Geekly Review #169

It’s that time of the week again, let’s take a look at what we’ve been getting up to in the world of Geek!

WildsGhost Recon Wildlands

I was one of the lucky ones to get in to the Beta for Ghost Recon Wildlands and spent a bit of time playing it over the weekend, although I probably should’ve played more.

It was initially a game that I was really looking forward to playing this year. But sadly I feel like that excitement has died down now. It just didn’t feel all that fun and just felt like another one of Ubisofts kind of dull Open World games. The game looked ok in places, but then lacked in others, the AI was a bit dumb, the stealth mechanics seemed really easy especially with bodies disappearing – no need to worry about stealth if there’s nothing to find… Sniping was really odd with bullet travel seeming to be really slow. Everything just had a feeling of being a bit light, nothing really packed a punch.

That being said, I didn’t play loads of it, but I think that’s partly because I was just put off a bit within the first few missions. The most fun I hadin the game was when our group was just aresing around not really taking anything seriously.

It felt like the game was trying to go for a pretty serious vibe with the story and the setting, but I just thought things felt a little comical.

I didn’t hate it, but it definitely didn’t make me want to spend £40 on it.

Arma 3

Arma 3 on the other does a great job of mixing tactical gameplay whilst also being able to have a lot of fun with friends. Our group regularly plays on Tanoa Wasteland which has a good mix of PVP and PVE scattered around the map with dynamic missions popping up, that when completed either give you money or equipment.

We spent a fair bit of time playing over the weekend and had a great time just trying to complete missions. As they world is open and the missions just appear on the map, anyone can do them, so you often find yourself facing off against other players whilst trying to complete missions. Whether that be clearing out a village, searching dense jungle for crash sites, or taking out enemy convoys, there is always something fun to do that offers a nice challenge.

I think I’ll be sticking with Arma 3 and will wait for a price drop in Ghost Recon Wildlands.

Boardgames

It’s been a while since we’ve had a proper session of playing board games, but Saturday we had pretty much a whole 12 hours of solid gaming and it was excellent. One game we played was Ascension: Realms Unraveled which is a deck building game where you must recruit Heroes to defeat monsters. I wasn’t really sure if I’d like it or not, but as it turns out it was great fun! you can expect a review of it later this week.

-Will

Madden 2017

So the last time I owned a Madden game was back on the Xbox360 in I think 2012? I actually really enjoy American Football, and this season in particular had followed it a lot closer than I had over other seasons. I got to see the Giants live which I can tick of the bucket list, and also got to see the Giants in a Giants fan bar in New York in December, so needless to say I’ve had a bug to get a Madden title again. The annoying thing about American sports games is that they hold their value somewhat for ages. However last weekend with the NFL season only having one game remaining (The Superbowl last night), Madden 17 dropped to £35. I also had a £20 GAME voucher and £5 on my game card, so ended up only needing to cough up £10 for this game. I didn’t hesitate and went with it. What happened next was nothing short of spectacular.

I am so god damn addicted to this game it’s not right. I played through 12 games of 6 minute quarters as a manager in franchise mode. This is great fun, obviously I opted for the Giants. We’ve got on a good run of 10-2. However I fancied a break from the longer games so started a 2nd franchise mode as a player. I made myself and set myself as a quarter back, again for the Giants.

Since that fateful session I have gone on to play 2 full season, and I’m halfway through my 3rd. I’m the Giants starting quarter back and smashed records in my second season for passing yards and TD passes. It helps having Odell Beckham Junior who is legit OP in this game. I can’t imagine what it’d be like playing for the Falcons with Julio Jones as the WR as he unbelievably has a better rating than Beckham Jnr. Anyways’ so I’m a superbowl winner in my 2nd season on a clean undefeated season. I’m 4-0 in season 3 and can see me reaching Tom Brady figures within another 4 seasons. The daft thing is I can also see me playing the game for another 4 seasons and beyond, I am so hooked. It’s ideal in this mode as you don’t play the whole game, only parts of the game where your position is required. So as QB that can be quite often, but depending on who you’re playing your opposition could continue to pummel long time consuming drives giving you little playing time. It’s actually okay though as it does speed games and seasons up, It just gives you a little more pressure to ensure you convert your drive to points as you don’t know when you’ll be back on the field again.

Genuinely one of the best £10’s I’ve spent on my PS4. Absolutely loving the game, and I don’t know why, but it’s really got me into the mood to pick up NBA2k17, perhaps for the franchise mode there? I’m a fan of the NBA titles as you’ll have probably read on this site over the years, but haven’t picked up the latest offering from 2K for the NBA. Perhaps the time is looming if the price drops as the regular NBA season ticks closer to finishing.

Super Bowl Movie Trailers

One of the highlights of the Super Bowl is the adverts. Not just for movies or games, but even companies like Coca Cola and Budweiser. Here’s a little refresher of the trailers that are more relevant to us. Just a disclaimer that there is a Nintendo Switch Super Bowl advert all the way at the bottom, but I’d definitely recommend checking out the movie trailers before hand though. Some great blockbusters to look forward to.