Upcoming Releases For January 2015

January 13, 2015:

Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition (Vita)

January 20, 2015:

Resident Evil Remastered (PS4, PS3, XB360, XB1, PC)

Saints Row IV: Re-Elected + Gat Out Of Hell (PS4)

Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell (PS3)

January 27, 2015:

Dying Light (PS4, XB1, PC)

Grand Theft Auto V (PC)

Hot Line Miami 2: Wrong Number (PS4)

Grim Fandango (PS4, Vita)

January 30, 2015:

Life Is Strange – Episode 1 (PS4, PS3, XB360, XB1, PC)

2014 Game Of The Year

I believe it is important to differentiate between “favorite,” and “best.” For example, my favorite movie is, “A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, ” but I don't think it has even an iota of both the immense cultural and artistic influence that “Citizen Kane, ” had over the film industry. With that being said, my personal favorite game this year was Far Cry 4. But even though the game was an immense amount of fun, it didn't do anything new. Rather it just expanded upon what made Far Cry 3 great. So, with that out of the way I sat down to think of what game broke the conventional gaming mold, what game set itself apart from the rest, and what game had me obsessing over it long after the console had been turned off. After much thought, my choice for the game of the year is Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Torro's “playable teaser” for there new joint venture Silent Hills, P.T.

I understand that many will disagree with this choice simply based off the fact that its name is P.T., or “playable teaser,” and it is a demo, rather than a full-fledged game. But, Kojima has already said that P.T. will have nothing to do with the story of Silent Hills. So to me this game should be viewed as its own IP with its own story and mechanics. If you do disagree, feel free to express your opinions in the comments, but I think there is a strong case at viewing this game as the best to come out this year.

P.T. was a game that took risks this year. In an age where games hold player's hands through hours of tutorials and quick time events, P.T. gave you a map of the controls and that's it. You were let loose into a paradox of repeating rooms with no insight as to why you were there or what was going on. The game trusted players to be able to figure things out for themselves and that feeling was a breath of fresh air after playing countless games that spend hours stopping the flow of action for yet another tutorial. P.T. never stopped and it never gave you room to breath. Once you were in it, you had no choice but to continuously walk down that hall as things became more bizarre and more terrifying. I loved the feeling of helplessness and panic I experienced as I knew something was coming and I was on the edge of my seat almost every moment I played, feeling I had solved a puzzle with no seconds to spare. P.T. was sheer terror and I felt I was on my own in that hall. I didn't feel there was an omnipotent being waiting to give me upgrades at every turn or prizes for completing an objective. In that hall I had myself and my sheer curiosity, which ran wild at what was going on around me and what may be going on behind me. That's the beauty of P.T.: There are no audio logs to find to give you insight on the story, there are no cutscenes that deliver some long awaited twist, there is nothing within that game that is going to aid you. P.T. lets the player just play the game and figure things out for themselves.

P.T. relied on word of mouth. Released with little information about the game, other than its very existence, P.T. created a water cooler world around it, where people shared their stories from the night before and helped each other with the puzzles that got increasingly difficult as the game went on. With nothing in-game to help you, P.T. embraced that people were going to look up playthroughs or ask their friends for the solutions to puzzles. The game was made to be talked about and speculated upon. I spent hours reading articles and theories on the story and the game. For several weeks the only game I had on my mind was P.T. I told my friends about it and created enough intrigue in them that they wanted to play it and they were telling others about it. P.T. was mysterious enough that people couldn't help but obsess over it and who knows if all its mysteries are solved. Sure, it's been solved that it is the prelude of a new Silent Hill game, but is that everything the game has hidden?

P.T. reminds me a lot of Journey. It's a game that does nothing else but let you play. It doesn't bog you down with lore from previous games, it doesn't tell you how to do anything, it just lets you go. The story is strong enough in just a few hours that you don't need to search for missing notes or audio logs. P.T. is its own entity and does everything a game should do better than any game that came out this year. It thrives off player's curiosity and is at its best when the console is off and you're still wandering those halls in your mind speculating on what could be there and what you could have missed. P.T. has already put massive pressure on Silent Hills to live up to and time will tell if it does, but for now P.T. is a stand alone game that in my mind ranks better than every AAA game that came out this year. 

                                Source: Silent Hill Wiki

PBG Update - 12.26.14.

After reviewing three very large games within about a month's time, touring, work, and then a very taxing holiday season, I have officially reached exhaustion.  All of this definitely has a lot to do with the inactivity on the site recently.  Since I'm a one man team, it's hard to stay up to date when I can't stay up at all.  With that said, I have decided to take a little time off from reviews to recharge and play a few games in a more casual setting that I haven't had a chance to play yet.  I'm very excited to keep playing through Watch Dogs as well as finally being able to play The Last Of Us Remastered, and not having to worry about having a review up within a week's time a nice (temporary) change.  I will still be updating the site with news and opinions as regularly as possible and I will have a "Game Of The Year" article up within the next couple days. 

As of now, the next game I have on my list for review is Dying Light, which is slated for release on January 27, 2015.  I am extremely interested in this game and can't wait to get my opinions up on here.  If I get too antsy during that month and a day off from reviews though, I plan to do a review of Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell.  I haven't made any final decisions, but I imagine I'll try to do at least one more review before January 27th.

Stay tuned to PBG for news, reviews, and opinions as we transition into the new year!

New Final Fantasy XV Trailer

This very well may be the first Final Fantasy game that I am excited for, but man I am super excited.  This new trailer looks amazing!



Source: PlayStation Trailers

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX Review

In a perfect world, a review of anything should be completely unbiased, with the reviewer having little or no contact with the product being criticized. In a perfect world, I should not review Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, as Kingdom Hearts II is my favorite game. This world is not perfect and I figured if I'm already going to devote an extreme amount of my life to this game, I may as well add it to my review list as well. Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX contains HD ports of both Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, the first time it has been released in the United States, Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, not contained in this review due to time constraints, as well as an HD adaptation of the cinematics of Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded. I'll be handling both reviews of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Re: Coded separately and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix will be treated more as its own IP rather than just an HD port as it is the first time the game has had a proper release in North America.

