Dying Light - Initial Thoughts

I'm about eight hours into Dying Light's campaign and it is shaping up to be quite the experience.  Once you get the hang of it, the game's parkour feels great and combat is effective in a pinch.  But, that's not to say that Dying Light is a game you can fly through.  While you are well equipped, the game poses a large challenge and it is very easy to get over run by zombies if you are not careful.  Doing your best to stay vigilant during combat and knowing when to run away is necessary to avoid death.

Dying Light's highly advertised day/night cycle adds its own dynamic to the game.  During the day you have a slight upper hand over the zombies, but at night your chances of survival are reduced to very slim as zombie numbers are increased and more powerful foes are introduced into the mix.  The game becomes a fight for life and it is an exhilarating and terrifying rush that keeps players on their toes. 

I haven't found much in the way of story that is very interesting, but as of yet I don't have too many other complaints about the game.  The world is beautiful, the game plays well, and Dying Light is unique enough to feel refreshing compared to other recent open-world games.  Look for a full review and a Twitch stream of Dying Light from PBG within the week!

We Are On Twitch!

PBG has just joined Twitch and already done a couple streams of Far Cry 4!  If you're interested in hanging out with Parent's Basement Gaming and watching a game or two, just look up PBGTwitch and it should pop right up.

The goal as of now is to do a stream every Monday, though I will probably do a few more when time allows.  Everyone is welcome to suggest games and topics and joining the stream and leaving comments and conversations is highly encouraged.  Every "Twitch Monday" I will post on the site about what game will be streamed on that day and what time.  Please be patient as I am still trying to figure out the site and the best ways to operate game streams.

I chose to wait to post this article until after this week's stream to make sure I got everything up and running correctly, but if you would still like to see my many deaths in Far Cry 4, click the link above and check it out!

I am definitely looking forward to this becoming a routine event for PBG!

Dying Light - Launch Trailer

Source: Dying Light

Short Opinions - The Wolf Among Us: Episode Five

Short Opinions is a section that will feature quick thoughts on games that I have recently played that I hadn't scheduled for review. These may be games that clutter my backlog or simply games I didn't feel like writing a full review for. There is no set schedule for these and they will be posted whenever I see fit. May contain light spoilers.

I've decided to break up my opinions on The Wolf Among Us based on each episode.  So rather than posting one accumulative article once I have completed all five episodes, I will post one on each individual episode as I complete them. Episode One. Episode Two. Episode Three. Episode Four.

WARNING: Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers.

Episode Five: “Cry Wolf” - For now, my trip through Fabletown is over.  And while I may have answers, I'm not so sure I have a resolution. Though I left The Crooked Man at the bottom of The Witching Well, Nerissa's confession at the end of Episode Five only confirmed that this game never had any intent of giving me control over this situation. The Wolf Among Us is an expertly crafted story that's main intention is to leave you guessing.

The Wolf Among Us' episodes never leave you in the same state of mind.  Reading through what I had written on previous episodes, I've noticed that I have contradicted myself on several occasions as my beliefs about what was right and what was going on had changed. Choices in the game get progressively heavier in nature and it's not always easy to act upon impulse, especially in the last two episodes, as you get closer to each character. The Wolf Among Us effectively plays on emotions by letting you into others' lives. NPCs do not shy away from their issues and are not afraid to tell you if they think something is unjust in Fabletown. I found myself commiserating a lot for other characters in the game and wanting to do something that made their struggles easier, if only slightly.  But, it was the moments when those I had viewed as enemies let me into their lives that I found choices the hardest to make.  When The Crooked Man insisted he had nothing to do with the murders, I questioned whether or not throwing him into the Witching Well was the best option.  When Tweedle Dee told me I would be doing him a favor by killing him, as I had done to his brother, I was ashamed. When I saw Georgie Porgie fall to his knees by Vivian's body, then beg for me to end his suffering, I saw him only as another person, not as the rat I had a few episodes earlier. I obliged his request and I'm not sure how to feel about it. 

As the game went on, choices were harder to make and I often felt people's lives were my decisions. Something I wasn't always comfortable with.  But, by the last scene of the last episode, none of this mattered. Because with Nerissa's confession, once again, The Wolf Among Us left me guessing about whether or not everything I had done and felt was right.  I don't know if The Crooked Man had anything to do with the murders, I'm not sure I should have put Georgie out of his misery, and I'm definitely not sure what to expect from Season Two.

