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Well, I'm finally back from Germany and I have to say that Cologne is a wonderful city and well worth a visit if you have the chance. I always look forward to going back there each year and I'm rarely disappointed.

 

This year certainly had a few less surprises than previously, though it did still throw up the odd novelty (Rise of the Tomb Raider was one). I got a chance to get my hands on some great games that are due out, as well as talk to some interesting people. Definite highlight was our interview with the Big Show (for all you WWE fans) who was a great talker and just told it like it was - can't wait for us to post up the footage. I'll talk about how he mocked my man bag at some other time..........

 

Also, really enjoyed talking to the folks at Bungie (got in some of the subs questions too) though I was less successful with COD which left me pretty pissed off at the time - as I'd prepped a load of questions and lugged the camera equipment to their booth to be told I couldn't film it AND we could only discuss MP stuff. What a waste of time.

 

I'll probably talk about some of the games I saw in a little more detail when I have a chance but here are the titles I had some hands on time with:

 

Just Dance 2015 )

Shape Up! ) - Webb booked these back to back for me on the

Rabbids invasion ) morning of the 1st day. What a bastard, ha ha!

 

Destiny - mainly Beta stuff with a few new bits

Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel - loved this. Claptrap FTW.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

PES 2015

Lords of the Fallen - another game like Dark Souls? Yes please.

Metal Gear Solid: Phantom Pain

WWE 2K15

Evolve - had a LOT more fun with this than I thought I would.

Life is Strange - my game of the show, no doubt. Beautiful episodic adventure, like Walking Dead, but far better looking with a lot more freedom and choices plus a beautiful soundtrack.

 

Any questions then fire away. Hopefully I'll sort out all the work I have to do (plenty of previews to write) and then I can talk about them a bit more.

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You get a chance to play any of the many indie games coming to the Xbox One? Was that even an option?

 

After the official press conference we got some hands on time with a bunch of indie games. The Escapists was fun, loved the humour and graphic style. Also saw Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime - which is a weird little co-op shooter, where you have to guide your guys around the inside of a ship to man the guns and fight of aliens. Also, had a go on Space Engineers, which is kind of like Minecraft in space, though with more emphasis on combat and beating up other players with the stuff you create.

 

There are a few indie titles that sadly weren't there that I would have liked to see, like Blues and Bullets, Cuphead and Ghost of a Tale. But it looks like there are plenty of novel things coming and everything that was at the showcase (or shown on the trailer) was either exclusive to Xbox One or a timed exclusive at worst.

 

Not sure if it classes as an indie game (as it's by the team that did Remember Me) but Life is Strange was a wonderful little adventure game that certainly had a nice indie vibe. I'll be putting a full preview for that in the front page on Friday.

 

How was Afro Samurai 2? That looks interesting to me since I enjoyed playing the first game.

 

Sadly they only had footage at the moment, I've got a preview going up today so check that out, but it looks like they have followed the same pattern as the original. Although he did say that they had toned down the amount of combat, as it could be brutal in the first game, and put in a bit more in terms of platforming/puzzles.

 

Also, it is a digital release Only for the One/PS4 which I thought was surprising, so hopefully it won't be too expensive - and fingers crossed that the quality doesn't suffer either. Though he seemed to suggest that as they had gone with a smaller publisher they had been given free rein to do what they want.

 

Good to hear about Evolve, I'm quite curious to how that game pans out.

 

Evolve is MAKING me buy a One. SO excited.

 

Evolve was an interesting one. I went into it having not played it before, or even seen much of the footage. So it was a UNIQUE experience.

 

From what I played it has a LOT of good ideas going on. There are three variants for each hunter class (assault, medic, trapper, support) all with their own unique skills and abilities. So that's 12 options from the start.

 

Every level looks superb and has great verticality, so you can jump up ledges and use your jetpack to zip around. You can take on the local wildlife to stop the kraken etc from eating them and evolving. Stalking them through the terrain is great and you can get visual clues (like if the monster disturbs birds, knocks over trees etc) and then try and trap them in a deployable dome to take them down.

 

Meanwhile the monster player is trying to stay hidden, power up to get new attacks and then take you down. They can also smash up your base power grid to win if they don't fancy taking you on face to face. It was good times trying to pin them down with harpoons and deploy a dome to trap them so they couldn't scuttle off and revive. As long as you use the full range of abilities for the team then you have a good chance even if the beastie gets to max level.

 

My one concern would be longevity. There are only going to be three monsters initially, plus a few maps. Once you have played them all, and matches don't take too long - then I'm not sure it has the variety and surprise element of L4D to keep drawing you back.

 

Plus, the monsters get crazy overpowered once they hit max level and are generally too fast to catch before then (at least if the player using them has any sense). Not to mention the dome you trap them in only lasts so long, so if you get really close to killing them, then the dome comes down, they can just run off and revive their health armour. Not to mention they follow the same tactics each time really - take down the medic first and then the hunters are pretty much screwed. Seriously if you lose 2 people on the hunter team, then that's effectively it. Seems a bit TOO in favour of the monster right now.

 

Don't get me wrong - I had fun playing it, but I don't know if I'd want to keep on playing it over and over. Hopefully they will add more beasties and modes soonish so that the content is there to keep you coming back.

Edited by jackanape
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Sadly they only had footage at the moment, I've got a preview going up today so check that out, but it looks like they have followed the same pattern as the original. Although he did say that they had toned down the amount of combat, as it could be brutal in the first game, and put in a bit more in terms of platforming/puzzles.

 

Also, it is a digital release Only for the One/PS4 which I thought was surprising, so hopefully it won't be too expensive - and fingers crossed that the quality doesn't suffer either. Though he seemed to suggest that as they had gone with a smaller publisher they had been given free rein to do what they want.

