ONLINE STREAMING HAS BECOME TOO OVERCROWDED

From the very first moment you picked up a controller, you must have had that one moment where you grab someone who is in your house and force them to see what you have just achieved. From completing Mega Man to beating Dark Souls, every gamer will have to have experienced that taste of glory and accomplishment. With online streaming now more popular than ever, more gamers seem to be willing to share their joy with the gaming community. With the PS4 and Xbox One both featuring online streaming heavily in the promotion of their products, it is only a matter of time until the established streamers are isolated from those who are trying to make their name.

The streaming community is never really something I have understood, personally. I do enjoy watching live-streams from time-to-time but it isn’t something which happens too often. With live-streaming being a key part of the next-gen console releases, I think it will soon become something which is a disappointment to many. The reason I say that is because at a recent event where I played the PS4, the amount of people who were talking about Twitch and live-streaming was unbelievable.

Of the 6 machines which were playable, 5 of the machines were constantly playing FIFA because that is the main reason some people are buying these consoles at launch. FIFA and Call of Duty are what some gamers play religiously and I can think of nothing as boring as watching streams of a game which everyone else is playing. That wouldn’t be the only thing; popular streamers have grown in confidence and established the style in which they present their videos. With the sheer amount of people who will be streaming in the near-future, it will be much harder for gamers who are willing to step up and trying to attract an audience.

With the PS4 and Xbox One being launched recently, we have seen a new side to online streaming which has caused a lot of controversy. The PS4’s Playroom feature has been criticised by many as numerous individuals have been performing sexually explicit acts via Ustream. There has been one in particular which has been well documented via social media and was the most viewed stream at one point. Although both the PS camera and Kinect 2.0 serve their purposes, it is a great shame that something which has been designed with great technology has been used for something as trashy as being willingly nude in front of hundreds of people when the function has been designed for something entirely different.

One of my friends has recently begun streaming his favoured game, Football Manager 2014 and he plays it for hours on end. With the PC gamer being completely different to console gamers, I think that this is the best way to make a name for yourself in terms of streaming if you compare it to console gaming. I’m sure there are many gamers who would have enthusiastically streamed a variety of games if the materials were available to them at a cheaper cost or to their convenience. Now that streaming is easily accessible through the PS4 and Xbox One, it will become too crowded and difficult to make yourself stand out from the crowd. It is even showing signs of being overcrowded with the consoles not even being released for too long.

I managed to get a PS4 at a midnight launch last night (in the UK) and I only used the share function once to see what it was like and I believe many will rather share footage and rare moments via social media than stream to no-one. It is acts like the ones revealed on Ustream this week that brings a bad name to gamers and the culture in its entirety. Many will be put off by it and some parents may even avoid buying their children gaming consoles because of what they read in the papers. I don’t see why we can’t all just play games and enjoy them like they were meant to be enjoyed instead of watching something which you should only be able to watch if you visited a XXX site.

Some of the functions that both Sony and Microsoft have implemented into their new consoles are excellent ways of utilising social media to inform peers of some of your achievements in gaming. I believe this is exactly what gaming required when social media plays such a huge part in sharing special moments in special games. Streaming, on the other hand, has seemed to become overcrowded even in this early stage of the PS4 and Xbox One’s life cycle. Hopefully streaming on consoles for everyone is something which allows genuine ‘stars’ (for a lack of a better term) to be created from showing their skills online.

@SimonMarshall6

HOW THE 360 & PS3 GENERATION CHANGED MY VIEW ON GAMING

When I first purchased my Xbox 360 on a cold and wet Friday afternoon in December 2005, I had no idea how important that piece of hardware would become. After it had initially launched, I played it for a while but never really got into games aside from FIFA and NBA Live. For a number of months, my Xbox 360 lay collecting dust and being little more than a paper weight. When Halo 3 was released, my outlook on gaming changed forever. The online functions, the great community (to begin with at least) and Master Chief had reeled me back into gaming and from that moment, I realised how great the Xbox 360 could be.

It was until relatively recently where I first had possession of a PS3, the start of this year in fact. While I was extremely late to the party, I was able to catch up on brilliant titles such as Uncharted 2, Metal Gear Solid 4 and, the amazing, The Last of Us. Now that the next-gen is appearing on the horizon, the current-gen deserves a huge amount of credit from the games it produced as well as what it all meant to me.

As I have already mentioned, Halo 3 was a major turning point in my gaming life. It was my first console game where I was actively able to interact with numerous players in the same match with the brilliant voice chat functions. Friendships were formed and you knew who you could rely on to play with if you see them online.

At that time, I had experience of online first-person shooters before with return to Castle Wolfenstein on the PC being a game me and my friends enjoyed. It was a great time to be introduced to what the Xbox 360 could accomplish and the online multiplayer in Halo 3 made me want to venture out into other games to see what their communities were like. I did have experience of one online multiplayer game via the Xbox 360 prior to Halo 3, the FIFA World Cup 2006 game was thoroughly enjoyable online but it felt like playing a game of FIFA while talking to someone on the phone.

This then started me off onto being more confident when interacting with the gaming community as, in the beginning, everyone just wanted to play the game and become the best they could be. This lead onto the success of the Call of Duty series as well as the idea’s which games such as Assassin’s Creed and Grand Theft Auto Online were able to build on.