 

The Wolf Among Us' story really benefits from its source material and takes advantage of the fact that most players already know most of the fairy tales its characters are derived from.  Because of this, the game is free to not only create its own spin on the lore, but also bypass character introduction to get straight into its own tale. The Wolf Among Us takes artistic liberties with its characters by twisting their back stories to fit its own spin on things, such as the Woodsman's confession that he only stumbled across Bigby and Little Red Riding Hood, because he himself was on his way to rob her and her grandmother. The Wolf Among Us is the unofficial sequel to all of our childhood fairy tales. While they are retold for a much older crowd, they lack none of the emotional appeal from when we were younger. I think the fact that a lot of these tales are stories people grew up with creates a familiarity with the player and eases them into caring about the people of Fabletown and what happens with their lives.  I personally found myself caring about the characters of this game a great deal, as is evident by the way I write about them.  I believe a major factor in this is that I feel like I know most of them already simply by them having already been on my television years before.

There will obviously be a sequel to The Wolf Among Us and I'm sure the next time around, the story will take players on an even more intense ride of emotions and choices. When that time comes, make sure you are glued to PBG for all you will need to know.

The Order 1886 - Story Trailer

Source: IGN

Short Opinions - The Wolf Among Us: Episode Four

Short Opinions is a section that will feature quick thoughts on games that I have recently played that I hadn't scheduled for review. These may be games that clutter my backlog or simply games I didn't feel like writing a full review for. There is no set schedule for these and they will be posted whenever I see fit. May contain light spoilers.

I've decided to break up my opinions on The Wolf Among Us based on each episode.  So rather than posting one accumulative article once I have completed all five episodes, I will post one on each individual episode as I complete them. Episode One. Episode Two. Episode Three.

WARNING: Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers.

Episode Four: “In Sheep's Clothing” - It seems the further you walk in Fabletown, the more layers you notice. From the spending habits of the upper echelon and the tribulations of those who live below the poverty line, everyone has their own story and everyone has their own motives. By the end of the penultimate episode, The Wolf Among Us had packed on some conflicted feelings about what really is going on in Fabletown and complicates what once was simply a murder mystery. A thin line stretches through Fabletown and where each character stands is not always where you originally thought.

Mr. Toad and Grendel made comments in the first episode that have stuck with me through each subsequent one. When Bigby hounds Toad about him not being disguised by Glamours, Toad asks him to look the other way as he couldn't afford the approved Glamours created by the witches on the Thirteenth Floor.  Also, Grendel criticizes Bigby and those working in the Woodland building for not caring about the Fables living below the poverty line. There is an uneven balance in Fabletown where those who can afford to be a priority, are a priority.  But, those who can't afford to be a priority are left to fend for themselves in an often corrupt and violent world. 

This whole game has you obsessively hunting a mysterious killer.  While you do so, you learn of a corrupted government and a black market that has been utilizing the slave labor of Fables to produce the unapproved magic that created the Glamours found on Lily after her death. All of this eventually points back to The Crooked Man.  In the moments leading up to your confrontation with him, if you take the time to listen to what Tiny Tim has to say, you realize that this entire city is a double-edged sword. According to Tiny Tim, the Fables who have been forgotten by the powers that be need The Crooked Man. He doesn't see them as useless. He sees them as in need of his help.

Fabletown is built on a slant. Glamours are necessary to live in the mundy world, but too expensive for the poor to buy. If the poor can't afford the Glamours, they are sent to the Farm. Out of sight and out of mind. All of The Crooked Man's motives have not been made clear as of Episode Four, but if his black market magic is made to help the poor simply survive in the mundy world, it's hard to say that he is intrinsically evil. Ichabod Crane didn't start the game as a crook, so who's to say it can't work the other way. Yet, I've spent four episodes attempting to solve two murders that I can only speculate were caused in part by him. Like I said, it's a double-edged sword and I'm not sure where I sit anymore. The further you go along in Fabletown, the closer you think you are getting to a solution. Instead, more layers are piled on and more questions arise.

I can only hope that Episode Five will finally start producing answers for me. My mind is running wild and I'm not sure where I think each character, or suspect, will end up in this twisting tale. I have more thoughts on the game as a whole and one more episode to still work through before I can make any final thoughts.  So, for more of The Wolf Among Us and more Short Opinions, stay here at PBG.

 

Short Opinions - The Wolf Among Us: Episode Three

Short Opinions is a section that will feature quick thoughts on games that I have recently played that I hadn't scheduled for review. These may be games that clutter my backlog or simply games I didn't feel like writing a full review for. There is no set schedule for these and they will be posted whenever I see fit. May contain light spoilers.

I've decided to break up my opinions on The Wolf Among Us based on each episode.  So rather than posting one accumulative article once I have completed all five episodes, I will post one on each individual episode as I complete them. Episode One. Episode Two.

WARNING: Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers.