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix:

Originally released in 2005, Kingdom Hearts II did a lot to further the Kingdom Hearts series and increase the fanbase of the series. Now released for the first time in North America is Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, a sort of director's cut for the game. Final Mix is a flashy game with beautiful presentation and animations that make it hard to believe the game is nine years old. The game's super slick combat is fun to play with, but a lenient difficulty ends up making the game a breeze to just button mash through and negates a lot of the features the game tries to emphasize the use of.

Continuing immediately after the events Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, KHII continues Sora, Donald, and Goofy's quest to rid the world of the Heartless, one world at a time, and adds new foes to the series in Organization XIII and the Nobodies, a group who strives to once again have a heart and hopes to achieve this goal through Kingdom Hearts. The story is an elaborate tale that is difficult to understand based on cutscenes alone and the game does a good job of filling in gaps or things the player may have missed with optional dialogues and text notes received by completing story missions. Once things become more clear, the player will find themselves speculating on what each character's role in this whole mess is and it is hard to not think about it even when your console is turned off. There's no guarantee you'll understand all of it at first, but half the fun is wondering what exactly is going on and what will happen. The story is elaborate, but it never feels like a mess of broken plot- points. Things that are confusing in the beginning, or seem unnecessary are explained over time and each piece of the sweeping puzzle eventually fits right into place. Aside from that, the game puts a large emphasis on friendship and the importance of personal relationships, and it is hard not to smile and be moved at Sora, Donald, and Goofy's friendship as it really seems that these three need each other. There are times when the script can be cheesy, but as far as the main story goes, everything feels necessary for furthering the plot as well as developing the characters who players will have no choice but to love.

The story does have several moments where the pacing becomes choppy or secondary stories get in the way of the main tale. Without giving too much away to the few who may not have played KH2 yet, the beginning of the game does not initially give you control of Sora, rather a character named Roxas. Roxas has his own very important role in Kingdom Heart's lore and his story, as it unravels, is one of the more emotional aspects of the game. But, Roxas' story is introduced during the tutorial, which drags on far beyond an enjoyable time. A lot of time is spent explaining Roxas as just a normal kid and insists you spend hours doing jobs for local townspeople and read countless dialogues between his friends and him about school, all without actually telling the player his role in the story and constantly removing the player from gameplay for another cutscene about the annual “Struggle.” I understand the need to introduce both an emotional appeal to the character's story and game mechanics at the same time, but this portion of the game took me well over three hours to complete and only at the end did the game start to give pertinent story information on Roxas or the story in general besides small glimpses here and there. The original Kingdom Hearts did the exact same thing in a much better manner, introducing the story, character's, and mechanics all within an hour or so. It's unfortunate KHII decided to abandon this formula for a mind-numbingly boring alternative.

As always, the vast majority of the game is spent traveling to different worlds, most of which are based on the films of Disney, to take on the Heartless. The game includes many of the actors from the original films and almost all are terrifically voiced. As are most of the characters in the game, despite a few exceptions that border on laughably bad. Each world is fully realized and unique to the movie it pays homage to. Some of the worlds like Timeless River, based on Steamboat Willy, and Halloween Town, based on The Nightmare Before Christmas, as well as non-Disney worlds such as Hollow Bastion, which returns from the first game in the series, for example have interesting stories and are fun to be in. But, a few of the world's individual stories fall completely flat of anything close to interesting and feel like they are just taking time away from the main story. A few worlds just assume you have seen the movies they are based upon and leave it up to you to fill in the blanks of what is going on. Also, Atlantica, the world based upon the Little Mermaid, is a musical level that consists of nothing but quick time events. Now, I am a huge Kingdom Hearts fan and I have been very willing to accept some bizarre things in the series and appreciate them, but I can not imagine anyone of any age enjoyed playing through that world whatsoever. But, I digress.

The design of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix is one of the best aspects of the game. Even if their stories aren't all equally enjoyable, the individual worlds are all unique and feature their own characteristics. If you're visiting Captain Jack Sparrow in Port Royal, expect a level that is dark, dingy, and fit for Pirate activities. On the adverse, when you meet Tron inside a computer in the Space Paranoids level, everything is bright, polished, and obnoxiously 80s-esque. Enemies vary drastically in appearance and size and no two enemies, whether Heartless or Nobodies, behave the same. Boss design is also a main draw as each of the numerous bosses is completely different than the last . A lot of care was taken to make the worlds of Kingdom Hearts II a joy to be in and the upgrade to High Definition makes it hard to believe that this game originally came out nine years ago. World textures and character models have been improved, making this game look just as good, if not better than games that came out years after it. Other than Atlantica, when I had to visit and revisit worlds, I never felt disappointed. Each world is a breath of fresh air from the last, so even if you do grow tired of one world or one type of enemy, the next world is so different that it doesn't allow you to become tired of the game ever. The pacing of your visits to each world is perfect, never allowing you to feel that you have been in one for too long. As you jump from place to place you start to lose yourself in the sights and battles and lose track of how much time you've spent playing the game and in that moment it doesn't matter because you're too enthralled in the game's charm.