 

I just read the preview! :) That is a shame that they only had footage and that you could not actually play the game! I think it is really interesting that this game is going to be from Kuma's perspective. I wonder how much this game is going to be toned down compared to the original game. I hope that the game will not be too expensive or drop any quality from going digital only either. I am definitely going to look forward to hearing more about the game; I should probably finally complete the first one before this one comes out. :p

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After the official press conference we got some hands on time with a bunch of indie games. The Escapists was fun, loved the humour and graphic style. Also saw Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime - which is a weird little co-op shooter, where you have to guide your guys around the inside of a ship to man the guns and fight of aliens. Also, had a go on Space Engineers, which is kind of like Minecraft in space, though with more emphasis on combat and beating up other players with the stuff you create.

 

There are a few indie titles that sadly weren't there that I would have liked to see, like Blues and Bullets, Cuphead and Ghost of a Tale. But it looks like there are plenty of novel things coming and everything that was at the showcase (or shown on the trailer) was either exclusive to Xbox One or a timed exclusive at worst.

 

Not sure if it classes as an indie game (as it's by the team that did Remember Me) but Life is Strange was a wonderful little adventure game that certainly had a nice indie vibe. I'll be putting a full preview for that in the front page on Friday.

 

I'm gonna have to look up the titles of some of the ones you mentioned. I've seen a bunch of the compilation videos, but outside of a few that really stood out, there were too many to remember all of their names. I do remember seeing a bit of gameplay from The Escapists and thinking it was sort of dark and hilarious at the same time. A retro prison (RPG?), haha, that's definitely different. Also, Cuphead was love at first sight for me. I had to figure out what that was on my own after E3 when I saw that old school Disney style animation. From what I can gather that seems like more of a fighting game than a platformer though, but there isn't a plethora of information out there about it. I don't like fighters, but that's a day one purchase just for the art.

 

From what I've seen of Evolve, I share your longevity concerns. It doesn't have that charm that speaks to me the way Left 4 Dead did. I'm sure it's going to be a blast, but I have a sinking feeling I'm gonna get a dozen hours out of it and shelve it.

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Evolve was an interesting one. I went into it having not played it before, or even seen much of the footage. So it was a UNIQUE experience.

 

From what I played it has a LOT of good ideas going on. There are three variants for each hunter class (assault, medic, trapper, support) all with their own unique skills and abilities. So that's 12 options from the start.

 

Every level looks superb and has great verticality, so you can jump up ledges and use your jetpack to zip around. You can take on the local wildlife to stop the kraken etc from eating them and evolving. Stalking them through the terrain is great and you can get visual clues (like if the monster disturbs birds, knocks over trees etc) and then try and trap them in a deployable dome to take them down.

 

Meanwhile the monster player is trying to stay hidden, power up to get new attacks and then take you down. They can also smash up your base power grid to win if they don't fancy taking you on face to face. It was good times trying to pin them down with harpoons and deploy a dome to trap them so they couldn't scuttle off and revive. As long as you use the full range of abilities for the team then you have a good chance even if the beastie gets to max level.

 

My one concern would be longevity. There are only going to be three monsters initially, plus a few maps. Once you have played them all, and matches don't take too long - then I'm not sure it has the variety and surprise element of L4D to keep drawing you back.

 

Plus, the monsters get crazy overpowered once they hit max level and are generally too fast to catch before then (at least if the player using them has any sense). Not to mention the dome you trap them in only lasts so long, so if you get really close to killing them, then the dome comes down, they can just run off and revive their health armour. Not to mention they follow the same tactics each time really - take down the medic first and then the hunters are pretty much screwed. Seriously if you lose 2 people on the hunter team, then that's effectively it. Seems a bit TOO in favour of the monster right now.

 

Don't get me wrong - I had fun playing it, but I don't know if I'd want to keep on playing it over and over. Hopefully they will add more beasties and modes soonish so that the content is there to keep you coming back.

 

I wondered about replay value with this game. Don't get me wrong I have completed L4D and all the DLC and I still play it, so I could see that happening here as well. Maybe they will do DLC ala ME3, a bunch of free DLC with microtranactions.

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It seems to be the vogue thing to comment on what has been a spectacularly successful launch for a new IP. If nothing else the success of Destiny is GREAT for games - as most companies shy away from really pushing a big new AAA title, or even taking the risk to make one. I know this was in the hands of Bungie, so some measure of success was probably guaranteed but after seeing both this and Watch Dogs do really well, it will hopefully push more and more companies towards new IP in the future. So yay for that.

 

Now onto the game......

 

I have to say, first of all, that I'm disappointed. But let me quantify that with a few things from both sides of the fence.

 

First of all: the good. There is plenty of that. The game LOOKS amazing, I'm playing it on the One and using my swanky new 46" TV and even my wife has commented on how great it looks. It's a truly beautiful game to behold.

 

The mechanics are rock solid too. I'm not sure how many of you played Defiance but it was a very similar game to this (in general terms) as it was a sci-fi shooter, with an emphasis on exploration and also a PvP element. The difference in production and implementation between the two though is like night and day. The way the guns react in Destiny, the hit boxes, the enemy AI, the vehicle control and movement, the diversity and scope of the landscapes etc etc are ALL lightyears ahead of what Defiance accomplished. Defiance is still broken to this day and yet Destiny landed day one with rock solid online servers that worked and gameplay that stood up to some of the best stuff Bungie has done. In terms of how this type of game should look and play, then these things are spot on.

 

The online play and co-op aspects are great too. The modes and maps are well thought out and, after some teething troubles, I can hold me own in matches now and have a good time. Defiance had AWFUL PvP that was ditched pretty quickly, but I can see Destiny doing good PvP work for a long time coming. Drop in/out co-op is solid too and Strike missions are great (I hope Raids are more of the same too) plus we all know that playing games with other people always makes them more fun (it's a given) so it's much better to roam the landscape with a group.

 

Now onto my problems with the game, and they arise from the same problems that plagued Defiance too to some extent and some are problems that you can't really avoid in this type of shooty/MMO but still ruin my fun.