Episode Three: “A Crooked Mile” - Three episodes and six or so hours deep within my adventure through Fabletown has taught me an important lesson, The Wolf Among Us is not afraid to strip everything away from you and expose your vulnerability when you feel the safest. Episode One taught me of the world and helped me discover what role I thought I wanted to play and Episode Two showed me consequence and the benefits of trying to think before reacting. But, Episode Three was different. It deceptively allowed me to fall into a rhythm and think I was getting close to figuring out the game's mysteries before it showed me just how wrong I was. “A Crooked Mile” didn't hesitate to expose my naivety and punish me for it and maybe I've learned something from that.

I was proud of my choices in this episode. I had investigated each area thoroughly and was in a rhythm of looking around a room, convincing any opposition to help me, and then heading off towards my next lead. I thought I was well on my way to finding out the mystery of these murders and even though Ichabod Crane ended up not being the killer, I still found him embezzling money from Fabletown to be despicable and I was proud that he was being hauled off.  But, by the end of the episode, when Bigby stepped foot into that ally outside the Pudding & Pie, I was naively comfortable and vastly unprepared. I believed I was doing something so morally sound that when the Tweedle Twin's gunfire ultimately triggered Bigby's full transformation, I didn't think twice about assaulting them and tearing the esophagus from one of their necks, because they were in the way of what I had worked for. It was only when Blood Mary had put a silver bullet in Bigby that I realized what the game had done to me.

Throughout the entire episode, I had been calm. I hadn't hit anyone, even Crane, when given the option. But, when something stood in the way of the choices I had made, that I was so proud of because they were the right choices, I immediately resorted to violence. The Wolf Among Us played on the fact that I had become comfortable and prideful in my choices, and therefore I had become vulnerable. When all the viscera lay on the pavement and the very man I was so proud to have caught was taken away from me, I realized that Telltale creates these choices not only to heighten suspense, but to help us get an insight into our own personalities. I realized I had been selfish. I did not make every choice I thought was right instinctively. I thought about which decision would make me look like the good guy, and ultimately give me the ending I wanted. Yet, when something was in my way, I didn't think twice about spilling blood. How much something like this may carry over into the real world is unique to each player, but it definitely did make me think about decisions I have made recently and whether or not I did them for the right reasons or for the aesthetic appeals of their outcomes.

The more I play through The Wolf Among Us, the more thoughts it puts into my head. So many different aspects of the game have unique characteristics that make you really think, as well as admire the world you're given. With the completion of each episode, waiting to play the next gets harder and keeping my hands typing this instead of booting up Episode Four is a real task.  For more of The Wolf Among Us and more Short Opinions, keep it locked to PBG.

Short Opinions - The Wolf Among Us: Episode Two

Short Opinions is a section that will feature quick thoughts on games that I have recently played that I hadn't scheduled for review. These may be games that clutter my backlog or simply games I didn't feel like writing a full review for. There is no set schedule for these and they will be posted whenever I see fit. May contain light spoilers.

I've decided to break up my opinions on The Wolf Among Us based on each episode.  So rather than posting one accumulative article once I have completed all five episodes, I will post one on each individual episode as I complete them. Episode One.

WARNING: Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers.

Episode Two: “Smoke & Mirrors” - My playthrough of The Wolf Among Us' second episode saw the violence take a back seat to both curiosity and empathy. After the interrogation at the beginning of the episode, I found myself completely immersed in finding out just what was going on in Fabletown. My conversation with the Woodsman not only peaked my curiosity for the story, but also showed me that I prefer the outcomes (so far) of taking a non-violent approach. I found by attempting to be rational with characters, even the ones I had hated an episode prior, I was able to get more answers out of them and clues became more accessible. But, there was also a more human element making itself apparent to me that made me pump the breaks, aside from just hoping to coax people into answers.

In episode one, I was unable to save Faith's husband, Prince Lawrence.  Other than finding a note he left to her and hearing him whisper her name right before he passed away, I never heard whether or not he spoke of how he felt about her death. In episode two, things were different for me. When I returned to the Trip Trap, a sight of much bloodshed for me during the first episode, after learning about Lily's death, I couldn't bring myself to be forceful with her surviving sister, Holly. I remembered how her and Grendel had spoke about Lily and their concern over her disappearance. Knowing I had to deliver the news of the murder to her sister, I didn't dare be confrontational with anyone in the bar.  I chose to try to ease Holly through the news and create a stable environment for her.  In return, I was satisfied with my actions as well as receiving clues from Holly on what and/or who might have caused her sister's death.

The Wolf Among Us is written very well, and it is amazing to notice the extreme thought put into each choice to make them feel worthwhile. In episode one, when I let a character get the best of me and I chose violence as a solution, I regretted it and wanted a do over. But, in episode two, when I did my best to keep a level head on my shoulders, I walked away satisfied with what I had done and happy I had chosen the approach I did.

Yesterday, when I posted my opinions about episode one, I speculated that once more of this mystery was unveiled I would be much more interested in the story. I was right and I can hardly wait to re-immerse myself in the world of The Wolf Among Us in episode three. For more Short Opinions and more of The Wolf Among Us, stay locked on PBG.