Although I have never been a huge fan of horror films, I began a passion for scary or atmospheric games. Some of the best games I have played this generation have been atmospheric games that mess with your head as well as have a great storyline.

The first game to draw me in with its immersive storyline was Dead Space. When I first started playing through Dead Space, I was terrified at one of the first encounters you have with the Necromorphs. The section where you think you are safe as you run to the elevator. The silence is such a relief although, only for a few seconds until you are jumping off the edge of your seat as a Necromorph burst through the elevator. This sets the tone for the game early on that you should expect the unexpected and this was a brilliant part of the original game.

The story was also well worked as you found yourself looking for something that was so close to Isaac. The fact that Isaac Clarke didn’t say a word in the first game, besides the occasional grunt from stomping on these monsters, meant that you could associate yourself with the character to a certain extent.

It was small details like this that made me appreciate gaming a whole lot more. I had played survival-horror games in the past including Resident Evil back in the 90’s and the Thing in the early 2000’s but these were just fun shooters to me at that time. Resident Evil 4 is one of my favourite games of all time and even though I had played it on the PS2, the Wii version was fantastic. For me, Dead Space had everything and is still a masterpiece. Although the sequel focused more on the action aspect of the game and Dead Space 3 just wasn’t that good, the series is still among my favourite gaming series ever.

A similar game which has helped shape this generation is Bioshock. No matter what your opinions are in regards to first-person shooters, you must play Bioshock. Although the atmosphere wasn’t as terrifying as Dead Space’s, Bioshock’s world was wonderful and charming although there was next to no activity happening in the wonderful world of Rapture. The use of the vigors paired with the guns you could use, meant that playing through the game on the hardest difficulty was brilliant and you would enjoy investigating enemies to see what their weaknesses were.

The best feature of the game isn’t even the phenomenal world which you can explore or the wonderful gameplay mechanics, the story and characters are what make Bioshock such an amazing game. To begin with, you are involved in a plane crash and have no idea how you stumbled upon this underwater city or what you are meant to do there.

All the characters are memorable, right from the word beginning as each has their own personality and way of dealing with situations. You collect audio diaries during the story and this provides a background on some of the things which happened in Rapture as well as looking at the personalities of certain characters. You find yourself wanting to search every last section of the game to find all of these as it almost felt like a separate story.

The story as you progress through the game proves that games can compete with movies and the huge twist in the Bioshock story left me with an amazing feeling as I couldn’t believe a game could do that. The twist was so shocking because you could not see it coming. Although the ending isn’t very memorable, the game as a whole was a masterpiece.

The sequel was brilliant as well as the world was just as wonderful but the story could never reach the heights of the original and with Bioshock Infinite, the gameplay never lived up to expectations and there was a sense that everyone was expecting a twist in the story which didn’t make it seem as shocking as the original.

In terms of changing my life, Rock Band 2 was a revelation. As I have written about this topic several times before, the Rock Band series had everything. The idea of playing a plastic instrument sounds awful but is a brilliant challenge and offers so much replay value. As I had found such a brilliant community with Halo 3 at its time of release, the Rock Band community is arguably the best community I have ever been associated with. No matter what level you played at, everyone just wanted to play songs together in a full band.

Harmonix’s attitude towards DLC was a breath of fresh air as it consistently offered new content every single week. The social aspect of the game didn’t stop with playing online; the ‘living room’ playing conditions are probably the best I’ve ever experienced. As long as you were willing to part with more than £100, you would be able to experience the feeling of a rock band in your front room. It wasn’t too uncommon to have friends over for a relaxing night playing Rock Band which would end up being a workout for all participants and it was great fun playing too. It’s a huge shame that Guitar Hero destroyed the fad with oversaturation but for the time that I had with Rock Band, I only have brilliant memories from it.

As the Xbox One is released today, it signals the end of a new generation in gaming (in the UK). The Xbox 360 and PS3 generation certainly proved how popular gaming is on a worldwide scale. The original Xbox and PS2 were extremely popular but these consoles out-performed anyone’s expectations. In my time spent with the Xbox 360 and PS3 I have had numerous amazing experiences including The Last of Us, Far Cry 3, Grand Theft Auto V, Forza Motorsport 4, Halo 4, Uncharted 2 and many more. This generation will always have a place in my heart. For all the disappointment with red rings of death and replacing consoles, the quality these machines have provided is amazing. Thank you.

@SimonMarshall6

BURIAL AT SEA MAKES BIOSHOCK INFINITE GREAT AGAIN

Earlier this year, the gaming community and gaming critics were full of praise for 2K and Irrational games’ latest hit, Bioshock Infinite. Within the time of release and now, the game has been perceived in a variety of ways. To begin with, it was an event you couldn’t afford to miss but in the months following on from release, the game seemed to receive criticism and has escaped many people’s minds to be a contender for game of the year.

While I’m not saying that Bioshock Infinite is my game of the year, I believe that it has it deserves to be recognised as a beautiful game and one which has a storyline worthy of rivalling any blockbuster movie. Now that the Burial at Sea downloadable content has been released, I feel as though Bioshock Infinite reemphasises its impact on the gaming community.

Before the game was released, I was caught up on the hype of Bioshock Infinite. I had only completed the first game the day before Infinite was released as I wanted to experience some of the series before I entered Columbia and instantly fell in love with the series thanks to its characters, gameplay mechanics and, most importantly, its atmosphere. Aside from the incredible and intense atmosphere, the first Bioshock will be remembered for Rapture as well as the brilliant twist in the story which still ranks amongst the best gaming memories I have.