 

First of all there is literally no story. The story is non-existent. I'm woken up after hundreds of years by a Ghost. Why? What's a Ghost? Who formed the Guardians? What's the deal with the Traveller and where is it now? Full disclosure: I've not entirely finished the story yet, as I'm playing through events on Venus right now (so I'm not miles off) so maybe some of this is covered, but the game does literally a terrible job of explaining anything.

 

I'm not asking for a step by step, handheld story by the way as Dark Souls has shown that you can create a great story by drip feeding characters and information. But Destiny doesn't even do that. There is NO lore in the game that you can read up on, barring cutscenes NO characters have anything to say to you other then a shop menu. This isn't dragging me into this epic conflict, it's pushing me away. Likewise the fact I chose an Awoken character and they didn't bat an eye when I went to chat with them seems mental. Like the game doesn't care what class/character you are in the slightest.

 

It doesn't help that the voice acting and script is, entirely, appalling. I mean "you the master of lockpicking" bad, all the way through.

 

Then you have the grimoire cards which do shed some light onto events but can ONLY be viewed on Bungies own site. I don't want to have to leave the game to view that stuff, so why not make them accessible in game? It's a poor design choice and one that seems to lock content behind the need to sign up and visit their site.

 

I'm also confused by the complete lack of in game help options and explanations. Nowhere does it say what you have to do to unlock various modes and options. You have to level up a bit to even get to MP, but then you have to do one of each mode to unlock the next (I'm at level 19 and still can't play Salvage - why not?). Likewise Strike missions aren't instantly available, and the playlist for them only pops at level 18 - why? Not to mention that Vanguard/Crucible marks are also tied to level 18 - but again it's never made clear and you can see them in various menus from level 1.

 

The same applies to how bounties work, where weapons etc are found, how you get upgrade materials and how you use them. Why do certain of my Warlocks skills seem to level at the same time, but others have to wait for other skills to pop and HOW do they level? Do I need to go up two levels for some, or just one level per item? Same for levelling items. I've had notifactions for items being levelled pop after just wandering around the Tower (and they weren't there before) so what exactly did I do to level them?

 

The whole UI is mystifying and poorly thought out to be honest and needs some work so that people know exactly what the hell they are doing and when they can expect to hit the locked away content.

 

While the gameplay itself is solid, there is also nothing to it. Every quest is merely going to a point and either killing one bigger enemy or resisting waves of smaller enemies while your Ghost scans something. People point to the Patrol and Bounty missions as extending the experience, but they really don't as they are just more of the same to be honest (kill so many foes here, scan an object there, get so many kills without death etc). Even when you free roam the areas there is very little to find - other than the odd secret room with a slightly tougher enemy to kill.

 

It's disappointing to me that for such epic vistas there is so little actual content to distract you. Not to mention the fact that they need to tone down just how quickly enemies respawn, as you can kill a group and go to kill another posse standing 50 feet away - but by the time you do so that first group will be back and firing at you. It makes it a slog to get anywhere, and I just find myself running past smaller mobs because they seem like a waste of time to battle.

 

This also ties into the game being a poor solo experience. For all it is billed as a quasi MMO, it is really just a solo game that you might happen to chance along other players in. Some of them may help you, some will just run in the opposite direction. So unless you find a group of steady friends to play with then the fun will run out pretty quickly - because it is just you against the same bunches of enemies in the same environments, for hours on end. That gets old fast.

 

Truth be told, the reason I'm only up to Venus in the story is because I've spent MORE time just playing MP games which are much more instantly entertaining. The story missions are so linear and dull that I only really hop into them when I want a bit of a change or have run out of MP bounties to accomplish.

 

Part of the problem here is that so many of my friends are playing this game on PS4 or only play late at night when I have to go to bed (no fault of Bungies on either aspect). So it means I'm not really getting the full co-op experience. It's no ones problem but my own, but if you want the most out of this game then you HAVE to play it co-op it's as simple as that. To play this game alone would mean a fairly dull experience.

 

Here then is my overall problem with Destiny. While it is a well designed game, it is not a very fun one to play on your own and the actual content that it here (hidden amongst vast maps) is very slight. So expect to have to fork out for future maps, missions and the like, which seems to be where they are really heading.

 

I'd held off on pre-ordering it due to the bad experiences I had with Defiance, as I thought this might be more of the same. After putting in 10-15 hours so far, I think I was right to be nervous, as this is Defiance all over again only with FAR better production values.

Edited by jackanape
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^^^ Thanks for the detailed review. I know why reviews are scarce at the moment but I was hoping some would have been out by now. Most of what I've heard from friends so far is either "I love it" or "I hate it."

 

What worries me the most is the part you mentioned about having to rely on a steady flow of content to make the game feel more 'complete.' I don't mind buying DLC if it's worth it but I don't know if I can justify spending what could be hundreds of dollars in the long run just to have that 'complete' experience.

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I've been resisting the urge to discuss the game in its forum, mostly because I've been too busy actually playing it, but I also don't feel like I'm ready to delve too deeply into conversation since there's so much to figure out. The game doesn't do a good job of letting the player know what's going on to any degree. Although that isn't a positive where game design is concerned, I'm sort of enjoying unraveling the mystery of it all, even where there shouldn't traditionally be mystery, as you pointed out. It's kind of refreshing to be a little lost as opposed to being able to pigeonhole the experience straight out of the gate.

 

I'm disappointed in the way the story was handled, just because what little they do give us is intriguing enough, but I'm baffled as to why they went so sparsely (and disconnectedly) on the delivery of it all. There were a few times where I was starting to get a Mass Effect kind of buzz going and then it quickly fizzled out (I'm talking about the Vex here, which were called Geth the last time I saw them). I'm on Mars right now and I'm pretty sure I only have a couple of missions left before it's over, and the best way I can think to sum it up would be that it feels like the first issue of a comic book that's going to go on for another fifty issues. That ends up being part of the appeal for me too though.

