We are not throwing it back as far as last time. This time around we are looking back at the franchise reboot for Thief on the PC, XBone and PS4.
I played the first game in the series back in 1998 and enjoyed it a lot even though I couldn’t even beat the first level without cheats. I was not good at games back then but that didn’t stop me. I knew what I was playing was something different and new.
Our first hour or so into the Victorian world of The Order: 1886.
It’s back! The game that will seemingly never die has been released yet again. Just like last time I’m thrilled. I know what I’m getting and since this is just an upscaled version of the Gamecube version I have no fears of it being re-imagined (ruined).
The game starts up and looks just like the Gamecube version with the low-res zombie waking up on a gurney perfectly intact. My nostalgia senses were going crazy at that point. The game feels just like the older one with one major difference that I refuse to accept.
I am not a Far Cry fan. That doesn’t mean I dislike the series, it just means that I haven’t played the series. Far Cry 4 is my real introduction to the series. I do have the original and second in my Steam library with a total of 20 minutes spent between the two but other than that I went into this one completely ignorant of any storyline.
My initial impression of Far Cry 4 was good, I liked the way it started and it set the stage for me to want to know what is going on. But my exploration was short-lived since as soon as you gain control, you are thrust back into a cut scene and the story is laid out in front of you. The game actually lays out the story better than most other games at first. It’s a shame that after the first few story missions you are left thinking, “Why the hell am I doing any of this?”. The game also doesn’t do a great job of telling you that you HAVE to do some side missions to keep the story moving. I ran out of story missions and wandered around for over an hour before figuring that out.
Well I decided to just go ahead and do it. I’ve been considering it for a while and when I saw a great sale on Amazon I decided to strike and buy a Surface Pro. Not the new Pro 3, the original. It was exactly what I needed. Same size as my RT, just a tad thicker, and uses the same keyboard.
The performance difference between the RT and the Pro is immediately apparent. That’s not to say the RT is slow, it’s not, but the Pro just works more efficiently, and I appreciate that. Both units have their strengths and weaknesses. In fact the RT may be a better choice for some people. Here is my short list of Pro’s and Con’s for each device.
Today we are throwing it back to 2009 and looking at Venetica. A 3rd Person Hack-n-slash RPG by Deck13 Interactive, one of the studios also behind Lords of the Fallen. Haven’t heard of it? That’s no surprise. The game received average reviews at best overall and based on the price cuts shortly after release I can’t imagine it sold well; having a female only protagonist also didn’t help which I find to be absurd but that’s the way things go unfortunately. Even the PC version now has no kind of key code or activation, that’s basically the developer going “Yup, it’s a game.” and just throwing it out there.
I, however, feel it’s one of the few hidden gems out there that hasn’t received much coverage. And that’s a shame. This is a great title that can be bought for very little cash nowadays. So first off, basic story is basic as they say. You play Scarlett who is the only one in a small village without any family aside from a half-brother. The village is attacked by assassins that are looking for her. She survives the attack and then it’s up to her to hunt them down for killing her lover. As it turns out the only way to exact revenge is by using a special sword called a Moonblade. Scarlett, of course, is the only one that can locate and use the blade making her the hero by default.
Difficulty. It’s a topic that can breed a lot of discussion. There are those that feel if you don’t play a game on the hardest setting possible then “you suck”. Let’s explore that shall we?
So I play games on all degrees of difficulty. Depending on the game I may even switch it up during the playthrough. Fallout 3 comes to mind. I would adjust the difficulty on the fly, both up and down, depending on the situation and how I felt like playing at the time. In fact, I prefer games that have a difficulty slider that can be accessed in-game. It’s annoying when changing it locks out certain achievements or trophies, so in those cases I just deal with it.