When Infinite was released, many gamers were blown-away with the beautiful graphics and unique characters that featured in the city in the clouds. Soon enough this world was lost to revolution and a war caused by Booker’s presence. The world of Columbia ended up being rather disappointing compared to the wonderful surroundings of Rapture. Although the original impression which was made from the moment you arrived in Columbia soon wore itself out, it was still a great world to be in with some interesting characters including Comstock, Elizabeth and Daisy Fitzroy but, it was always going to fall short of the original.

I think that is why many have grown to dislike Bioshock Infinite or to disapprove of it months after playing it. The same thing happened recently with GTA IV, at the time the game was excellent but time hadn’t proven to be a worthy ally for the game. One of the major downfalls of the game was the lack of use of the vigors which have been so vital in previous Bioshock games. They served no purpose in Bioshock Infinite and just made the game almost a standard shooter with a brilliant story.

With the game focusing so much on the shooting mechanics, the game sometimes felt like your typical shoot-em-up and made sections including the infamous pointless boss fight halfway through the game extremely difficult and frustrating. Much like the end of the original Bioshock, they must have felt as though that section had to be there but was the most frustrating part of the game.

For me, Bioshock Infinite was mainly about the story and the story was excellent. With the release of the first of two episodes for Burial at Sea which places Booker and Elizabeth in Rapture, I think it’s easy to see some of the strengths of Infinite once again. While the story isn’t too exciting, returning to Rapture before the world falls apart is incredible. There are so many references for Bioshock fans to become excited at and provides more of a back story to the series.

Although the story is average, Burial at Sea continues the story of Bioshock Infinite well and ends the episode on a great cliff-hanger as you have no idea what is going to happen next. The types of enemies are varied which include familiar foes as well as a new special splicer. The combination of the solid shooting mechanics from Infinite and the world of Rapture fit well together and it almost feels strange to have a protagonist who speaks in this wonderful world. Splicers come in all shapes and sizes and prove to be far better enemies in this DLC compared to the gun-toting maniacs of Columbia.

With the chance to play through Rapture before its downfall is as much reason as any to own this DLC. If you enjoyed the first two Bioshock games but either grew tired of Infinite or now don’t rate the game then this DLC should at least make you think that Infinite is a great game, once again.

The Burial at Sea DLC is a little steep at £9.99 but if you are looking to buy both episodes, you can buy the season pass for £15.99. This DLC is as reason as any to put Bioshock Infinite back into your gaming device, especially if you are a Bioshock fan. Burial at Sea remedies some things that were wrong about Infinite and brings you back to a familiar setting with the continuation of a good story.

@SimonMarshall6

GAMING FRANCHISES THAT SHOULDN’T CONTINUE

With the future of console gaming only a few weeks away, it’s great to look back and reflect on games which have stood out from the rest and defined a generation. As well as reflecting on the good side, you need to have a think about what is in store for the future of the PS4 and Xbox One. Everyone will be looking forward to new Halo, God of War and Destiny. Combining both good and bad memories from the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation, I believe that these games should not be re-released nor have direct sequels produced for the next-generation consoles.

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

DEAD SPACE

I was late to the Dead Space series after it was released in 2008. I bought the game at a stage when it was reduced to £10 in most places and thought I would give it a try as I have always enjoyed survival-horror games. I fell in love immediately with the game, although I became freaked out during my first experience of a Necromorph when running for a lift. It was terrifying.

As far as edge of the seat action is concerned, Dead Space reigned supreme in that regard and I will always remember to check vents and air ducts in every horror game. The close-quarters action, sound design, surroundings and enemy design all helped create one of the scariest retail games that I have ever played. For anyone who had played through the full game, not known of the ending and didn’t get a huge fright right at the end, I take my hat off to you.

Like many gaming series, the first game is always the best and with the Dead Space series, it was definitely true. While Dead Space 2 offered some of the same scares and atmosphere as the original, the game was more focused on action rather than setting an atmosphere and making you sit on the edge of your seat. The sense that Isaac had lost his mind was a great feature as you couldn’t tell what was real and what he was imagining. The less said about the third game, the better.

Dead Space 3 had the potential to create its very own version of the classic movie “The Thing” and as you played through it, you could sense that Visceral Games had drawn some inspiration for DS3 from the movie. The story seemed to have suffered as it just seemed to be adding elements on for no real reason and the sections in the core of Tau Volantis leading to the ending were restricted and boring. Suddenly this classic survival horror game had glammed up and decided to go Hollywood.

As far as the Dead Space series goes, I think that I am not alone in thinking that the first game is what everyone will remember from the series. It was genuinely scary as you could only ever see what was in front of you thanks to the third-person perspective and the environment, it all added to the atmosphere. As the second and third games were released, you had almost got used to the enemies jumping up from the ground and through air vents and almost treated it like an action game. The story had grown tiresome as well. The story of the original was one man trying to look for his girlfriend, no matter the cost which leads to his demise which was effective in the sequel but not Dead Space 3.

As much as I am a fan of the series, I think that Visceral need to forget the Dead Space series and move onto something new. Visceral have shown that they can create good games with Dante’s Inferno and are almost working on an upcoming Star Wars game, the studio certainly has talent but please, leave Dead Space as it is.