Short Opinions - The Wolf Among Us: Episode One

Short Opinions is a section that will feature quick thoughts on games that I have recently played that I hadn't scheduled for review. These may be games that clutter my backlog or simply games I didn't feel like writing a full review for. There is no set schedule for these and they will be posted whenever I see fit. May contain light spoilers.  

I've decided to break up my opinions on The Wolf Among Us based on each episode.  So rather than posting one accumulative article once I have completed all five episodes, I will post one on each individual episode as I complete them.

Episode One: "Faith" - I went into the first episode of The Wolf Among Us excited, yet apprehensive. While I enjoyed Telltale's past work with The Walking Dead, it wasn't able to hold my attention, and I ultimately never finished Season One. But, on the contrary, I have always found the concept of the Fables series' modern take on popular fairy tales to be interesting. So, it was a world I felt I needed to check out. Bigby Wolf and the rest of the residents of Fabletown have definitely caught my attention. The art of The Wolf Among Us and the way it eases you into tough decisions make this first entry strong and while I haven't seen enough to become fully immersed within its tale, I have a feeling that it won't be long before I can't get enough.

Right out of the gate, I was taken aback by the colorful world of The Wolf Among Us. Where The Walking Dead was awash in bleak colors to accentuate the mood of the story, this game made use of bright colors, such as pink and purple to create a more classic cartoon feel. Immediately as character's were introduced, the art design evoked feelings of nostalgia that remind you of the cartoon's themselves that popularized these characters and stories for more modern generations. But, that's not to say that The Wolf Among Us isn't bleak itself. Created by these campy colors are characters that live in filth and squalor. You rarely find yourself fully charmed by anyone you meet within your first couple hours in Fabletown as you might have when you were introduced to these creatures via VHS. This juxtaposition creates an interesting duality of the characters whom we grew up with. On one hand, our fond memories of them still remain and it's initially pleasant to see them again, but now that we can see what time has done to them, it's hard not to feel a little repulsed with where their story has ended up.

The Wolf Among Us rarely feels like it isn't giving you the decision you would make in the situation. Almost every intersection of choices gave me what I felt was an adequate selection of decisions for different personality types. If I wanted to care for someone, I could be tinder. If I wanted to be firm, I could raise my voice. If I wanted to commit aggravated assault, I could be extremely violent. But, this first episode didn't make me feel as though I was making any weighty decisions that left the balance of the world in my hands as The Walking Dead seemed to do at the drop of a hat. That's certainly not a complaint though, as each decision I made seemed to be setting me up for something bigger within later episodes. I was happy to be free of morally vexing choices early-on so that I could learn what I thought my role in this world was and could progress my character to make the choices I felt were the right ones later on.

I certainly think The Wolf Among Us is good and it is definitely interesting. Based on the first episode of the game, I'm not blown away, but I enjoyed it and I am excited to see where the story goes. I imagine once I have unraveled more of the mysteries within Fabletown, my mind will be consumed with potential solutions and suspects and my writing here will reflect that. Stay tuned to PBG for more Short Opinions and more The Wolf Among Us.

Assassin's Creed Unity Dead Kings Review

Title: Assassin's Creed Unity Dead Kings

Platform(s): PS4, XB1, PC

Release Date: January 13, 2015

ESRB:M

In an effort to remedy a rocky release, Ubisoft offered to give Assassin's Creed Unity's first story DLC, Dead Kings, to anyone who wanted it, for free. It seemed a nice gesture on their part and one hoped that after a large backlash from fans on how buggy and at times broken Unity was, Ubisoft would make sure to make Dead Kings run exceptionally well and be the grape leaf fans needed to forgive the let down of a highly anticipated game gone wrong. Dead Kings does retain all of the core mechanics that made Unity fun. Combat is solid, parkour is more fluid than in past iterations, and giant set pieces, though very few, still offer opportunities for exploration. But, instead of building upon what Unity did right and fixing many of the technical issues where it went wrong, Dead Kings offers up a slew of new issues that given what was expected out of Ubisoft, isn't as forgivable as last time.

Dead Kings picks up soon after the events of Unity. Arno has traveled to the city of Saint-Denis to get an artifact deep within the catacombs for the Marquis De Sade with hopes that in return he will help him leave France. Not long after Arno departs on his missions things foreseeably go awry, as retrieving ancient artifacts tied to “Dead Kings” proves to be surprisingly difficult when betrayal is afoot and a small child who jumps around and badgers you from cutscene to cutscene makes you empathize for the pre-ritalin world. The story of Dead Kings just never jumped out and grabbed me. Throughout its campaign, which took me around three or four hours to complete, I never cared about Arno's post-Unity struggle, side characters seemed trivial to the overall experience, and I just wanted it all to be over. I wasn't a huge fan of the story of Unity either, finding it to be dull overall. But Dead Kings from start to end, couldn't grab my attention whatsoever. It doesn't help that visuals in the cutscenes have received a considerable downgrade in quality from Unity. Visuals have lost a lot of detail and character models, even of main characters, look muddy and unfinished, as if the finishing details were just skipped over.