KHII is a flash of color and action. Far more fast-paced than its predecessor, an emphasis on combat is put in this iteration rather than magic or skill. Where other Kingdom Hearts titles made using magic a necessity, I found myself rarely using it during my thirty-two hour playthrough and just mashing X for almost the entirety of the game. Since you can just button-mash your way through nearly the whole campaign, it feels unnecessarily easy, especially compared to the original Kingdom Hearts which at times could be soul-crushingly difficult. Within the first half of the game, I had only been defeated a handful of times, definitely less than ten, and it wasn't until the game hit its second half that only a slight increase in difficulty was noticeable, only noticeable in boss fights though. None of the fifteen worlds make you feel a necessity to change up your strategy of mashing your thumb into carpel tunnel, and while enemy health bars get larger the farther in the game you go, defeating them never increases in challenge. For the first time ever, I welcomed the frustration and high blood pressure that comes from becoming stuck in a game, because in the rare instances it happened in KH2, I finally felt I had to think to progress. Leveling up happens extremely fast and you rarely find a world's battle level higher than your personal level. Leveling up leads to upgrades, which in turn make you more and more powerful over your foes. That's not to say that the combat in the game isn't fun. On the contrary, it's a blast to fight through the waves of numerous enemies the game constantly throws at you and there are different combinations of melee moves to discover to deal more powerful blows. But, when the game never poses much of a challenge for the player, it begins to feel unfair to just be able to plow through everything given to them. I never felt I was working for the upgrades it gave me, I just had to walk into a room, press X a couple dozen times and then reap the benefits of my fourth level up that hour (and that's not exactly an exaggeration).

KHII includes in extensive upgrade list that provides bonuses to combat, platforming, and magic. With a few upgrades, Sora's combos can reach well over ten hits and the upgrades to platforming come in extremely handy when trying to traverse a world quicker and more efficiently. KHII also includes “forms,” that enhance Sora's strengths and abilities for a limited time. Unfortunately, since most of the game is very simple, I rarely found myself using the forms, as I had no reason to. The use of Forms are a cool and flashy edition, and leveling them up leads to upgrades such as a high jump and a dash ability, but I was able to get through the entire game with only leveling up one Form twice. Once again, the game's difficulty makes the entire campaign accessible from the get go and it's unfortunate that its lenient difficulty allows for players to negate some of the more interesting features in the game.

Released for the first time in North America, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, is the same Kingdom Hearts II released in the States in 2005, just with a slew of new additions and features. The game now includes collectibles that form puzzles to be solved, entire new areas of the game, and new cinematics that further the plot of the game and fill in some holes from the standard edition. If you were a fan of the original game or the series in general, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix is a must have, as it expands upon and includes many features that serve as fan service and increase replayability for fans of the series. I'm still finding myself putting the disk back in time and time again, even after over thirty-five hours, to try and get each last thing I can in the game.

Kingdom Hearts II is a game that many people hold dear to them and Final Mix does a good job of giving them reason to relive their nostalgia. A beautiful, charming, and more importantly, fun, game, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix still feels nearly the same as it did nine years ago. Unfortunately, poor decisions early in the game lead to a rocky beginning and a rarely-changing difficulty is unable to justify the rewards player's are inundated with the entire game for minimal effort. What the game does perfectly though is revitalize fond memories and nostalgia all in preparation for Kingdom Hearts III. All feelings that are welcomed almost a decade later.

4 out of 5

Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded:

 

Originally released as an episodic puzzle game between 2008 and 2010, the Japanese exclusive, Kingdom Hearts Coded, is included in the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX box set as an HD cinematic movie. While the movie looks great and starts out entertaining enough to grab viewer's attention, its nearly impossible to follow story and lackluster voice acting ultimately lead any interest to dissolve to boredom. And when the only pertinent information doesn't come until the end, it is hard to justify watching the entire thing if you're not a devoted fan of the series.

 

Set after the events of Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded tells the story of a sole entry in Jiminy Cricket's journal from the original KH game that says, “Thank Namine,” an entry players of KHII will remember from being briefly mentioned early in the game. Without any further explanation of what this entry means, Jiminy and Mickey Mouse convert the journal into data to send a version of Sora comprised of ones and zeros through the worlds of the original KH game in search of what this cryptic message could mean. Despite a bizarre plot, Re:Coded starts off campy and entertaining, allowing the player to excuse a loose premise. It doesn't take long though for this loose premise to buckle under its own narrative. The story quickly becomes disjointed and repetitive, seeing Sora going to the same worlds over and over and giving the viewer nothing but more questions and a bigger headache. It doesn't take long to forget the enjoyment from the beginning of the movie as hour after hour pass with little to no explanation of what the hell is going on. The movie even seems to know what little sense it makes, because repeatedly through out it Sora will remark on how confused he is or how what he's being told doesn't make sense.

 

Re: Coded serves to fill in holes from the Kingdom Hearts lore and when certain questions are finally answered after hours of waiting, it is gratifying to finally get a slight explanation as to some of the mysteries from previous games. Unfortunately, these answers don't come until the very end and have nearly nothing to do with the bulk of the game. If you must watch this movie, watch the first thirty minutes and the last thirty minutes, as they are the only satisfying parts of the entire film and will give you satisfying answers. Everything in between is just fluff that didn't make a graceful transition from game to film.

Re: Coded looks great, nearly up to the same caliber as Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. One of the only drawbacks is that the lip sync seems off nearly the whole movie. Mouths will move in a completely different shape than the syllable being spoken and often move too long or too short for the sentence the character is speaking. The voice acting also falls very short in this entry. Even characters voiced by series veterans sound tired and uninspired. A lot of the acting during tense moments is dull and monotone and do nothing to heighten the suspense of the moment.

Unless you are wanting to fill in some plot holes from the other Kingdom Hearts games, I can't recommend sitting through the multiple hours of this movie. It's boring, confusing, and just not very good at all. Though the end does a good job of answering some questions from the first two games, the over all product does not justify sitting through from start to finish.

2 out of 5

Bringing Nathan Drake Alive On The Playstation 4

Playstation has released a panel from last weekend's Playstation Experience that details how Naughty Dog recreated Nathan Drake for the upcoming game, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, for the Playstation 4.  Check out the hour long video below and stay tuned to PBG for more details on Uncharted 4 as they come!