THE LAST OF US

The Last of Us has been my favourite game of 2013. Grand Theft Auto V may have eclipsed it in terms of sales but the way in which TLOU makes you feel throughout single-player is spectacular as the story is so well done and nothing can be assumed in The Last of Us. I reviewed the game earlier this year and looking back at it, I stand by how perfect I think the game is. In saying that, I feel as though that Naughty Dog shouldn’t release a “The Last of Us 2” or sequel called “The Last of Us 2: Last Longer”.

The story of Joel and Ellie takes so many twists and turns along the way and within that, the ending is enough. That is the end of their story and shouldn’t result in a sequel which I’m sure many people will agree with. If a direct sequel for TLOU were to be released, I feel as though it would take away some of the glory which the original game had. I believe that if Naughty Dog were to create a direct sequel to the original, then they will be merely creating stories just for the sake of it. Although, I do remember reading somewhere when TLOU was released that it was actually a trilogy which may just prove my theory wrong.

Naughty Dog have shown what a great studio they are and how much the PS3 relied on them for creating great exclusives such as the Uncharted series and the Jak and Daxter collection. It will be interesting to see where the developer goes with the next-gen approaching but hopefully it won’t result in them making TLOU into an average series by releasing them to just make money and lessening some of the original impact the game had on the community.

RESIDENT EVIL

Although the first game wasn’t released this generation, I firmly believe that there should be no more Resident Evil games. The Resident Evil games which have been released this generation have been nothing short of disappointing.

RE5 was nothing more than a poor clone of RE4 which is arguably the best game the series has ever created. The enemy designs were almost the exact same as its predecessor and the story was very poor. The game seemed to constantly bring back Wesker just for the sake of it and the boss battles were tedious, long and uneventful. The ending of RE5 is one of my worst memories in gaming. After completing it once, I never turned RE5 back on. At this stage you could sense that the story was getting out of hand.

The build-up to RE6 seemed promising as I enjoyed the demo. But when the game was revealed, they had just seemed to completely run out of ideas. With boss fights becoming even more tedious and replaying the same sections when you were playing as different characters, the game had promised so much but had delivered so very little.

The warning signs for Capcom should have been with the reaction to Operation Raccoon City which was a very poor shooter and the mechanics for RE6 were built around this. I played through three of the four campaigns in RE6 and immediately traded it in. It seems as though they have forgotten what help made the first four games classics. Like many successful franchises they had forgotten what made them stand out from other games in the first place.

I would much rather see Capcom rebooting the series either with another name or changing the name in its entirety. The characters have become so overused that everything is in need of a refresh and I think that a new series would provide that. Travelling around the world battling different types of viruses isn’t scary, it’s just unnecessary.

In contrast to this, Shinji Mikami, who was the director of RE4, has announced his latest project away from Capcom as he is the director in the survival-horror game “The Evil Within” which, by the look of the trailers and gameplay, looks terrifying. If Capcom can get someone on board similar to Mikami’s way of thinking, the Capcom survival-horror genre will be something to be proud of.

There is one thing that these three games all have in common and it is that they are all survival-horror games. Since that is the case, what does that say about the industry now? The zombie genre has been so overused that it has lost its appeal. I was going to add Bioshock to this list but Irrational have already said that they won’t make any more Bioshock games, which is fine.

Gaming is like having your favourite sandwich at Subway. The first time you create your preferred sandwich, you are blown away by it. As you become more adventurous, the sandwich can either be even better than the original or ruin the taste of it for you. The same goes for if you eat the sandwich too often in that you become bored of it and want to try something new. This is definitely the case for Resident Evil whereas Dead Space tried to change everything too much and lost sight of what it was. The Last of Us is like a limited edition sandwich. Loved once and will always be remembered for what it was… I hope.

@SimonMarshall6

THERE IS NO NEED FOR THE GRAPHICAL OBSESSION WITH NEXT-GEN

Whenever a new game is released, the same is always said by gamers who are easily impressed.

“Wow, look at those graphics!”

There was a time when playing games such as FIFA 99 and Metal Gear Solid where I thought that these games were hugely impressive graphically. When you look back only a few years later when the PS one was replaced with the PS2, the graphics looked terrible in comparison as they all had flat faces and robotic body movements. With modern gaming there is such a huge demand for games to look the best they possibly can and I believe that this is hurting the industry. There are certain areas of gaming which are thriving even though they do not have the graphical prowess of the million dollar franchises.

Why has the community become so overwhelmed with the need to have amazing graphics when the main part of the game is actually enjoying the overall experience and taking you away from reality?

The reason I’m saying this as it has seemed, for the current-gen at least, that amazing graphics are what a game needs to be great. In the beginning, it was clear to see that technically the PS3 was a superior console and better graphics would be available on this console if developers hadn’t chosen to optimise their games based on the Xbox 360’s specifications.

As we look to the future, the same thing seems to be happening again in terms of graphics but it seems to be more of a problem for many gamers. As it was revealed that the Xbox One was only able to output 720p on Call of Duty: Ghosts compared to 1080p on the PS4, the community at large seemed to react furiously to this prompting many to cancel pre-orders and jump ship once again to Sony’s next-gen entertainment system.