 

You drew comparisons to Defiance, but for me the difference here is that Bungie's name is attached to the project. While I've never been a Halo fan, I've always thought that they were an excellent developer, so I feel comfortable putting trust in them and their long term vision for Destiny. What worries me is that the way they delivered the story in this first installment might not be gripping enough for the masses to hang around, in which case, the entire thing falls apart. But we know from other loot-driven experiences that the carrot-on-a-stick reward system is enough to keep people engaged. Hopefully that gives this game the staying power it will need to get Bungie to their next step.

 

I feel like the majority of time and effort during development went into creating a solid foundation of functionality, gameplay and presentation - which are the areas in which a game that borrows from a near endless list of influences, truly excels. One example: I was playing co-op yesterday and my fireteam was about 75% through a mission when we got disconnected from the server. We were in a dark zone at the time, and at first, I thought, fuck, we're going to have to start the whole mission over again. After logging in and highlighting said mission, I noticed the option to resume or restart. We ended up at a checkpoint one battle prior to where we got dropped, so I was pretty impressed with that.

 

I think the game is going to be in a constant state of evolution and I'm totally along for the ride. Well, probably, hah, it's only been out for three days. It's been a long time since I've had a game that I've stayed up playing until 3AM on a work night only to wake up and wish I could jump right back in. I've also been playing with some real life friends who I haven't gamed with in awhile, one of which the last game we played together was Borderlands 2. I believe a lot of the kinks can be worked out, even the story telling. An in-game Mass Effect-like Codex should also be a priority for a future update.

 

It feels strange to be able to praise a game so much when it does so many things that I take issue with in other games. For example, I found almost every environment to be rather dull and uninspired, yet I salivate at the thought of exploring them. I value narrative almost as much as gameplay, and it's largely absent here, yet I find myself reading through Grimoire cards on the phone app. The philosophy here feels like you have to earn every scrap you get for every piece that the game has to offer, be it rank, gear, weapons or lore.

 

It's an interesting predicament for you as a reviewer though. It's a tough game to review to some degree since it is going to change so much, but at the same time, there has to be some sort of a timely review. Personally, I would probably give the game an eight in its current state. I think it has the trajectory to become a high nine, but that's going to have to be earned over time.

 

Anyway, this post has gone on too long already... Back to the game!

Edited by WalterWhite
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^^^ Thanks for the detailed review. I know why reviews are scarce at the moment but I was hoping some would have been out by now. Most of what I've heard from friends so far is either "I love it" or "I hate it."

 

What worries me the most is the part you mentioned about having to rely on a steady flow of content to make the game feel more 'complete.' I don't mind buying DLC if it's worth it but I don't know if I can justify spending what could be hundreds of dollars in the long run just to have that 'complete' experience.

 

Glad I could help. I'll be playing more over the weekend but I genuinely expect to finish off the story with ease in that time and then be like "now what?". As I've sunk plenty of time into MP and done all the Strike missions so far too, plus plenty of Bounty missions and Patrol stuff (which is just a free roam in the areas you open up). None of them were that diverting and they just felt, slight, if you know what I mean.

 

They said they have a ten year plan for this game (that may include sequels rather than just add on content of course) but as it stands I'm not blown away and I wouldn't be able to recommend it.

 

I've been resisting the urge to discuss the game in its forum, mostly because I've been too busy actually playing it, but I also don't feel like I'm ready to delve too much into it since there's so much to figure out first. The game doesn't do a good job of letting the player know what's going on to any degree. Although that isn't a positive where game design is concerned, I'm sort of enjoying unraveling the mystery of it all, even where there shouldn't traditionally be mystery, as you pointed out. It's kind of refreshing to be confused as opposed to being able to pigeonhole the experience straight out of the gate.

 

I'm disappointed in the way the story was handled, just because what little they do give us is intriguing enough, but I'm baffled as to why they went so sparsely (and disconnectedly) on the delivery of it all. There were a few times where I was starting to get a Mass Effect kind of buzz going and then it quickly fizzled out (I'm talking about the Vex here, which were called Geth the last time I heard from them). I'm on Mars right now and I'm pretty sure I only have a couple of missions left before it's over, and the best way I can think to sum it up would be that it feels like the first issue of a comic book that's going to go on for another fifty issues. That ends up being part of the appeal for me too though.

 

You drew comparisons to Defiance, but for me the difference here is that Bungie's name is attached to the project. While I've never been a Halo fan, I've always thought that they were an excellent developer, so I feel comfortable putting trust in them and their long term vision for Destiny. What worries me is that the way they delivered the story in this first installment might not be gripping enough for the masses to hang around, in which case, the enitre thing falls apart.

 

I feel like the majority of time and effort during development went into creating a foundation of functionality and gameplay, which are both rock solid and the two areas where the game excels. For example, I was playing a co-op mission yesterday and my fireteam was about 75% through a mission when we got disconnected from the server. We were in a dark zone at the time and at first, I was like, fuck, we're going to have to start the whole mission over again. After logging in and highlighting said mission, I noticed the option to resume or restart. We ended up at a checkpoint one battle prior to where we got dropped, so I was pretty impressed with that.

 

I think the game is going to be in a constant state of evolution and I'm totally along for the ride. Well, probably, hah, it's only been out for three days. It's been a long time since I've had a game that I've stayed up playing until 3AM on a work night only to wake up and wish I could jump right back in. I've also been playing with some real life friends who I haven't gamed with in awhile, one of which the last game we played together was Borderlands 2. I believe a lot of the kinks can be worked out, even the story telling. An in-game Mass Effect-like Codex should also be a priority for a future update.

 

It feels strange to be able to praise a game so much when it does so many things that I take issue with in other games. For example, I found almost every environment to be rather dull and uninspired, yet I salivate at the thought of exploring them. I value narrative almost as much as gameplay, and it's largely absent here, yet I find myself reading through Grimoire cards on the phone app. The game seems to want you to earn every bit, in every department.