Source: Playstation

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Gameplay

Today during the Playstation Experience, gameplay footage of the highly awaited Uncharted 4: A Thief's End was revealed.  Check out the awesome video below!


Source: IGN

Dying Light - Story Trailer

Source: GamesHQMedia

Initial Thoughts On Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX and More

For the past seven years, if you were to ask me what my favorite game was I would always answer with Kingdom Hearts II.  Two years after its release, I spent the entire Summer of 2007 playing KHII as much as possible, getting every item I could find, chronicling every secret imaginable, and trying desperately to understand a ridiculously winding plot (I've given up on the latter at this point).  Needless to say, after all the hours I invested into that game, it has built some fairly impressive amounts of nostalgia in my brain.

Last year, before the release of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, I wrote an article called, "Virtual Impotence." In the article I mention the disappointment when a game doesn't live up to the polygonal glory of which you have built it up in your mind and how damaging it could be.  Because of this, I had immense apprehension about finally being able to play Kingdom Hearts II again.  What if it wasn't as good as I remembered?  What if it wasn't good at all?

Well.

I have put around seventeen hours into Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, and I can comfortably say it is still my favorite game, which is a relief.  But, that's not to say it doesn't have its fair share of issues.  At its best, Final Mix is an astoundingly beautiful game that hardly looks like it's nine years old.  The action is fast, frenzied, and addicting.  Each individual world is meticulously designed to be faithful to the film it borrows environments from and the characters that inhabit the worlds are wonderfully voiced, for the most part.  At its worst though is a game with some finicky mechanics, a confusing difficulty setting, and a prologue that is so mind-numbingly boring that it negates its own initial appeal. 

I am doing my best to look at the game critically before I look at it nostalgically so I can give a fair and accurate review of the game.

Onto another subject, my band leaves for tour December 14th, so my review will NOT include Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Final Mix.  I simply don't have enough time with school, work and band to finish Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, watch the Re:coded cinematic "movie," and write what I believe is an honest and accurate review.  Also, I'm not sure I will have the review out within the self-appointed deadline of one week after launch.  For all this, I apologize, but it will absolutely be live before the 14th.

Look for a 2/3 review of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX next week!

     

Details on 2015's Assassin's Creed Have Been Leaked

Information on a new Assassin's Creed game have been leaked onto the internet that appear to show the game set in Victorian England.  Slated to be released in 2015 these screenshots, provided in an article by Kotaku, show the game, already looking fairly far along in the development process.  Titled Assassin's Creed Victory, it will be the first major entry in the series not developed by Ubisoft's Montreal, instead being left in the hands of Ubisoft Quebec who have developed DLC for both Assassin's Creed Three and Four.

Ubisoft has released the following statement on the leaked information and seemingly confirmed the authenticity of it:

"It is always unfortunate when internal assets, not intended for public consumption, are leaked. And, while we certainly welcome anticipation for all of our upcoming titles, we're disappointed for our fans, and our development team, that this conceptual asset is now public. The team in our Quebec studio has been hard at work on the particular game in question for the past few years, and we're excited to officially unveil what the studio has been working on at a later date. In the meantime, our number one priority is enhancing the experience of Assassin's Creed Unity for players."

Star Wars and Marvel Universes "Under Consideration" For Kingdom Hearts III

In a recent interview with Kotaku, Tai Yasue, game designer on Kingdom Hearts III, revealed that many Disney worlds are being considered for KH3, including the Lucas Arts and Marvel universes, whom Disney recently bought.  Yasue went on to say, "Nothing's off-limits, we're considering all of the worlds.  There are so many wonderful concepts.  We're happy about that, but at the same time it's really tough to choose."  Does this mean when Kingdom Hearts III drops we will see him slinging webs throughout New York City with Spiderman and pondering the meaning of friendship with Luke Skywalker?  Only time will tell.

For more information, check out the Kotatku article found here.

Look out for more info on Kingdom Hearts III here at PBG, as well as our review of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX in the coming weeks!

The Crew - Launch Trailer

The Crew is a game that definitely has my attention.  The ambition of giving players an entire map of the United States to race in has the potential to be a highly engrossing and more importantly fun experience.  That is if Ubisoft can steer clear of issues during launch.  Though not on my schedule of upcoming games for review, I would like to post my opinions on the game if I can get my hands on it in the near future.  For now, enjoy this trailer and look out for Ubisoft's, The Crew, to hit store shelves tomorrow.

Upcoming Releases For December 2014

December 1, 2014:

Limbo (XB1)

December 2, 2014:

Kingdom Hearts H.D. 2.5 ReMIX (PS3)

The Crew (PS4,XB1,PC)

Game Of Thrones: A Telltale Game Series (PC)

December 3, 2014:

Tales From the Borderlands – Episode 1: Zer0 Sum (XB360)

December 5, 2014:

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U)

December 9, 2014:

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (PS4, XB1)

December 16, 2014:

Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN (PS4)

December 30, 2014:

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PS4)

The Elder Scrolls Online (PS4, XB1)

Ubisoft's Official Apology

Earlier today we posted an article on the apology made in regards to Assassin's Creed Unity's issues by Ubisoft Montreal's CEO, Yannis Mallat.  Here is his official apology and statement in its entirety:

"The launch of Assassin's Creed Unity was a highly-anticipated moment for me and for our development teams around the world who dedicated a tremendous amount of energy, passion and skill to the game's creation. For us, it was the culmination of years of work on new technologies, the development of multiple innovations -- including an all-new game engine -- and an evolution of the Assassin's Creed franchise's core pillars. More importantly, we know that it was a highly-anticipated moment for many of you as well, as you looked forward to taking part in the first truly next generation Assassin's Creed game.

Unfortunately, at launch, the overall quality of the game was diminished by bugs and unexpected technical issues. I want to sincerely apologize on behalf of Ubisoft and the entire Assassin's Creed team. These problems took away from your enjoyment of the game, and kept many of you from experiencing the game at its fullest potential.