I have written several articles recently regarding how concerned I am for the launch of the next-gen and I still am. While I am sceptical about the future Sony and Microsoft consoles, I think the quality of games and enjoyment should overshadow any graphical differences that may be found. If you are playing a game for the first time, you will instantly think it looks great or it looks poor. After the opening 10 minutes or so, your eyes will adjust and your experience will revolve around how much you enjoy the game and not the graphics. Had all of these comparison videos and news about the two consoles not been released this week, I think it would be hard to find anyone would have made a huge fuss over the Xbox One’s graphical power compared to the PS4.

The footage of Battlefield 4 was centre stage for this comparison and Battlefield is as guilty as any game for pushing it’s graphics to the limit and constantly reminding the community just how important graphics are. While all we can see graphics in a build-up to a game, gameplay, story and atmosphere are and will always be the main aspect of any game. I’m not saying that graphics aren’t important but they aren’t the most important thing. A game can look rough and be excellent at the same time whether it be through gameplay, mechanics or story.

The Walking Dead did this spectacularly. Although the game looked very rough, the gameplay mechanics were solid and made me feel involved in that game so much that the graphics did not matter at all. Another game which did this recently was State of Decay which looked horrendous when you first played the game. It looked as though the game had just been created in one day by someone who wanted to make a zombie game. But, the experience of SOD was brilliant as it featured so many great gameplay mechanics that you soon got used to the jarring graphics or rough landscape. It didn’t take anything away from my experience of the game and I will happily recommend SOD.

If you are reading this and thinking “Why are you speaking of Arcade/indie games? We want AAA,” that’s because they need to look the best because of pressure from the community and it’s an improvement on the last edition of the game. With new consoles you definitely expect graphics to improve but sometimes these games which have yearly releases are made to look nicer just as an improvement rather than an improvement to the overall experience.

Indie games revolve around allowing the player to have fun for a relatively low price while playing an inferior looking game compared to what an AAA developer would release. This seems to be the reason why Steam is performing so well these days as the games are so cheap that people are buying them, enjoying them and telling their friends about it because they aren’t consumed with games looking as best as they can be. A select few people out there have PC’s which are constantly at the highest level of specifications and I don’t see why not having the best PC affects their ability to enjoy a game.

I cannot see why someone would decide their next console on something which has overshadowed the fun and atmospheric side of games in recent years. When looking at retail games you are constantly hearing people saying how rough it looks or judging their opinion on the game based on looks. I would much rather have a memorable experience playing a fun game rather than playing a game which looks amazing. The Crysis series has suffered from this as the games haven’t been of the highest quality but whenever you mention the Crysis games to someone, they always say, “Oh, it looks brilliant.” I’m sure Crytek would rather have people reflect on how much they enjoyed the story or gameplay in their game rather than the visuals. Graphics are important but the quality of a game relies on so much more than that. The atmosphere in a game combined with the story and gameplay mechanics are far more important in games for me than graphics.

For people who have been thinking of changing console due to graphical superiority, can I ask them to consider this: The Xbox One will (more than likely) eventually release all of your favourite exclusives such as Halo, Gears of War, Titanfall, Alan Wake and Fable to name but a few. Of course Sony will have its own share of strong exclusives and the graphical power will be better but if you would rather have stronger graphics than a variety of great games, then it seems as though the fun and enjoyment factor has been zapped from gaming’s core.

Before I get accused of being an Xbox fanboy, I have pre-ordered a PS4 and will be getting mine on launch and, in the first few months at least; I will be playing indie games as well as AAA titles. Even though the indie titles aren’t as well made as Battlefield or Call of Duty, they offer a unique experience which doesn’t have to be clouded over with graphical criticism. Graphics can only take you so far. What keeps you playing through a game are the mechanics and ability to enjoy yourself and this can be achieved on both next-gen consoles.

@SimonMarshall6

I’M SLIGHTLY WORRIED ABOUT THE PS4 LAUNCH (WRITTEN PRIOR TO PS4 LAUNCH)

The initial PS4 reveal and E3 seem as though they happened a very long time ago and, in gaming, four months is a long time. Games such as Grand Theft Auto V, FIFA 14 and The Last of Us have all proven to be great successes when we know that the next generation of consoles aren’t too far away. Until a few days ago, I was very much looking forward to picking up my pre-ordered PS4 on launch day as I wanted to experience the future of console gaming as quickly as possible. With recent delays as well as several rumours, I have become a little sceptical about the launch games for the PS4.

While Watch Dogs was already being released on several platforms including the PS4 and Xbox One, I had pre-ordered the bundle which featured Watch Dogs. I was waiting to see what this futuristic free-roaming title could offer on the next-gen consoles. Now that it has been delayed because of ‘quality issues’, I think there were several reasons why the game was delayed. It may have been because of all the games which Ubisoft have already released this autumn with Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Rayman, as well as Assassin’s Creed IV due out in two weeks’ time.

Perhaps Ubisoft were a little hesitant due to Grand Theft Auto Online being so popular as it’ll be played for many months to come and will probably be better than Watch Dogs. Anything could have happened in the development of the game but it seems as though we have seen so much marketing from this game that by the time it comes out, the community may become frustrated as it’ll have been almost 2 years since the initial reveal.

I have seen several posts on Twitter and several forums that suggest a large number of gamers who have pre-ordered their PS4 will cancel their pre-order because of Watch Dogs being delayed. I have not heard of anyone saying that they will be cancelling their Xbox One pre-order because Watch Dogs has been delayed. I can see where some people are coming from because of the latest rumour which spread today (Thursday).