 

It's an interesting predicament for you as a reviewer though. It's a tough game to review to some degree since it is going to change so much, but at the same time, there has to be some sort of a timely review. Personally, I would probably give the game an eight in its current state. I think it has the trajectory to become a high nine, but that's going to have to be earned over time.

 

Anyway, this post has gone on too long already... Back to the game!

 

Just to clarify I'm not going to be reviewing this one (Rich is handling it) so these were just my personal thoughts on the matter.

 

I agree with you about the UI being unintuitive, though unlike you I'm not enjoying having to figure out everything for myself. I kind of want to know how to unlock certain, missions, modes and skills and the game does a really bad job of telling me. I find that off putting. Even Dark Souls 2 had a bit of a tutorial section to break you in - with the handy part being you could just run right past it if you wanted to as well.

 

Again, as you say, the story has glimpses of potential. It starts with an epic set up but really doesn't delve too much into anything. So all of those interesting plot ideas and potential conflicts just dwindle into nothing. It's a real shame and I just feel like they are wasting good ideas. The fact they MIGHT come back to those ideas in months or years down the line doesn't appeal to me as much, as I'll have other games to play by then and I can't see myself getting sucked back into Destiny in the same way.

 

I mean, I paid good money for this game so to get a story of such little consequence and one that just ends abruptly feels like I'm being shortchanged. I mean you can argue about the pros/cons of COD every day of the week - but they always deliver a tight story, with a good narrative and bombastic setpieces. Sure it only lasts 7-8 hours, but it's entertaining (in the way a mindless action film is), but with Destiny I'm not finding the story entertaining at all and that's a shame.

 

Maybe if they gave some of the characters you meet in the tower actual personalities and plotlines that would help. Instead you just trot back to them, get a reward from their shop screen and then move on - the Tower is full of seemingly interesting characters that have no information to give, no lore and no chance to converse with. What a waste.

 

My comparisons with Defiance were more on the gist of the game as a whole and, as I said, Bungie have done a SUPERB job when it comes to all the aspects of this game that Defiance got spectacularly wrong. It looks great, controls great, has a range of weapons (that actually act in different ways, unlike Defiance's homogenised tat), great vehicles/handling and strong PvP. My only concern was that it feel down in some of the same areas Defiance did i.e.: rubbish story, repetitive missions and a lack of ongoing content. I agree that Destiny is by far a better game.

 

If I were scoring it then I would have a real problem. As I do think that the core of the game and mechanics are FAR better than Defiance (which I gave about 60%), plus it has rock solid servers and is generally more fun. However, the lack of story and anything to really do AFTER the story is over is a turn off.

 

Sure you can explore the environments but there is precious little to find, Bounties/Patrols are dull, so all that is left is a loot grind I guess. Which is a problem as loot drops amazingly rarely in this game - I mean If I get two or three items in an entire quest (including the reward) then that's a big deal. So then you have to grind for marks in either the PVP/Strike lists (and what's with a lengthy strike giving only ONE mark while ANY PvP gives at least two?) which isn't great.

 

It's a shooter, and a fun one, but not a great one. Plus, it does a bad job of being a loot grabber either. So for me I'd say it stood at about 75% right now - and most of that is for the quality of the gameplay and production, rather than for how the game actually PLAYS (in terms of content and entertainment) if you get what I mean.

 

But maybe I'm just overly harsh. I guess I'll have some more time with it at the weekend and see how I go.

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But maybe I'm just overly harsh. I guess I'll have some more time with it at the weekend and see how I go.

 

Nope. I really don't think anything you've said is harsh, inaccurate or unfair. It's spot on really, there's no denying it. I think I'm possibly being overly optimistic the same way you might think you're being overly harsh. Two sides of the same coin, I suppose.

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First of all there is literally no story. The story is non-existent...I'm not asking for a step by step, handheld story...There is NO lore in the game that you can read up on...Like the game doesn't care what class/character you are in the slightest.

 

It doesn't help that the voice acting and script is, entirely, appalling. Then you have the grimoire cards which do shed some light onto events but can ONLY be viewed on Bungies own site.

 

I'm also confused by the complete lack of in game help options and explanations.

 

While the gameplay itself is solid, there is also nothing to it. Every quest is merely going to a point and either killing one bigger enemy or resisting waves of smaller enemies while your Ghost scans something.

 

It's disappointing to me that for such epic vistas there is so little actual content to distract you.

 

I think these were my biggest concerns with the game pre-release from experiencing the Beta alone. And the fact that forum members I respect are voicing the same complaints/opinions, justifies my complete lack of interest in ever picking this up.

 

In my mind, those aforementioned elements are crucial to me, so I don't believe any type of Co-Op play can fix that.

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Jack,

 

Good review. I am enjoying Destiny so far and am slowing playing through the story. I can see what you mean by how weak the story is, but honestly I think a lot of it is game fatigue. I've played over 300 games..so there isn't a lot of new left. I am a social gamer and am really enjoying the co-op aspect of the game. I tried to play MP, but kept getting booted so I haven't been able to experience that yet.

 

My thing is going to be how Bungie supports this game. If they can give up community events and GOOD DLC content, then I'll be satisfied.

 

I see the similarities from Defiance, but this is night and day from the P.O.S. It's a nice mix of Halo, Borderlands and Mass Effect. (All games I adore).

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Jack,

 

Good review. I am enjoying Destiny so far and am slowing playing through the story. I can see what you mean by how weak the story is, but honestly I think a lot of it is game fatigue. I've played over 300 games..so there isn't a lot of new left. I am a social gamer and am really enjoying the co-op aspect of the game. I tried to play MP, but kept getting booted so I haven't been able to experience that yet.

 

My thing is going to be how Bungie supports this game. If they can give up community events and GOOD DLC content, then I'll be satisfied.

 

I see the similarities from Defiance, but this is night and day from the P.O.S. It's a nice mix of Halo, Borderlands and Mass Effect. (All games I adore).