We've been working hard to fix the problems players are reporting, and the patches we have released so far have resolved many of them. Today, we're releasing our third patch, which fixes a variety of specific issues related to the game's stability and performance, matchmaking and connectivity, gameplay and menus. You can find the release notes on that patch here.

To show our appreciation for your continued support, we're making the upcoming Assassin's Creed Unity Dead Kings DLC free for everyone. For Season Pass holders, we will also offer the choice of one additional game from a selection of Ubisoft titles for free. More details on the offer for Season Pass holders can be found here.

In addition to the latest patch and this offer, we are committed to delivering further fixes for other issues you've raised. In the meantime, please keep your feedback coming – it has been both humbling and incredibly helpful as we continue working hard to improve the overall quality of the game. We are hopeful that with these forthcoming updates, everyone will be able to truly enjoy their Assassin's Creed Unity experience.

We will continue striving to make Assassin's Creed one of the most ambitious and innovative franchises on the market, and we thank you for your continued loyalty and support.

Sincerely,
Yannis Mallat
CEO, Ubisoft Montreal & Toronto"

Ubisoft Apologizes For Assassin's Creed Unity Issues

In response to Assassin's Creed Unity's less than stellar release, which was plagued with numerous game breaking bugs, Ubisoft Montreal CEO, Yannis Mallat, has issued this apology:  "I want to sincerely apologize on behalf of Ubisoft and the entire Assassin's Creed team.  These problems took away from your enjoyment of the game, and kept many of you from experiencing the game at its fullest potential."  Mallat continued by saying that to show appreciation for consumer's support, Ubisoft will be offering Assassin's Creed Unity's DLC, "Dead Kings," free for everyone.  In addition, those who purchased Unity's season pass will have the option of getting another Ubisoft game for free.  Titles include Far Cry 4, The Crew, and Watch Dogs amongst others.  Ubisoft hasn't confirmed a release date for the Dead Kings DLC but says that it will be coming soon.

Stay tuned to PBG for more info regarding the matter as it comes out. 

Far Cry 4 Review

Title: Far Cry 4

Platform(s) Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC

Release Date:  November 18, 2014

ESRB: M

Far Cry 4 is a firm believer of, “if it isn't broke, don't fix it.” Almost all of the mechanics from 2012's Far Cry 3 are here, they just have been turned up to eleven and put into a new location. Far Cry 4 is an over-the-top ride full of huge explosions and gratuitous gun battles that emphasizes different play styles to make almost every mission accessible in any manner the player wishes. The game gives you an incredible open world, full of activities and danger, but often doesn't know when to let you be or give you a strong story that makes you feel a real need to be fighting a fight you were inexplicably thrust into. Despite some slight bumps in the terrain, Far Cry 4 is incredible and messy ride that knows how to create an excessively fun experience.

Set in the fictional Himalayan country of Kyrat, Far Cry 4 puts players in the shoes of Ajay Ghale. A native who spent most of his life stateside, Ajay only returns to Kyrat to fulfill his mother's dying wish of having her ashes spread in her homeland. Right off the bat, Ajay learns that Kyrat is torn by a civil war, as the people revolt against dictator Pagan Min, who has divided the country and stripped its peoples of their freedoms and heritage. Without much thought, Ajay joins the militia group, “The Golden Path,” and is tasked with bringing down Pagan's regime. But the story is poor in giving the player any real motivation to do so. It is explained that Ajay's parent's founded The Golden Path, giving a slight emotional appeal as to why he should be fighting this war, and it is interesting to speculate whether or not his mother had ulterior motives for sending Ajay to Kyrat. But Ajay is a fairly lifeless and silent character. He is never really developed or given much of a voice on the mass murders he's committing. If anything, he feels like a glorified errand boy being told, “go here and kill this,” by the quarreling leaders of the Golden Path, Amita and Sabal. Players are given the choice as to which of these two they see fit to lead the Golden Path, but once again poor development leaves them just giving you missions with vague explanations as to their motives. On the other hand, Pagan Min is a wonderful villain and when first introduced is portrayed as a terrifying and tyrannical dictator. Video game DiCaprio, Troy Baker, gives a stunning performance of Pagan as being both influenced by his own personal grievances and completely malicious in his dictatorship over Kyrat. The only problem is that after the opening cinematic, Pagan disappears from the game almost entirely. Despite calling you occasionally via your in-game radio, Pagan rarely shows up in any cinematics and it feels as though the game robs itself of its strongest character. It's unfortunate that the story doesn't become more fleshed out, because at its core it is an interesting plot and has the potential to make the player feel a real need to fight for the Golden Path and try to take down Pagan Min. But poor character development and the game's denial of its strongest character ultimately make the story fall flat before it can fully get off the ground.

Far Cry 4 is utterly beautiful. Traveling through the mountains and valleys of Kyrat never feels stale as each individual place you visit feels unique to itself and the region of the map you are in. Bushes rustle as you walk through them, scuff marks show up on walls during firefights, individual blades of grass catch on fire if affected by an explosion, all making you feel like you are in a world that actually exists and it's a world that makes you want to be in it. I often found myself drifting far from the campaign just to explore every inch of a cave I just happened to see from the corner of my eye. When I stood from a vantage point and saw something way off in the distance, I couldn't stop myself from trying to reach it to see what was there. The draw distances of this game allow you to see almost clear across the map and take in how much is truly packed in there. A handful of missions also have you traveling to the mythical world, Shangri-La or to the top of the Himalayan mountains and offer up new areas of exploration that feel unique and as fully realized as Kyrat itself. There were a few texture pop-ins and I noticed a handful of dips in the frame rate, but these can hardly be considered complaints due to how rare they were and just how big this game truly is.