There have been a few rumours saying that Drive Club was going to be delayed until spring 2014, much like Watch Dogs. Drive Club was one of the games I was looking to buy upon launch and it is tradition that the new console has at least one exclusive racing launch title. This wasn’t going to be a monumental hit and I think Sony knew this but I see no reason why this game has been delayed other than it isn’t ready. If you are looking for fast-paced racing on PS4, it looks as though it could be Need for Speed: Rivals or nothing. Hopefully the rumour will be false but at the minute it’s up in the air.

The main reason I am a little sceptical is when you compare the launch titles for the PS4 to that of the Xbox One’s. The games exclusively being released on the PS4 don’t interest me. I played Killzone 2 for a few hours and didn’t enjoy it. I enjoy my first-person shooters but the game felt a little jarring and I never went back to play it and will be why I won’t buy Shadow Fall.

For those of you who believe Knack will be a great exclusive, I’m sorry but it won’t. By all means Sony prove me wrong but, I’m finding it hard to find words to describe how I feel about Knack. I just think it will be a huge disappointment when you consider Mark Cerny, who directed the game and featured on games such as God of War III, Uncharted and the Ratchet & Clank series. I have been slated by several Playstation fans who believe that this game will be fantastic but I just can’t see it being like that.

With Microsoft’s E3 conference, the list of launch games which they specified looked promising. With Dead Rising 3 now being added to the list of launch games, the Xbox One exclusive games now seem better than those of the PS4. With Forza Motorsport 5, Dead Rising 3 and Ryse which I’ll admit doesn’t look too good but it is still another exclusive.

With two of the three games bound to be on the must-have list to many gamers out there, you simply cannot compare the two, in my opinion. Killzone has seemed to lack that cutting edge which makes Call of Duty, Battlefield and Far Cry stand out first-person shooters. Knack is probably the Playstation’s version of Ryse in that it will probably not meet expectations. Dead Rising 3 does look very fun to play and Forza Motorsport offers the Xbox audience what they want in regards to track racing. The only way the PS4 could compete with that would be if Gran Turismo 6 was released on launch, even if Drive Club proves not to be delayed as well.

Forza is a key Xbox brand and when Forza Motorsport games are released, the Xbox community know that they are getting great quality games. I just don’t feel as though the PS4 exclusives offer me the same quality as Forza Motorsport 5 or Dead Rising 3. The only games that many people will want to play on the PS4 could be the games which are already on current-gen and are on Microsoft consoles.

It’s sad to see that the PS4 launch has taken a bit of a hit by the delay of Watch Dogs and now possibly Drive Club. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about changing my pre-order to an Xbox One but, I believe that the games will come. I owned an Xbox 360 from the start of the current-gen and missed out on many of the PS3 exclusives in the early years of the console cycle. I will eventually buy an Xbox One as well but I can’t help but feel let down by the lack of variety at the start of the PS4. You always think that the console cycles will be a step towards the future but we may not see that for the next 12 months or so.

@SimonMarshall6

*I did write an article last week looking at why I’m buying a console day one. I still stand by that but I think the launch titles for the PS4 could have been a lot better.

LOOKING FOR A DIFFERENT MULTIPLAYER EXPERIENCE? TRY “THE LAST OF US”

For many avid gamers out there, the release of Naughty Dog’s most recent game, The Last of Us (TLOU), was heralded as an amazing achievement in gaming. Many (including myself) were amazed at the game’s thoroughly emotional story and how everyone had a different experience while playing the game. Aside from the compelling and brilliant single player campaign, TLOU features an exciting and different multiplayer experience from anything I’ve played this generation.

With so many games being pressured into featuring competitive multiplayer modes, it’s no wonder that many were hesitant when it was revealed that TLOU was to feature multiplayer. In recent years we have seen great single player games suffer from poor multiplayer modes such as Dead Space 2, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Tomb Raider and Bioshock 2.

Some will argue that some of these games multiplayer modes were well thought out but, in all honesty, none of them made a huge difference to the multiplayer scene on consoles. What seems to have stemmed from the powerhouse Call of Duty, every game now it seems has to feature multiplayer of some sort looking to tap into the popular first-person shooter’s fan base.

As much as I was looking forward to TLOU, I couldn’t help but wonder what impact the multiplayer would have on the game as a whole. I had played the game on a pre-alpha demo and thought at the time the single-player game was brilliant but I couldn’t see where the Multiplayer would fit into it. After playing a lot of the single player campaign, I had really hoped that Joel and Ellie wouldn’t feature in the multiplayer as it would tarnish the relationship which the gamer had developed with these two characters and potentially ruin the single player for many.

I had feared that the multiplayer modes would be an afterthought and something which was rushed at the last minute to please the bankers at Naughty Dog to appeal to the COD generation. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Although the multiplayer mode does feature a poorly narrated story, which isn’t really a story, it feels much like parts of the single player campaign. You are driven with more ambition to survive as you are playing against human opposition and you also have more people to look out for and support. The two different “campaigns” in multiplayer aren’t really relevant to the online experience as you choose a side and the only real difference is which side you’re on. You will still have a similar experience whether you pick the Fireflies or the Hunters.

The main aspect of the multiplayer which I enjoy is looking out for my teammates. Throughout many years of online multiplayer with shooters, adventure games, sports and fighting games, I have never had the urge to look out for my teammates as much as I do in TLOU. In most online shooters you are part of a team but, you do anything to try and get as many kills as you can in one match. While those numbers are still important here, it seems to me that these come second behind your team winning the match.