 

The game is at its best when you're playing co-op with a full fireteam and you're doing a mission or a strike that's a level or two above yours. I finished the story tonight and did some other clean up and now everything that's left in front of me is a MASSIVE grind. And honestly, the amount of grinding involved is absolutely daunting for the variety of things there are to do to earn everything I need to just to be able to buy stuff.

 

If Bungie wants to keep more than a couple thousand of their most die hard fans playing, they need to add a lot of new content to this game in a very short amount of time, I'm talking within weeks, not months. There's no way I'm going to do thousands of Patrol missions for the various factions just to be able to buy an emblem from them. I hate to say this, but I would compare doing that to the solo Tomb Raider boosting, except imagine having to get to level 50 that way about a hundred times. Fuck that noise. I'll probably play through the weekend and then the game will get shelved until weekends and DLC. Quite a but different from my post earlier today, but once I hit that endgame wall, it became very clear very quickly that the time invested won't be worth the reward.

 

---

 

Edit: I just watched Webb's video review. That was perfect, he needs to do them more often. I was just going through the forums on both sites to see what people were saying about the game and I started to read a couple of reviews and I just closed all of the pages and thought to myself, everything that can or needs to be said about the game he did in a couple of short minutes. There's no use in going on about it. The only thing left to do is wait for the interviews with Bungie and hear how they explain releasing a disc full of side missions.

Edited by WalterWhite
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The game is at its best when you're playing co-op with a full fireteam and you're doing a mission or a strike that's a level or two above yours. I finished the story tonight and did some other clean up and now everything that's left in front of me is a MASSIVE grind. And honestly, the amount of grinding involved is absolutely daunting for the variety of things there are to do to earn everything I need to just to be able to buy stuff.

 

If Bungie wants to keep more than a couple thousand of their most die hard fans playing, they need to add a lot of new content to this game in a very short amount of time, I'm talking within weeks, not months. There's no way I'm going to do thousands of Patrol missions for the various factions just to be able to buy an emblem from them. I hate to say this, but I would compare doing that to the solo Tomb Raider boosting, except imagine having to get to level 50 that way about a hundred times. Fuck that noise. I'll probably play through the weekend and then the game will get shelved until weekends and DLC. Quite a but different from my post earlier today, but once I hit that endgame wall, it became very clear very quickly that the time invested won't be worth the reward.

 

---

 

Edit: I just watched Webb's video review. That was perfect, he needs to do them more often. I was just going through the forums on both sites to see what people were saying about the game and I started to read a couple of reviews and I just closed all of the pages and thought to myself, everything that can or needs to be said about the game he did in a couple of short minutes. There's no use in going on about it. The only thing left to do is wait for the interviews with Bungie and hear how they explain releasing a disc full of side missions.

I don't know why developers don't do what EA and Bioware did with Mass Effect 3. Offer FREE DLC and microtransactions. To this day ME3 is one of my all time favorite MP games.

 

Imagine if Bungie did that with Destiny. Offer FREE DLC every couple of months (nothing fancy, just new co-op missions with new content to unlock) and offer a store in the tower that allows players to buy item for their guardian with REAL money. This model works and adds to the life of the game if done right. You can still offer story campaigns at a price, and if you keep me playing this game I'll buy the story DLC or season pass.

 

*side note I have NEVER purchased any in game item in ME3. I did buy the story DLC.

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  • 5 months later...

Gosh, I've not really written much of anything for months. Just been too busy really and snowed under.

 

The main change in my life would be the fact I have a three month old daughter now, she was born a couple of weeks before Christmas (which my wife and I both celebrated as the THOUGHT of missing out on presents and food was just too ghastly to bear - even to celebrate our new offspring). As a result a lot of things have changed in my day to day routine, and my gaming playing has by default come down a notch.

 

Obviously a baby requires constant care and attention, especially for that first month or so when new parents HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE DOING, WHAT IS RIGHT OR WRONG AND WHY THE BIN IS NOW FULL OF POOP!!!!

 

In gaming terms, it would be like starting someone who had never played games off with Dark Souls. Off you go. Have fun. Ha ha, but it's also pretty rewarding. At first she just slept, ate and pooped. But in the last few weeks she has started to respond to us more, gurgle back at us and smile when we come in the room or play with her. It's pretty amazing to be honest - and this comes from someone that never really pictured himself as father material.

 

Anyway. Since my last missive here I have only played about ten different games in total, and some of them for little more than an hour or so. So let's see what we think:

 

1) Destiny. I've rambled on about Destiny before so no need to cover that old ground again. I've not actually touched the game in months, I have done everything now barring levelling the other two classes and doing the Raid on Hard/without anyone dying. I did start levelling one class - which was the last time I played - but I really need to go back, upgrade all of my weapons/gear and get on with doing those last two Raid cheevos.

 

2) Fantasia: Music Evolved. I did the review for this at the tail end of the last year and, you know what, the game is pretty rad. You can pick it up fairly cheap now (I had the Xbox One version) and it is well worth it. I had no problems getting it to work with Kinect either, even in my tiny room. Plus, it is just a fun game all around. Again I've abandoned it just shy of completion. I need to finish up all the goals in the in-game songs (only have about 5-6 to do), get one more 5-star song (have done 4/5) and get a 5 star song in co-op (not sure I'll get this unless the wife does it with me). I'll certainly go back and get this to 990g, then pester the wife to play it with me.

 

3) Skylanders: Trap Team. Another review game and, as with all SKylanders games, one that was fairly decent if not spectacular. All I will say for anyone looking to complete it, as I did, is that the last bossed on the hardest difficulty are LUDICROUS. I didn't have much of a backlog of figures to help me out, so ended up shelling out £20 on a Kaos trap (as he is extremely overpowered) to get me through it. It wasn't too bad as I got the game for free - and it got even better when I sold the trap for £20 plus postage on ebay after I was done. Yay!