Far Cry 4 is an incredibly dense game with an endless amount of things to do and see and an equal amount of threats trying to hinder you from reaching them. At the end of my nearly twenty hours within the game's main campaign, I had only beaten 29.67% of everything it had to offer, which is staggering. Kyrat is full of dynamic events that may have you hunting Honey Badgers one moment and freeing members of the Golden Path who have been kidnapped the next. Countless collectibles, side missions, and hidden areas to explore litter the map with opportunities for more gun play, racing, hunting, collecting, and even an arena that pits man against beast in a fight for bragging rights over the food chain. The game tries really hard to not give the player even one moment to be bored with what it has to offer, and it does a good job of this. I never found myself having to look very hard for something to do or blow up, but unfortunately sometimes the game doesn't know when to let up and let the player experience things at their own pace. Or just get from point A to point B without being mauled, shot up, or blown to kingdom come. I found immense frustration when I was simply trying to drive to my mission objective, but had to engage in an intense fight when a car full of enemies happened to drive by leaving me out of ammo and low on health by the end of it. What's worse is that several times after I had turned around and restocked on the items I needed, on my way back to the objective the exact same thing would happen again. Similarly, numerous times while trying to stake out an area and get a grasp on where enemies were, an animal would sneak up behind me and start attacking me, which in turn would startle me and cause me to start shooting aimlessly, inevitably alerting my enemies of my position. The dynamic world keeps the game interesting and does a good job of keeping players on their toes but it seems to not know a proper time or place for when they should occur. It would have been nice to not have to constantly worry about the threats of the game's outside spontaneity while trying to engage in the campaign, leaving the game's missions own breed of insanity to speak for themselves.

Many games promote the player freedom of, “Go in silently or guns blazing. The choice is yours.” Far Cry 4 offers the same thing, but it is more of a, “go in silently and kill no one but your target, or unleash a tiger that you have set on fire upon your enemies, zip-line into the battlefield, blow up a truck of guys with your rocket launcher, go find an elephant and bring him into the mix to flatten your foes, and then use a mortar to bring that pesky helicopter out of the sky that's been shooting at you this whole time in a flashy mix of gunpowder and viscera,” kind of game. Nearly every mission offers this freedom and I never got tired of the insanity that ensued when my initial stealthy approach didn't pan out and my next best option was a grenade launcher and C4. Returning from Far Cry 3 are enemy outposts that can be liberated to decrease your adversary's control of Kyrat. These outposts are a highlight of the game and trying a new way of liberating each one before the soldiers can call for reinforcements never gets old. On top of those are enemy fortresses, controlled by the main antagonists of the game. Conquering these fortresses takes a lot more planning than the outposts as they are much larger and feature far more enemies, but offer a lot more opportunities for mayhem. Luckily, if you're in a bind the game offers “guns for hire” that you can call in to help you fight as well as the opportunity for co-op play that allows another person to join your game and aid you in your time of need. There's never a guarantee in this game that your plan will ever go perfectly and trying to think on your feet in a hail of bullets is a rush that keeps me excited to fire up the game far beyond the story's completion.

Far Cry 4 never lets the player feel unequipped for the insane amount of enemies it likes to throw at you at a given time. Weapon options are as varied and numerous as one could hope from a Far Cry game offering everything from silent bows for sneak attacks to RPGs for full-on assaults. Numerous vehicles litter the map to make traversing Kyrat by road, water, and air easier and feel goofy and fun to maneuver. As long as you can tolerate the in-game radio DJ that spouts off horribly unfunny material about defecation and genitals ad nauseam. Controls are tied to the left analog stick and never fully leave you in precise control, making each time you get behind the wheel a messy journey of running things over and narrowly avoiding driving off or into a mountain. This isn't a complaint as it might be with other games that put more of an emphasis on driving. Rather it just adds to the insanity of Far Cry 4's habit of never letting you feel exactly in control of what's going on. The game's upgrade system makes noticeable differences to Ajay's killing abilities, allowing him to perform new takedowns, hold his breath longer while lining up a sniper shot, and ride elephants amongst numerous other things. Upgrades make Ajay feel considerably more powerful, but the game doesn't make players work very hard for them. Experience points are thrown out all over the place and acquiring numerous upgrades can happen fairly early on in the game. It never felt like I had to work hard in the game to become more powerful, and instead I had numerous upgrade shopping sprees I could go on early in the game which detracted from the over-all satisfaction of working hard for a single upgrade.

Far Cry 4 is a sequel done right. Everything that made Far Cry 3 enjoyable is here, but expanded upon tenfold and made great. It's an insanely fun and crazy ride that never gives an opportunity for boredom, even if that means throwing too much at the player at once. Kyrat is a world I want to be in and I keep finding myself putting the disk back in to see more of what it has to offer. It's just unfortunate that the story doesn't fully develop itself to make me feel that I had a real reason to be there other than for my own exploits. Far Cry 4 is an insane journey that allows players to make there own way and accomplishes being one of the most fun experiences to come out this year.

4 out of 5

Blake Hester

Initial Thoughts On Far Cry 4

I was a huge fan of Far Cry 3, so the fact that its successor, Far Cry 4, is essentially the same game on steroids is great.  The insane amount of debauchery I have caused with my controller is unprecedented and the freedom of experimentation is top notch and allows the player many angles to complete each objective.  The world of Kyrat is an immense playground with something to do and/or see around every corner and an equal amount of threats hiding behind each turn.  Far Cry 4's numerous dynamic events keep you on your toes, but sometimes it doesn't know when it's just too much all at once. 

Far Cry 4's story leaves you wanting more.  The main antagonists are portrayed amazingly, but are only on the screen for very short periods of time.  It feels as though the game robs itself of an amazing story of struggle by hiding these characters away instead of creating a tension between the main character and his adversaries.

I'm only a little over half-way through the main campaign, so all opinions I have now are subject to change.  Look for PBG's review of Far Cry 4 next week!