Taking place in the Paris suburbs of Saint-Denis, Dead Kings establishes a much different mood for its city. Saint-Denis is a dilapidated town that looks like it has a layer of dirt that surrounds the entire area. Gone are the garnished villas of Paris and in their place is the color gray. Everything in Saint-Denis maintains a very boring and dark color pallet that ranges from gray, darker gray, and occasionally brown. It is a sizable area, especially for a DLC pack, that offers a nice variety of locations existing in three districts, all centering around the decaying Basilica of Saint-Denis, which serves as the major set piece for the game. What is unfortunate though about the city of Dead Kings is that while it is unique enough to be memorable in comparison to Paris from Unity, it is ruined by presentation issues set forth from the first cutscene of the game. During the title sequence, which is the first things you see when you begin, there were texture pop-ins and these plagued the whole game. I could be halfway up the side of a building before its facade would come into full resolution. At a certain distance, buildings began to look like mush as the quality of their textures deteriorated to the point that they were barely distinguishable. Also, possibly in an effort to set a darker tone for the game, a fog covers the entire city for nearly the entire campaign and does nothing but minimize the field of vision for the player. It makes it hard to tell where to go next during parkour sections, hard to pick out where a group of enemies may be, and when the sun and fog mix it becomes nearly impossible to see more than a few yards in front of Arno. It's unfortunate because I think Saint-Denis could have been an interesting location for the Assassin's Creed universe had this DLC not ruined the experience by constantly breaking the immersion with these flaws in presentation.

Dead Kings consists of six main campaign missions, which while lengthy, aren't always anything new, despite a few exceptions. You'll still have to “tail this guy to this place without him seeing you in between,” which leads to tedium, but isn't bad enough to be a major complaint. Also back are the large set-pieces, such as the aforementioned Basilica of Saint-Denis, that were arguably the best part of Unity and are the same for this game. Though they are not as large or numerous as those in Unity, each set piece, above ground and under, offer multiple paths for exploration and infiltration as well as supporting both stealth-heavy and more action oriented playstyles. Dead Kings also includes several puzzles and mysteries to the main campaign that will feel familiar to anyone who explored the side quests of Unity. Puzzles are a highlight of the game, and actually do take a bit of thinking to crack the clues provided, rather than just practices in trial-and-error like many other games. The only drawback for me is that these puzzles are reserved for the tail-end of the game rather than being sprinkled throughout the entire campaign. It would have been nice to see them incorporated more, as they were one of the only missions items that set the game apart from Unity.

One thing Dead Kings does manage to do right is bring over many of the core mechanics that made Unity enjoyable, when they work. Combat is still a satisfying challenge that feels responsive and fluid. Surviving through an altercation relies on your ability to parry and evade effectively in between attacks rather than button-mashing your way through and finishing moves are a satisfyingly gory reward for your survival. Parkour feels better than it did in past iterations of the AC series, and the inclusion of “free run down” still makes traversal feel more accessible and fluid than other entries of the series. Though, with all that said, the game can feel inconsistent at times. More often than I could ignore, controls wouldn't respond, leaving me hanging from a ledge furiously pressing X until I finally leapt, often times in the opposite direction than I had intended. I also noticed inconsistencies with enemy AI, who sometimes would be completely oblivious to you killing their allies in front of their face and yet the next moment they could hear a pin drop as you try to sneak away from them. It is frustrating that even when this game does something right, it can't remain consistent and belittles its own strengths with its setbacks.

Personally, I feel people, myself included, were too rough on Ubisoft about how bug-ridden Unity was. Of course, it is frustrating and one would hope that a company would do testing that would've caught the majority of these issues before the release of a major AAA game. But with enough time between its release and now, I can look back and remember that it was actually a fairly good game. But, people were outraged, so when Ubisoft announced that they would offer Dead Kings for free to everyone who wanted it, it seemed a safe assumption that it would be a much smoother experience that would represent Ubisoft's apology for releasing a less than stellar product. Unfortunately, these assumptions are unmerited, as Dead Kings is arguably more flawed than Unity was, and this time, I don't mind saying that it is unacceptable. Within my four hours with the game, NPCs walked through walls, Arno got stuck in a constant loop between animations that I couldn't get him out of, characters walked through NPCs that had become frozen during cutscenes, I saw a goat floating in the air, weapons wouldn't work, and these are just a few of all the issues I noticed. I'm not even going to waste my time ranting about this, because the subject has been exhausted with Unity. I am going to leave it at the fact that this is a betrayal of player's trust and it is unacceptable on Ubisoft's part. Free or not, Ubisoft should have used this as an opportunity to show its acknowledgment of their mistakes as well as their appreciation for the fans who have been patient through Unity's issues and downloaded Dead Kings regardless. To release a product that is more flawed than the original item in question, trumps the generosity of releasing a free DLC for fans, and is unacceptable on their part.