Supply Raid and especially Survivors are both great modes and in all honesty, you don’t need any more game modes than that. So many multiplayer games are spoiled by modes such as Capture the Flag and “Horde” modes on anything but Gears of War but the lack of variety in TLOU suits the game and no match is ever the same.

Similar to the game’s main campaign, the motivation you need to have for multiplayer is to survive at all costs. In order to do so, you need your teammate’s help and you need to revive them if they are ever in trouble. After playing around 13 hours of the multiplayer, I have never encountered someone in my team who was wishing to opt for a “run and gun” style of play. The gameplay begins slowly in the multiplayer but when you find the enemy’s location, it turns into an all-out shooting match.

Like many multiplayer games, you are seen on the radar if you shoot without a silenced weapon or sprint around the map. Stealth, much like in the main campaign, plays a major part and often pays off to great dividends. The weapons are basic and there is nothing major to give more experienced players an advantage over new players. After playing each map a few times, you begin to learn them (like most multiplayer games) and you learn where the enemy will most likely attack from. Unlike the single player, it is easier to decide if you will use your crafting items to use on first-aid kits or Molotov cocktails as the maps normally have a few first-aid kits littered throughout them.

As I have already reviewed The Last of Us and said that it was the “best game of this generation” and I still say the same. As I have been able to play more of the multiplayer now it seems as though this is the perfect all-round game. With so many great features taken from the single player campaign being successfully implemented onto the multiplayer, it is essential to play the multiplayer. It cannot be compared to the single player story but the gameplay reflects brilliantly onto multiplayer. If you are a gamer that doesn’t play games too often or are someone who is heavily involved with competitive gaming, The Last of Us multiplayer is for everyone to enjoy and I’m sure you will enjoy it.

@SimonMarshall6

The Last of Us Review

After the first time I seen the reveal trailer for The Last of Us, I knew it would be a game that I would keep a close eye on. From that moment last year, anticipation for the game grew as more details were unveiled and more coverage of the game was broadcast to the masses. As excitement grew, Sony revealed that a playable demo would be available to play via a code which could be obtained via the purchase of God of War: Ascension. Prior to the release of the demo, I was able to play the pre-alpha demo for The Last of Us via an event held by my local GAME store and a few fellow gamers. While I was impressed with what I played, it made me even more eager to get my hands on the final product. The time has arrived to see if Naughty Dog’s latest game should be one to survive this gaming apocalypse or be considered dead in the water.

The game begins with a typical family scene with main character Joel and his daughter Sarah relaxing on the couch. The first time you are in control of a character is when you control Sarah who has been woken up by a phone call during the early hours. This causes Sarah to look for her dad when it soon becomes apparent that everything isn’t right. From that moment on, nothing is ever the same.

Fast forward 20 years and the America that was once the leading light of the world has become nothing more than a dying ember as society has been ripped apart by a fungal disease (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis). This disease has turned most of the American population into senseless monsters who look to kill at any opportunity. Joel is tasked with the humane mission of taking care of teenager Ellie in an otherwise inhumane environment. Before you get far into the story, you know you are in for a rollercoaster ride of emotion, action and tension throughout The Last of Us.

It is simply a beautiful game to look at. Whether its cut-scenes or gameplay, they both look equally beautiful. The game does take you from the brightest of natural environments to the deepest and darkest flooded subways and it is visually stunning. Amidst all the problems which the futuristic America seems to be experiencing, sometimes you can’t help but stand and look at your surroundings at how beautiful it looks or how dark and intimidating some places are. There is one moment in particular where I stood (as Joel) and looked at this herd of giraffes and thought how some beauty can still be found in the ugliest of situations. It took me a minute or so to realise I had to interact with something in order to progress as I was so lost in this beautiful scene. In addition to the surroundings, your enemies are fascinating to look at, even if any shred of human life form has been ripped from them.

Enemies come in various forms with the main threats being clickers. These enemies have been fully infected with the fungal disease and can kill you with one bite. The only way to kill them is to shoot them in the head and the ‘Double Tap’ rule definitely applies here. Even with a powerful revolver, the clickers can take at least two shots to the head to kill. If ammo allows it, the shotgun is always the preferred weapon when faced with clickers. These frantic battles often decimate your ammo supply but as long as you survived, that is what counts. It would always be advised to try and distract the clickers and sneak around them.

Sometimes this isn’t possible as the lesser infected enemies (runners) can see and hear well. You can beat off these enemies by furiously hammering square adding to the sense of desperation in your struggles to cope with the world outside of your comfort zone. These enemies try to beat you to death and if you are surrounded by several of them, you can sprint through them briefly to try and get the better of them. You will also encounter enemies in the shape of fellow humans who are either in a similar situation to you by trying to survive or law enforcers who wish to erase anyone who has tried to steal their supplies, enter their territory or disobey their orders.

Each of these enemies can be distracted by using glass bottles and bricks to give you a window of opportunity. The tension when sneaking past enemies is, more often than not, extremely tense. You just don’t know if the enemy will turn round and see you or if you get to close you will be spotted by a runner or a clicker. There are a few moments early on which test your patience as you have to pick your moments and get past 4 runners and a clicker but you can’t get out of the room without making a huge amount of noise. You need to pick your moments and hope for the best. Another moment is when you are separated from your allies and you have to get past two clickers without much room to manoeuvre. The game is challenging (even on normal difficulty) but as you progress through each part, you get a small sense of achievement as you have managed to somehow survive.