Assassin's Creed Unity Review

Title: Assassin's Creed Unity
Platform(s): Playstation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release Date: November 11, 2014
ESRB: M

Assassin's Creed Unity is a game that tries really hard to be a unique experience and in many ways it succeeds. The recreation of Paris that player's are given to explore is a beautiful place that feels fresh and alive in ways that not many other open-world games do and the immense amount of freedom and inventive approaches to the games numerous assassinations lead to hours of experimentation as the player tries to get to their target in just the right way. Unfortunately, a flat story, major bugs, and issues with necessary game mechanics hinder this game from achieving its true potential and leaves the game falling short of the greatness it could have achieved.

Taking place in Paris during the French Revolution of the late 1700s, Assassin's Creed Unity puts players in control of series newcomer, Arno Dorian, an arrogant but lively man who is thrust into the brotherhood of the Assassin's to find and exact revenge on those who killed his loved ones. Unity starts strong and builds up Arno as a lovable and charismatic character, reminiscent of Assassin's Creed Two's Ezio Auditore, who was unfairly put into tragic situations, but quickly pulls the rug out from underneath itself. Right around the time he joins the Assassin's, Arno inexplicably becomes a dull, lifeless character and loses all the initial charm that made him enjoyable in the beginning of the game causing me to lose interest and empathy with him fairly quickly. Other main characters in the game have no emotional value or memorable qualities and serve mainly as just portals of information. After a while I found it more of a chore to pay attention to the cinematics as the story and characters are easily forgettable after you complete the initial couple chapters of the game. Numerous character's are also introduced, then rarely seen again leaving the player to wonder what the point of that character really was in relation to the story. The game tries to create a tale of revenge and justice with enough emotional appeal to wrap the player in, but its lack of execution makes it fall flat and feel predictable before wrapping up it all up in an entirely disappointing ending.

Ubisoft went above and beyond the call when designing 18^th century Paris. When standing atop a vantage point, it seems as though Paris goes on forever with each building beautifully designed. From small apartments to major landmarks like the cathedral of Notre Dame, it feels like an equal amount of care was put into each building to make the world as believable and visually rich as possible. Built on a 1:1 scale, Paris is a massive playground with many unique districts to explore, from the elegant villas of the rich and royal all the way down to the shanty towns of the poor. Each have their unique characteristics and NPCs will react differently given which district you are in. While in a rich area people will wonder around leisurely enjoying their day, but the slums will be more violent with fights in the streets and people drinking down their sorrows in the alleys.

Ubisoft made a point of promoting the large crowd scenes that would be featured in Unity, and it really is astonishing how many people may be on the screen at any given time with not too many noticeable repeats of the same character. NPCs litter the streets in massive numbers, they attend political rallies in town squares, they fight, riot, have real conversations with each other, carry around decapitated heads on sticks (Really!), drink at cafes, etc. The simple act of just walking around the streets of Paris to see what people are up to is a delight due to how convincing the city really is. It doesn't feel as though the city is inhabited by lifeless bodies that walk back and forth from point A to point B for eternity, it feels like you are just one body in a massive city that exists with or without you and finding yourself the middle of some of the giant crowds is truly a marvel.

Unity puts a large emphasis on player customization of both Arno's looks and his abilities. There is a seemingly endless amount of different items Arno can equip that will effect his stealth, melee, health, etc. and it is often necessary to make sure you outfit him with appropriate gear to tailor to individual missions. The upgrade system feels necessary for completing the game and each purchase requires thought as to how the upgrade will cater to the player's style. I often found myself asking, “Should I upgrade my lock-picking abilities to help find more equipment or my health in the event of an attack?” Upgrades feel good and are immediately apparent to the player as Arno feels he has better honed his Assassin skills through your decisions.

As in all other iterations of the series, the player's main mode of transportation is within the parkour system, which feels at its best in Unity. Traveling around the world feels solid and precise letting you get to your destination in a very efficient and flashy manor. There are moments where the game misjudges exactly where you want to go, causing you to unexpectedly vault from a building or miss the window you're trying to jump into, but these errors aren't frequent enough, especially compared to other AC games of the past, to be seen as a flaw. Also added to the parkour system is the inclusion of “Free Run Down,” which allows you with the click of a few buttons to quickly scale down a building instead of clumsily searching for a ledge below to fall onto. This became especially useful when tailing a target and I needed to get from the roof of a building to ground-level as quickly as possible. Enhances in combat have also made for a much more smooth fight against the considerably more difficult adversaries in Unity. No longer will enemies wait their turn to attack you, they will attack almost in unison causing the player to keep a careful eye on those around him to gauge when to successfully dodge or parry attacks. Unity definitely puts an emphasis on learning how to successfully evade attacks and if the player tries to hack and slash their way through combat chances or they will be struck down rather quickly. It's a welcome challenge that forces players to rethink whether or not a full-on assault is the necessary approach.

The alternative to that is the stealth system which will likely be the player's main approach to missions. The AC standards of hiding in hay bails, silently killing enemies with the hidden blade, and hiding amongst crowds is all accounted for and the stealth mechanic is largely unchanged from previous installments except for one frustrating flaw, the cover system. The game seems to erratically decide on its own which walls it is going to let you take cover behind and more often than not if the game even decides to let the player take cover it will take several tries just to get Arno behind a wall, often leaving him vulnerable to attacks or within eyesight of an enemy. Also when shooting a projectile from behind cover, the game will often let you aim the weapon, get the shot ready, and then not let you fire it, causing you to miss your target. Both of these together can cause immense frustration, often giving away your location and ruining a mission, leading the player to start over.

Assassin's Creed Unity's biggest draw is hands down its Assassination missions. Set in huge and diverse locations, these missions require careful planning and thought and the sense of satisfaction when you are able to get to your target in just the right way is an indescribable feeling. Players are given multiple entrances and unique ways to take down their target making no two play-throughs exactly the same. The massive set pieces these missions take place in, from a public execution to an elaborate gala for only the most wealthy, are designed to let the player feel free and find their own path. The game does a good job of minimizing hand holding and letting players discover, often through numerous attempts of trial and error, which path to their target works for them. These missions are frequent throughout the game and their multiple paths are enough to keep players wanting to continue putting the disk in after the credits roll to see each possible way an assassination can be completed.