 

4) Monolpoly DEAL. A game I blitzed through with a friend online in a few hours, it's a weird variation of Monopoly but it was good fun. Obviously we only played it for achievements and the online is dead, so it's not really a game you'd buy expecting to meet up with randoms. But for easy points it was ok.

 

5) Pro Evolution Soccer 2015. At some point last year I said to myself, "I really want to play a football game" and so ended up buying Pro Evo. I used to play Master League for hours on end back on my PS2 and having played this at Gamescom was excited to see it back up there competing with FIFA again. I'd played FIFA 14 last year (as I got it free with the One) and didn't fancy just another update, so the choice was made. I really enjoyed the game overall. Sunk 200+ hours into it to get the completion. Though I will say that the Myclub mode (a ripoff of FUT) could use work. As you can't just buy/sell/trade players. Every player you buy is RANDOM and that makes putting a team together very frustrating. Gameplay is superb though.

 

6) #IDARB. This took me about an hour to get 1,000g on. I've not touched it since. Seems like a fun local party game, but as I generally play alone or with online friends I doubt this will get touched again. Shame really.

 

7) Another World. Another hour or so to get a full 1,000g, but one that I had no regrets doing as I got the game when it was on sale and it is one of my favourites. I used to have this back on the Amiga 500 and still own a SNES copy as well, so having the chance to run through this again for achievements was a no brainer. I think it still holds up pretty well and it certainly was the template for a lot of successful games since.

 

8) Microsoft Sudoku. After MS decided it would be fun to put achievements requiring 12 months of play into ALL of their W8 games I've been trying to finish this on and off. Still need one more Gold medal (will get that this month) and then four more bronze ones. So this should be done in July sometime. Ugh. To make matters worse they added DLC to Solitaire meaning I have to do the same bloody thing with that at some point. BOO!

 

9) Halo: MCC. This is the game I've been playing since December pretty much (only PES, IDARB and Another World have been touched since then) and I'm not even halfway done. It is certainly nice to go back and enjoy the games again, and I LOVE what they have done with Halo 2 as it just looks amazing now - especially the cutscenes.

 

What I have noticed though is just how much better Halo 1 is compared to Halo 2. I mean the levels, maps and weapons in the single player are just all superb while in Halo 2 I found they just dragged on for too long or weren't as satisfying for whatever reason. I still like both, but Halo 1 just stands out the bit more for me having played them back to back for the first time.

 

As I've only got so much time to play, or even no time to play most days, it has meant slow but steady progress through the achievements. I did pretty much all of the MP stuff as soon as I could, only for them to release a new add on with all those pesky matchmade tasks. So I'll save those for last.

 

In the interim I decided to go through the games, in full, one at a time. That way I would be able to memorise the maps and have a good time. So far I've finished off Halo: CE (all achievements, inc. speedruns, scores, LASO, Goatroped etc) and now I'm doing the same for Halo 2. I generally start on a Legendary run to get all the collectibles and enjoy the story. Then I do my Legendary speedrun of each level (which in Halo CE also often got me the score achievements) before mopping up any speedrun times I missed in easy, then any scores I missed in Heroic. Then I'll do the other two playlists I need and move onto Halo 3.

 

Easy.........

 

Though I may take a time out after Halo 2 to prevent me getting burnt out, not sure what I'd move onto yet but we'll see how I'm feeling. On the plus side I will be back above 95% completion once I finish up my first Halo 2 run (after those 500 achievements destroyed my previous efforts!) so that's something to look forward to. By the end of this weekend I should have over 300+ of the 500 achievements so that's not a bad effort considering I've been going at it part time.

 

Plus, it seems like a lot more than most people will EVER get on this game as the amount of people that just seemingly abandoned it after that first month seems staggering. I generally don't pay much attention to TA stats (as the represent such a small percentage of the Xbox population) but when only a third of people have even done the first level in Halo 2 that just seems wrong. Especially when the single player side of things has been pretty much problem free.

 

Oh well, enough ramblings. Back to work, and back to Halo.

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Only really read through the last couple of posts here, but thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog and will be sure to have a proper read through here later on tonight when I return to my computer.

 

I thought I recognised your username from somewhere - it was yourself who wrote the very helpful guide on how to obtain the 'Win 6 in a row on Super Star' achievement over on TA. Thanks for that guide, by the way, it's definitely helping my progress towards getting that achievement.

 

The gameplay on PES is really enjoyable, and like yourself, I used to sink hours upon hours into the ML on the PS1 and 2, when the game itself was at its peak. As you said, the myClub element to PES definitely needs improving on for next years game but gameplay-wise, it's still as enjoyable as ever and they're definitely on the right track.

 

Also, a belated congratulations on becoming a father! :D

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Only really read through the last couple of posts here, but thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog and will be sure to have a proper read through here later on tonight when I return to my computer.

 

I thought I recognised your username from somewhere - it was yourself who wrote the very helpful guide on how to obtain the 'Win 6 in a row on Super Star' achievement over on TA. Thanks for that guide, by the way, it's definitely helping my progress towards getting that achievement.

 

The gameplay on PES is really enjoyable, and like yourself, I used to sink hours upon hours into the ML on the PS1 and 2, when the game itself was at its peak. As you said, the myClub element to PES definitely needs improving on for next years game but gameplay-wise, it's still as enjoyable as ever and they're definitely on the right track.

 

Also, a belated congratulations on becoming a father! :D

 

Glad I could help. I would certainly say that achievement took up the majority of my time on PES, as you can get all the Player of the.... achievements in Be a Legend fairly easily if you know what you're doing. It was nice to go back to the game actually, as I used to love PES back in the day.

 

It was really solid to begin with but I think grinding for that 6 Win achievement soured it a bit at the end, I still had fun mind you, but the random nature of getting players and having to rack up a ton of wins just to play the hardest difficulty made it a chore. Good luck with it though.

 

Hopefully I'll be back on the blogging trail a bit more now.

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This will be old news for some (as I know people like Bigg have actually finished the game already) but I thought I'd share my progress with Halo, and what I've really liked/disliked about it.