When Dead Kings wants to work, it is a fun game and it is a good game. The sad fact of the matter though is that it doesn't work all that much. I can't recommend it to anyone who hasn't played Unity as it simply isn't worth your time, at least in the state it is now. If you have played Unity and would like to know where Arno's story goes after the credits roll or you're just chomping at the bit for more Assassin's Creed Unity, than this game may offer you some enjoyment. Some. It is really sad that a major game company has allowed itself to release two games in a row, one being an apology for the other, that have been ridden with flaws that were presumably avoidable, given the money and manpower behind a company the size of Ubisoft. Whether or not this becomes a trend in the AC series is yet to be seen. But I hope that fans will voice their disapproval of content such as this and Ubisoft will take more time in honing their future releases.

6 Out Of 10

Good. “This game may be worth a simple rent to check out. This game may have a few things that really stand out as fun, but the whole may be brought down by boring or flawed features.”

Frustrations.

My plan for the day was to download and play a sizable section of the new Assassin's Creed Unity DLC, Dead Kings, but the PlayStation Network seems to have a different idea.  PlayStation did announce yesterday that the PSN will be down on January 15th for four hours (starting at 9:00am PST and 12:00pm EST) while it is undergoing maintenance, but I can barely get anything on my PlayStation that involves the internet to function today.  I'm not blaming anyone, I'm sure there are better minds at work on this than mine and they have a perfectly valid reason for PSN's inactivity, but it is a frustrating setback.  Until then, I suppose I play the waiting game. 

For a full review of Assassin's Creed Unity Dead Kings when I can get it to download, stay tuned to PBG!  

Short Opinions - 1/13/15

Short Opinions is a section that will feature quick thoughts on games that I have recently played that I hadn't scheduled for review.  These may be games that clutter my backlog or simply games I didn't feel like writing a full review for.  There is no set schedule for these and they will be posted whenever I see fit.  May contain light spoilers.

Bioshock Infinite Burial At Sea – I am a huge fan of the Bioshock series and Bioshock Infinite was one of my top games of 2013. So, I was extremely disappointed when I couldn't get into Infinite's two DLC episodes, Burial At Sea. In my opinion, Burial At Sea had an amazing story. Mixing the stories of both the original Bioshock and Infinite was pulled off very well and getting to see Rapture as a fully functioning city was the highlight of the whole experience. Also, where Burial At Sea sits in the Bioshock lore is very interesting and takes a turn towards the end that is unexpected, yet ties everything together smartly. Where everything falls apart for me is in the gameplay. For nearly the entirety of both episodes, I felt I was just backtracking back and forth through the world, pulling off meaningless tasks that were just keeping me from getting to the main story. Burial At Sea also tries to mix the combat of both games which was something I felt made the whole experience feel sloppy and unnecessarily hard. Mixing Bioshock's emphasis on limited supplies with Infinite's emphasis on fast-paced combat and increase in enemies felt one-sided to me. I often felt that not only was I under resourced, but I was unfairly resourced, leaving some of the objectives nearly impossible with what was given to me. I know I am in the minority here and I'm sure plenty of people had little to no issues with it, but I just couldn't get into this game. For the first time in a long time, I simply just stopped playing a game, and opted to watch the ending on YouTube instead.

The Last Of Us Remastered - I have a long opinion for this one that you can read right here.

Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition – Despite the fact that I roll my eyes at every rerelease and definitive edition that now plagues the market, I couldn't help but grab Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition. I remember playing Sleeping Dogs when it first came out and loving the arcade feel of the game and the gritty story of the Hong Kong mob world. I was very pleased to find out that my memory had served me right and Sleeping Dogs is still just as fun now as it was three years ago. The focus on melee-combat, which works extremely well, is one of the main draws of this game. Attacking, blocking, and countering is extremely responsive and is the perfect level of challenge, allowing you to take down large groups of enemies without feeling unfairly powerful or vice versa. The upgrade to Playstation 4 has also done a great deal for the overall presentation of the game. Character models and animations don't look much better than they did on Playstation 3, but the world of Hong Kong has received a massive face lift for the port. Puddles collect on streets when it rains, buildings and districts all have a more distinct feel to them, and many other features have been included to make the world more believable. If you missed Sleeping Dogs the first time, the inclusion of the full game and all the DLC in this new package really gives you no excuse to sleep on it for a second time.