Something has to be addressed about Assassin's Creed Unity that can't be overlooked. It is riddled with bugs and glitches that often break the game or pull the player out of the experience and this is not something that is forgivable due to just how many there are. Player's faces disappear leaving nothing but a grotesque sight of just eyes, teeth, and hair, NPCs will float around the city, Arno may for no apparent reason just fall through the ground of the level, and what's worse is that this is just a small sample of numerous other bugs plaguing players. The worst bug I personally noticed came during the final cut scene. The scene was supposed to be quiet and emotional, but was ruined when a bug caused Arno's mouth to move throughout the duration of the cinematic, despite their being no dialogue. Games will always have glitches, as is the way of human error, but it is ludicrous that Ubisoft would release a AAA game as broken as Unity can be and the idea that no one in testing caught any of these numerous and frequent bugs doesn't seem plausible. Things such as the story being weak and the cover mechanic being sloppy are annoyances, but they are easier to overlook when you consider how good this game can be and how amazing traversing around Paris is when it actually works, but the bugs that exist in this game ultimately hinder it from being the great experience is strives to be. Ubisoft has built a wonderful world and allowed their consumers to have complete freedom over how they wish to play the game, but none of that matters if bugs that should have been solved by launch destroy the immersion for the players.

I struggled to come up with a score to this game because I really enjoyed my time in Paris, but there are issues in Unity that just can't be overlooked. Assassin's Creed0 Unity is an ambitious title and in many ways it succeeds in being the living world Ubisoft hyped it up to be. But the frequent game-breaking bugs, weak story, and sloppy cover mechanics ultimately make this game fall short of greatness. I have hope that later installments in the series will build upon the things that this game did right and hopefully fix its shortcoming to avoid missing their potential as Unity unfortunately has done.

3 out of 5

Blake Hester

Initial Thoughts On Assassin's Creed Unity

By my speculation, I would say that I am close to the halfway point of Assassin's Creed Unity's main campaign.  The scope of Paris in the game is staggering and when you stand from a vantage point it seems as if the buildings around you go on forever in each direction.  I remember saying that Grand Theft Auto V's Los Santos was a living, breathing city, but it has nothing on ACU's Paris.  NPCs litter the street in impressive numbers and are actively engaging in day-to-day activities instead of just walking around aimlessly as in other open world games.  Just as numerous is the amount of things for the player to do outside of the main campaign, such as side missions, collectibles, etc.  That's not to say that ACU does not have its flaws, some of which are not that easy to overlook.  I've also noticed a surprising sense of being jaded as I play through the game which is a topic I plan to elaborate upon, as well as all the aforementioned, in my review on the eighteenth. 

Update

I haven't had much time to post anything during the past couple of days, but to update those curious I am currently in the process of playing Assassin's Creed Unity and will have a review up November 18th. 

Also, here's a slick new trailer for Grand Theft Auto V, being re-released on Playstation 4 and Xbox One on November 18th.

Back On Track

Until two days ago, I had not touched this blog in over a year. School, bands, and other activities had cluttered my personal life, and as of October 2013 I was absolutely in no financial situation to purchase a Playstation 4 the following month, so ultimately I had to give up PBG. There are very few readers of this blog, I'm lucky to get anything over 20 views a day, but that doesn't matter to me because I have a passion for playing video games, discussing them as an art form, and for simply just sitting and writing. I loved doing PBG, if anything just for myself, and I hated having to give it up, but luckily now I am now in a semi-stable enough situation financially and personally to get it back up and active again, which is something that excites me tremendously.

I tried to create a strict and pseudo-professional schedule for myself when reviewing games for the blog. This schedule was as follows: I needed to have bought the game I was going to review, played it to completion, and written, revised, and published my review within a week of the game's initial release date. From what I remember, I was very good about keeping to this schedule (I believe I only slipped up once). My goal once again remains the same, but I do see there being a possibility of me not always being able to make this self-set deadline. My school and work schedules are much more sporadic than a year ago and I am also in a band (we're called Ari, if you care to check us out) that requires me to sometimes leave town for multiple weeks at a time for touring. With all that going on, I will still try to keep news, reviews, and anything else as up to date as I possibly can.

With all the aforementioned said, the first game I will be reviewing will be Assassin's Creed Unity and if all goes according to plan the review will be up on November 18^th.

Blake Hester

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX Collector's Edition Announced

Square Enix has announced today that they will be releasing a Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX Collectors Edition exclusively for the Playstation 3.  Check out the picture below to check out the KH goodies that $99.99 can preorder you, including a collector's edition box and a Shadow Heartless plush toy.  Stay tuned PBG for a full review of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX when it drops December 2, 2014.

Grand Theft Auto V PS3/PS4 Graphics Comparison

Assassin's Creed Unity 101 Trailer

Far Cry 4 Story Trailer

Reissue Of Grand Theft Auto V To Feature First-Person Mode

Rockstar Games released a trailer today that shows off a new feature in the upcoming reissue of Grand Theft Auto V for Playstation 4 and Xbox One that will allow players to play the game in a first-person mode.  This three minute trailer shows what is like to drive, shoot, and fly in Los Santos from behind the eyes of the three playable characters.  Grand Theft Auto V is set to be re-released on November 18th for the Playstation 4 and Xbox One and will include a host of new features such as new weapons and missions.  Check out the trailer below!

Bioshock: Infinite The Complete Edition Launch Trailer

Bioshock: Infinite The Complete Edition was released today for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, including the original game, all of the DLC, and box artwork.  Check out the launch trailer below!