If there is one aspect of the game which other titles should look to bring to their games, it is the checkpoint system. The checkpoints are so frequent that if you do die, or someone who is with you dies, you will restart not too far away from where you were. It is a very good system that works perfectly. There is no need for feeling angry about losing progress for the past 30 minutes; The Last of Us has you covered.

If someone had to ask me to describe The Last of Us in one word, it would be ‘tense’. You often find yourself constantly holding in R2 to see where enemies are and if you can sneak past the. I found, more often than not, that my heart would beat faster and would grip the controller tighter as I hoped that Joel would survive and be able to protect Ellie so that they could try to progress through this ravaged country.

There are times where you are overwhelmed by 4 or 5 enemies and have to run to find a little space before you can decide your next move. The atmosphere is as good as a survival horror game has ever been. I must admit however, I didn’t find myself pausing the game in terror after an infected had scared me or because there were erratic movements. It may be because I am used to playing games like Dead Space, F.E.A.R and Alan Wake but I wasn’t scared, only emotionally attached to the characters throughout.

The array of characters which The Last of Us possesses is nothing short of incredible. Each character has their own story to tell and shows in the way they act when they meet Joel and Ellie. Ellie is one of the best gaming partners because you don’t have to worry about her safety, apart from a select few occasions. She hides herself away from any danger but becomes a great ally and someone you can rely on as the game progresses. Ellie’s strong point is her personality. She is 14 and has grown up in a world that hasn’t had any luxuries like aeroplanes, parties, the internet and many more objects which we would take for granted in real life. Her attitude towards others who think that she’s’ just a kid’, is excellent and sometimes had me chuckling with her witty comebacks.

Other memorable characters are Joel’s criminal partner, Tess, someone who Joel did several favours for, Bill, and a fellow survivor Joel and Ellie meet on their travels, Henry. These are only some of the characters but each individual has had different experiences surviving the monstrosity and some can be trusted, more than others. The team behind The Last of Us have done a great job in adding little twists to each of the situations.

There were a few moments of error which I spotted during my first save file. The main one which kept happening was that even though Ellie and other survivors are good at hiding, the enemies only react when they see Joel or Ellie later in the game. You try so hard to stay out of sight and the first time it happened I noticed both Ellie and Tess were in clear view of the enemy but they went unnoticed. A tad unrealistic but it doesn’t affect the game too much as it allows you to concentrate on keeping Joel breathing rather than an extra 2 people as well. Later in the game, I had noticed a bug when I was fleeing a battle and climbed into a restaurant through a window. There was a fence between me and the other side so I entered the restaurant and seen there was an open window just up from the window where I had entered. When I climbed out of it, the Ellie was floating in mid-air and, subsequently died a few seconds later. It turns out I had been going the wrong way!

To many, multiplayer in The Last of Us is something which may have been overlooked prior to the game’s release. Multiplayer games in games which seem to focus more on the single player aspect tend to be popular for a few weeks and then everyone returns to Call of Duty, Battlefield or FIFA. The multiplayer in The Last of Us differs slightly from the typical Team Deathmatch style of gameplay. The online mode is called ‘Factions’ and before you start, you have to choose a side in which to play as. You can either play as one of two ‘factions’: Hunters or Fireflies. If you have played through the single player campaign, you will be more than aware of each side’s ambitions. The selection at the start is permanent but can be altered if you complete the story online, which doesn’t feature a lot of dialogue.

Both factions aims are to grow their number of members and in order to do this, you will have to win multiplayer matches. In addition to winning the match, you will also need to collect supplies and completing certain objectives during the match. After each match, the online story moves one day forward. If you lose a match, the number of people in your clan will be decreased and the only way to grow numbers is to win matches. There are two playing modes in Factions, Supply Raid and Survivors. Both are variations on Team Deathmatch with Supply Raid offering a limited number of respawns while Survivors doesn’t allow respawns once your character is deceased. Both game modes are 4v4 and the maps are large for the number of players involved. Either of the multiplayer games don’t tend to allow you to ‘run and gun’ your way through a level as it will result in a perilous death. The best way to approach it is the same way to approach the single player.

As you gain kills, you can use parts you collect from enemies to buy better weapons, ammunition and other accessories to help your cause to help you survive longer. Some of the objectives the player is faced with include killing a number of enemies in a specific time. None of the game modes involve any of the infected creatures, only the human survivors. The depth that the game offers in terms of multiplayer is an excellent example of how little tweaks to an already established game mode can make a huge difference and make the mode seem new and fresh.

Earlier this year, I said that this year would be the best year for games this generation. If this generation was a cake, The Last of Us would be the cherry on top. The game features fantastic characters that you feel responsible for and, to a certain degree, emotionally attached to. The gameplay is similar to Naughty Dog’s other landmark series Uncharted but the environments, scenery, enemies and the story is something to behold. It seems as though the term ‘Survival Horror’ means something once again and if you own a Playstation 3, then you definitely need to own The Last of Us. Even if you don’t own a PS3, it is a game you must experience somehow. The multiplayer is different other single player driven games and is refreshing to play. The Last of Us is tough, it is emotional but it certainly is rewarding.

5/5

@SimonMarshall6