play moments.
Battle Royale is becoming ever more popular, with H1Z1, The Culling and others coming soon all offering up experiences, but I think that Arma 3 is one of the best around that I’ve played. It gives you a real rush when the safe zone is getting smaller and smaller and you know that you’re getting ever closer to all the remaining players.
I also really like that there is a lot of map variant with the game mode, you can play across a lot of different Arma maps like Altis and Tanoa, but with them being so big it also means that the playing area can be vastly different from one game to the next keeping things fresh and interesting.
Elder Scrolls Online
I actually bought Elder Scrolls Online just over a year ago and didn’t really play it all that much, but with so much free game time I got back on to it with a new character and have been having an absolute blast playing it. I don’t know why but I’ve never really got in to MMORPG’s before, I tried WOW and didn’t get in to it, I tried EVE, whilst not your typical MMORPG, it still is, but I didn’t get in to it. I even played Guild Wars 2 and Star Wars The Old Republic a few years back neither of which I really got in to – although Guild Wars 2 was pretty good for a time.
I feel a sense of renewed optimism with ESO, there is something about the casual laid back gameplay that makes it very enjoyable to play for me this time around. My new character is a Nightblade, which is kind of stealthy DPS style class, but in all honestly, ESO has great flexibility that let’s you kind of take on multiple roles. I’ve only just hit level 10 so still have so many things to discover and I’m really looking forward to doing that. I think it also helps that this time around I have a few other friends who are playing too.
Rainbow Six Siege
As with every Winter there was another Steam Sale on, but this year not much really took my fancy, most of the games that would pop up, I already owned, but one did catch my eye and that was Rainbow Six Siege. I played it on console when it was in Beta and did really like it, but when it came out I either didn’t want to spend the money on it, or was busy playing other stuff, I can’t remember exactly. With it being £15 in the sale, I decided to take the plunge on it and I have to say that it’s a lot of fun so far. Again, there are a group of us who play it, which makes it 100% more enjoyable.c
I really like the tactical play style of it – even if we were pretty rubbish to start with, and I can see us having a lot of playing it in the future.
All in all though, I have to say I was a little disappointed in the sale this year, there didn’t really seem to be much that jumped out as must buy. There were a few Single player games that I was tempted by, but I knew that I just wouldn’t get around to playing them, so held off.
– Will
Happy New Year everyone, after a lovely festive break off work I had plenty of time to play games. I did however get slightly distracted from the games I intended to play and mentioned in the Geekly Review at the start of December.
Uncharted 4
So firstly I completed the absolutely beautiful Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. I had completed the first 3 for the first time throughout 2016 thanks to the Nathan Drake collection. My one complaint from this trilogy which I touched up on each Geekly Review after playing the previous games was the supernatural enemies that ruined somewhat semi realistic style games. I’m happy to say that Uncharted 4 contained nothing of the sorts which was a welcome relief.
I loved this game, the treasure in question you’re looking for on this occasion being actual pirate treasure. I really enjoyed the pirate theme and style of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag 2 years ago, and the same can be said for Uncharted 4. The mythology of Henry Avery’s pirate treasure and the pirate alliance that he put in place with other notorious real life pirates like Thomas Tew and Anne Bonny was fascinating. Visually the game is peek PS4 performance, It’s stunning.
Heavy Rain & Tearaway Unfolded
Next up after completing Uncharted 4, I still had time to kill before Christmas Day where I was anticipating a few games. I looked through my back log of PS4 games and had Heavy Rain and Tearaway Unfolded that I hadn’t touched yet. I concentrated for the most part on Heavy Rain playing through loads of chapters back to back, but when I felt that I couldn’t take the depression of Ethan any more I’d switch to the much more cheery and playful Tearaway Unfolded.
I’d played and completed Heavy Rain before on the PS3, but this version came in the double remaster pack containing this and Beyond: Two Souls. This time when playing Heavy Rain I went out of my way to attain as many trophies as I could during the one play through. I did repeat a few chapters given how short they were to earn trophies that resulted in opposite decisions to what I’d made. Not much more to say on Heavy Rain really though, It came flooding back and seemed very familiar. I remember the frustration of one of the trials crawling through broken glass and through the electrical fences all to well. This time It seemed a little easier though. And I went out of my way to keep all 4 characters alive, so I saw different endings to what I’d see on the PS3 version those years ago.
Tearaway Unfolded is pretty bizarre. I don’t think I’m far enough into it yet to get the full amount of enjoyment from playing it with the dualshock 4. But it’s still pretty fun from what I have played. Shining light on objects and enemies guiding them to their doom like lemmings. Getting to grips with tapping the touch pad to time jumps, It’s a game that certainly does make use of every aspect of the DS4. I did however drop this game though once Christmas day did come and when I wasn’t playing GTA:IV.
Wolfenstein: The New Order
WOW, just wow. What a game this is. I had it on the Christmas list as it’s a game I’d been interested in for ages, but just didn’t get round to picking up. Given it’s age now, I figure the price would be a little lower, so it’s a more likely present someone would get me. Fortunately my mum did get this for me (along with a plethora of other games which Is incredible). I started playing this on the 28th December. I completed it on the 1st January. It’s incredible. I’d heard so many positives about the campaign, I was a little optimistic that it could be that good, but it really is brilliant.
I can’t place what it is though that makes it so good? It’s got an old school first person feel to it due to some of it’s ridiculousness. Double machine guns, or double shotgun rampages around a level are just so fun. There are levels where it’s in you’re best interest to try and stay stealthy and the incredible thing about this game is that these levels are actually fun because the stealth elements and aspects are done really well. It’s so strange. You go from one level as a one man army eliminating enemy points guns out blaring to sneaking around areas taking down enemies with throwing knifes.
And the story was also interesting seeing the world in the 60’s after world war 2 is won by the Germans. It’s a clever and unbelievable campaign of what could have been (I doubt Germany would have had bases on the moon in 1960 but still). Oh and yeah… you go to the moon. It’s just nuts.
Far Cry Primal
And finally, after completing Wolfenstein: The New Order I made a start on another game I got for Christmas. Far Cry Primal. Same case as above, It’s a game I was interested in when it launched, but never got round to picking it up. I really enjoyed Far Cry 3 and 4, and this premise of Far Cry but in ancient times seemed a pretty decent twist. I made a start on this yesterday and have so far got 3 of the sort of tribe leaders in my village now, and have tamed quite a few vicious beasts to aid me in my journey of wiping out the Udam in the name of the Wenja tribe.
Of course however it has its similarities to most Ubisoft games now a days. Take over points and towers. I don’t particularity mind this in Primal as it’s pretty awesome taking these points over being aided by a mountain lion or wolf. I’m enjoying seeing the Wenja area grow as the population increases thanks to my efforts. Currently for me it’s less about progressing the story and more so taking over points in the game. I tended to do things this way in Far Cry 4 too though. And I’m currently enjoying the exploration of Oros with a ferocious companion who fends off other animals that fancy taking me on and attacks Udam at will should we encounter any.
I’ve read that the story is not all that great in comparison to 3 and 4, but I can’t say I really recall those stories that much anyways. To me those games were just about having fun in massive open world areas and messing stuff up. Seems the same this time round just stone age which is a change of strategy based on the weapons at your disposal.
The Trophy Haul
So with all that aside, the trophy haul took a good leap over the month of December. I plan on picking up GTA:IV during any moments I get a little fed up of taking bases and forts in Far Cry Primal. And I will finish Tearaway Unfolded too eventually. If I can be bothered too, I might go back to Uncharted 4 and replay some levels for some of the “kill this many people trophies”.
– Murr