Watch Dogs – I really wish I would have had a chance to play this game when it first came out. Anything that makes a bold statement such as Watch Dogs' “true next-gen experience” is more than enough to perk up anyone's curiosity. But playing Watch Dogs seven months after its initial release date didn't allow me to play the game while comparing it to the immense hype train it rode in on, for better or for worse. Personally, I really enjoyed the game and I thought it played well. Chicago was beautiful and interesting to explore, shooting was solid, and I enjoyed all the hacking options, even if there were far fewer than the trailers might have led us to believe. Watch Dogs had a story that did fall very flat though. I couldn't bring myself to care about Aiden Pearce or any of his struggles. But the voice acting and animations were both done very well, never leaving me bored during one of the frequent cutscenes. One of the main draw backs of the game would have to be its repetition. Throughout its lengthy campaign, the game slips into monotony with its several “tail him and spy on this missions.” But, when Watch Dogs just let players run free around Chicago, causing mayhem and hacking away at the city, the game truly is a delight. I can only assume that a sequel is already in development by Ubisoft. One that I hope will expand upon all of Watch Dogs' strengths and mechanics as well as fully realizing the ambitions this game set out to achieve.

Switching To A Ten Point Scale

I recently have had issues with PBG's current five point rating scale.  Some recent reviews have left me torn between scores where a game was really good, but missed the mark of great.  Giving such a game a three would imply that it was simply an okay game, but giving it a four insinuates that it may have been better than it actually was.  By extending our scale by five points, I feel there will be less ambiguity and opinions on the games in questions will have a solid score that matches what is said in the review.  The scale will go as follows:

1 - Atrocious. An extreme misfortune to anyone who has the misfortune of coming into contact with it.
2 - Horrendous. By numbers, technically better than a one.  But realistically, still terrible.
3 - Really bad. A game that is 95% awful, but is saved by that other 5% from being completely disgusting.
4 - Bad. A game with not much to offer.  Most of what it contains is flawed or lacking in any fun or invention.  That's not to say the game is awful though.  Hidden deep within all the game's problems may still be a glimmer of fun that can be had.
5 - Moderate.  This game doesn't do much that is memorable and may do several things wrong, but at its core is still an adventure that holds slight enjoyment.
6 - Good.  This game may be worth a simple rent to check out.  This game may have a few things that really stand out as fun, but the whole may be brought down by boring or flawed features. 
7 - Very Good.  This game is worth playing, but it may have unforgivable issues that hinder it from cracking the top three.  It may be a fun game in the moment, but forgettable in the end.
 8 - Extremely Good.  This is a game definitely worth your time.  A game that is extremely fun and does a good job of being fresh and inventive.  This game may have only a few issues that keep it from being something truly special.
9 - Amazing.  This game is a must play.  It does something special and has just minor, almost ignorable, issues that keep it from reaching its true amazing potential.
10 -  Nearly Flawless.  A game that executes everything it sets out to with tremendous success.  A game that receives this score does something new and brings a breath of fresh air into the gaming world.  While this game may not be 100% perfect, it gets as close as possible and deserves as much attention as it can get.

With all that being said, PBG's first review with its new scale will be of Assassin's Creed Unity's first DLC pack, Dead Kings.  Look for it right here within the next week!   

Thoughts On The Last Of Us

Warning. Spoilers for The Last Of Us!

Even given the nature of this platform, I've found myself shying away from ever fully writing about The Last Of Us. When a game is as highly publicized as this one has been and being heralded by some as, “one of the greatest games of all time,” I felt it was hard to come up with something unique to say about the game that wasn't already being typed ad nauseam by other websites. The Last Of Us is not a “play your own way” type of game. Joel and Ellie's decisions are their own and whether or not you agree with these decisions is trivial because you're going to play through them and see them made. As I have played through The Last Of Us Remastered I realized that this is where the importance of this game lies, as it forces you to face your feelings on tough matters by stripping any choice from you. The Last Of Us makes you uncomfortable by making you think about personal losses you've encountered in life as well as make you reflect on the gratuitous violence we ingest regularly as gamers with no second thought. The Last Of Us makes you walk away with heavy thoughts about yourself by telling a story about humans with little-to-no choice. This game is important for so many reasons, but instead of typing another article that speaks on how amazing the story of this game is or how well crafted the characters are, these are the two main feelings I had as I played through the game. They are by no means good feelings, on the contrary, they are uncomfortable and stay with me while I'm not playing, but they are important in understanding why the Last Of Us is special to each unique player of the game.