 

For me this collection was a pretty exciting announcement. I'm generally not one to replay games over and over again (as I have such a massive backlog that such an activity would stop me playing anything else) but this was a series I'd make an exception for. Hell, I even enjoyed playing Halo 4 online (and did most of the online achievements legit barring the DLC ones) and I know what a contentious subject that can be for most. Still Halo got me into the Xbox in the first place, and we used to have some epic LAN parties with four consoles and four screens. Endless games of KOTH or CTF on Blood Gulch until 3-4am. Those were the days.

 

I also did Halo: CE when it came out, and loved what they did with the game, so the chance to see a swanky Halo 2 was something special. Halo 2 though was never my favourite game, for whatever reason, I still remember countless nights playing online and destroying suckers on Zanzibar. But the campaign was hazy in my mind so it would be nice to revisit it.

 

Obviously such a game had a ludicrous achievement list, but I figured most of it was manageable and I could probably live with missing one or two achievements here or there.

 

I have to say that the first impression was NOT the best.

 

I bought the game day one and invited some friends over so we could play online just like we used to do. Ha ha ha ha ha! Big mistake. As everyone knows by now the online part of the game was borked fro the get go, and still is, so we endured games where we were up against one other person, or five against three. Or where our party just split onto opposite teams (this happened more often than not). Not to mention the fact all of the maps weren't even available to use either. It was a catastrophic evening - though at least I had a pretty good kebab, so that counts for something.

 

We were all bummed out over how bad it was and I barely touched the game for over a month after. When I did finally go back to it, it was purely to grind out some of the MP achievements I could do by myself in Custom matches (either solo or with another pad). My daughter had been born so I spent the late nights when my wife was trying to get some sleep just holding the little one and quitting out of matches to rack up 500 wins.

 

Then the LASO glitch came about and I spent a few days asking around to get the checkpoints from a few helpful sources (many thanks to those selfless people that helped so many). I quickly did Halo 3, 4 and the Saga checkpoints, then I found a partner to blaze through Halo 1 (which was surprisingly brutal). We also started Halo 2, but failed to do the vehicle glitch at the end so quit.

 

But at that point I figured I'd start the game for real. I hopped into Halo and went from there. The first game is still my favourite as, for me, it still has the most coherent story and by FAR the best level design. The maps and different approaches to combat still stand out as I think a lot of the games after that became a little too linear and staged.

 

I went through the game on Legendary to begin with, with the Bandana skull on so I could take my time and find all the collectibles. It was a lot of fun and brought back some good memories. It is still weird to switch back to the classic graphics and see how OLD it looks (and this is from someone that still plays NES/SNES games), ha ha! I often wonder - how the hell did I play this dinosaur?!

 

Once I did my first runthrough, I took the skulls off and went for the Legendary speedrun. It is a whole other game.

 

Seeing the weird glitches and tricks made it fairly fascinating for me, and being able to blast through a level like Assault on the Control Room in 7 minutes was mental. The shield bump on Keyes. The door skip and drop on Silent Cartographer. How do people find these things?

 

I really enjoyed doing this whole run. My one fuck up came on Truth and Reconciliation, where I did the first half of the level flawlessly, got on the ship, killed the waves of enemies then messed up triggering the door next to the hunters. So my active camo ran out too early and I got a checkpoint as it did so. It meant I couldn't do the quick skip on the next section and had to fight enemies, then I didn't have enough nades to attempt the jump in the next room either. So that level took me 39 minutes - ugh. Though I still did the whole game in under 2hrs 30mins as I made up loads of time on pretty much every other level. Loved it.

 

I also picked up a bunch of the score achievements along the way too, which is good as I found going back to grind out the last 3-4 I needed a bit of a chore. Especially on AotCR, which was a drag. Then having to do two more playlist on top of that, yawn.

 

I think the individual game lists were close to being spot on, but making players grind through the levels 3-4 times each was a bit much (especially if you include doing the Saga playlist on top - yikes).

 

With that in the bag I moved onto Halo 2, which I'd never done on Legendary due to the weird fact it had a permanent Iron effect (so if you died in solo you'd be back at the start of the level). I've no idea why they did that on just this one game, but it was a terrible choice. Luckily the Save/Quit method means you can avoid this here, plus you can use the Scarab skull to literally destroy everything.

 

I've just finished up my first Legendary/Collectible run through (after doing the last LASO level solo, after people started rumour mongering that the glitch had been fixed when it HADN'T - dicks. Had to do the level TWICE too as it crashed on the last cutscene the first time, lame). What surprised me was how, well, crappy the story was. It's really weak compared to the first one which is a real shame and probably why I couldn't remember much of it. Plus, what is with the duff boss fights?

 

On the plus side the graphics and cutscenes are superb, even my wife was enamoured with them. It blew me away, and is the first remaster (since Halo CE) that was actually worth the effort.

 

So now I get to move onto the speedruns and score missions again. Here goes nothing...........

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I enjoyed reading this :) Glad to see you're slightly enjoying your time running through the Campaigns. It is a shame the MP is wonky, but as selfish as this sounds, I never cared since I just wanted this collection for the four campaigns on one disc. Sure, I do have fond memories of Halo 2 and Halo 3 online and sunk many hours in Halo 3's MP, but for whatever reason, I never cared much that the MP was broken.

 

I'm confused by your comment on Halo 2 Legendary. Iron is on by default for a Solo playthrough. That's only true for Co-Op play. Iron is set active by default on Co-Op.

 

But urururugh. Curse 343 for allowing Scarab and Save/Quit exploit to allow people to finish Halo 2 on Legendary. It takes away from the experience, imo. It's always satisfying to finish the Campaign on Solo Legendary the old fashion way!

 

I never cared for the boss fights either in Halo 2, but I did enjoy Bungie's attempt to change up the formula. I also still think to this day that Halo 2 had the best narrative and level design, followed by Halo: CE.

Edited by BiggD
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