There is a moment about halfway through The Last Of Us that makes a potent statement about loss. Outside of the hydroelectric dam, ran by Joel's brother, Tommy, the player can find a grave that Joel comments as, “too small.” This prompts Ellie to want to talk about Sam and Henry's death, which had happened in the previous scene of the game, to which Joel stops her and simply says, “things happen... and we move on.” In a post-pandemic world where the fight for life eventually trumps the mourning of death, this statement may make sense. Joel and Ellie live in a world where no matter who they lose, be that Sarah, Tess, Henry, Sam, etc., if they wish to live, they have no time to stop. But to a kid sitting in a suburban Kentucky neighborhood who has never had to live in a world gripped by a cordycep infection, I have no way to relate to this. It was extremely hard to watch Sarah die, every time I see Henry put a gun to his own head I choke up slightly. But it was the moment that Ellie wanted to talk about death with Joel that finally hit home for me.

I don't live in a world where I have to keep moving simply to survive. I am free to sit and, more importantly to my point, I have time to think about things. As I subconsciously tried to relate to Ellie and Joel, in that moment my mind had to take me to a point of loss, which obviously in modern society, is not something we walk away from. On the contrary, we make grandiose gestures of death rituals that are meant to celebrate one's entire life and harken back on our shared moments with that person. For us to simply walk away would be viewed as barbaric and inhuman. So to understand why Ellie was curious about death, I had to think of times loss was in my mind. But these losses were real and these people were real. Without divulging too much personal information, since it's not the point of this essay, I went through a major loss on February of 2014. But after the casket was underground, I swept the sorrow and mourning under the rug to worry about later or possibly never at all. For me to understand Ellie's questions about death I was forced to remember a death in my own life and questions I had surrounding the event. The only difference is that in my life, death is not an everyday event, I had to relive the moments of watching that person's health deteriorate and eventually succumb to other forces. The importance of all of this is not that this small moment is a genius piece of writing, which in my opinion it is, it is that a video game took the time to pull the player out of a hail of bullets, expose him from cover, and make them feel something other than the satisfaction of a head shot. These feelings are uncomfortable and unexpected. But to to be forced to relate to a fictional character and forced to better cope by real life events is important for video games as a medium.

Four-hundred fifty-nine. That's how many people I had killed by the end of my thirteen hour playthrough of The Last Of Us Remastered. With my slaughters ranging from rifle shots to the forehead, baseball bats to the ribs, and shards of glass to the throat, The Last Of Us is certainly one of the most graphically violent games to come out recently. But the violence in this game is approached very differently than it is by other hyper-violent games such as Grand Theft Auto or even the fellow Naughty Dog-developed Uncharted series. I was never proud of achieving a head-shot in The Last Of Us and I cringed each time I broke a brick over an enemy's head. The violence left me feeling on edge, out of breath, and wrong. There is definitely something to be said about the mechanics that play to the unease in the combat. The camera zooms in when you hit an enemy, blood sprays everywhere when you shoot someone, the sounds of bones breaking as you hit them with a metal pipe send your skin crawling. But the mood that the violence evokes is far more troubling than the actual visual element. A game that is consistently violent from start to end, yet never stops being shocking or troubling, even as you reach several hundred kills, really is trying to say something about game violence.

There are far more than 459 enemies in the game, but I wasn't always able to bring myself to kill every foe I encountered. Sometimes this was strategy and it was easier to leave a couple survivors to progress. But sometimes the violence simply exhausted me. The Last Of Us seems to be taking a close look at how desensitized gamers are to gratuitous violence by making it so graphic that it never ceases to be hard to look at. This is the only game that made me wince at the same death and kill animations every time they happened and when NPCs actually begged for their life when I had a gun pointed at them I always hesitated and thought whether or not what I may be about to do was okay. I'm not by any means taking a stand against video game violence, but I think The Last Of Us is saying that we do need to be conscious of the violent imagery we as video game players ingest very regularly and personally I think they are right in doing so. It's no surprise that a vast majority of AAA games are rated M and glorify and stylize violence. We as players eat it up; headshots are badges of honor and tea bagging a dead foe is a right of passage and there's nothing inherently wrong with any of that. What I believe The Last Of Us is saying by making its violence so violent is that we need to be aware and mindful of how much we allow ourselves to see without a break. Maybe playing five shooter games in a row is doing more to us than we realize. I know that after I finished the game a trip through Journey as a pallet cleanser definitely didn't seem like that bad of an idea.

The Last Of Us is a game that will continue to be talked about for years to come. As long as people are finding new meanings in the game and new ways they relate to it, the conversations will continue. I plan to replay through the DLC, Left Behind, soon and I'm sure it as well will leave me with strong feelings that maybe I will be compelled to share here on PBG. The Last Of Us truly is a special game and weaves such a personal tale that each player will have something unique to take from it. And as long as that goes on we will have new things to write, talk, and think about from the shared, yet unique, experience we have encountered with The Last Of Us.

Assassin's Creed Unity Dead Kings Trailer