It’s absolutely justifiable to play on an easier setting sometimes or, hell, even all the time. It just depends on your play style. Fallout 3, as mentioned above, is probably my main example. I put a lot of time into that game. I played it over a span of weeks, hours per day. Over the course of weeks my taste changes in all sorts of things, gameplay style is definitely one of them. Luckily Fallout 3 allowed me to satisfy that change. Some nights I wanted to just clear some story missions and level up, but my goal was to cover a lot of land and progress the story a bit. In those cases I’d play on normal, or even a little easier depending on my mood. Conversely, some nights I was in the mood to challenge myself and get into a heated battle that required tactics. Easy enough to fix, just turn up the difficulty. It was great, I had a good time and was able to satisfy my play style while still playing the same game.
I’m on the delayed plan when it comes to Call of Duty. I don’t play the multiplayer so paying full price for a five hour campaign does not seem worth it to me but after a few price cuts, and a sale, the price finally fell in line…usually once the new one comes out. So I can’t wait to play Advanced Warfare next year!
For a series that’s known more for its multiplayer, I always have a good time with the campaign. It’s a shame that many people never even play it. Every single Call of Duty campaign I’ve played has been entertaining in some way. They later games seem to cram in a lot of different game styles, like a sample platter of the things you can do in multiplayer, into the campaign in a way that usually works seamlessly. It’s nice to break things up.
Sorry for the quality, something happened during recording that I can’t go back and fix.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Bound by Flame once I started it up. I am playing the PC version and after some issues getting everything working it’s running quite well. However I have to disconnect my mouse in order to use my gamepad. It’s a known issue with the game. Research showed it was an issue with Logitech wireless mice and the game. So I bought a Microsoft wireless mouse, same issue. That’s an annoying issue that many have experienced, how it has not been fixed is beyond me. But aside from that, it’s been a smooth experience.
Once in the game the first thing I noticed was the visuals. I was expecting more I think for a game that was also released on the PS4 and XBone. Granted it was also released on PS3 and 360 so the visuals probably came under some kind of compromise. They do the job but look like they’d be at home on last gen consoles…near the beginning of release. I only mention this because of how jarring it was considering when the game came out. However the art style is fine. People have compared it to Borderlands, I guess I can see that but it’s a bit of a stretch.
The age old debate that won’t go away and, on paper, shouldn’t even be a debate. A PC built for gaming can easily outpace the latest consoles. But is raw power all that matters? Do huge FPS numbers always mean a better experience? Here is my take on this topic.
Well lets dig in and talk about that in as open of a mind as we can muster. Both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses and I know that I will be in the minority with what I feel is one of PC’s biggest weaknesses, but more on that later. To me, gaming is all about the experience you have with the game and the platform really shouldn’t matter. I also don’t game in tournaments where frame counting and refresh rates and such can come into play. However platform does matter to me, kind of. I grew up with a PC in the house where I could play basic games on it. If I wanted to play a more in depth game I would turn to the NES I had. The NES was my introduction to console gaming and at the time I thought it was the best thing in the world. I was also a kid.
Ryse was recently released for PC and I got my hands on a copy, or rather my PC got it’s hard drive on a download…or whatever. Either way we got it, and I’ve been playing a lot of it. It’s still the only game that I wanted from the Xbox One lineup and almost bought an XBone just to get it. Luckily I found it was released on PC and Steam had it on sale for $19. Score! I’ll still pick up an XBone when Halo 5 releases I’m sure.
It runs very well to my surprise. PC ports are usually not optimized the best but this runs well on my system which has a AMD Phenom II x4 945 running at 3.3Ghz, 8GB of DDR3 and the GTX 750ti SC video card that was featured in the install video about a month back. Not a major powerhouse compared to what’s out there, but more than enough to keep up with the latest games at very playable resolutions and frame rates. I did notice some frame rate issues at first but a few helpful guides on the internet had that sorted quickly.
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So before we get into it, let’s talk about why I chose these five games. It’s easy really. They may not be the best games of 2014 to everyone but when I laid out all the games released this year that I’ve played, and that’s a lot of games, these were the five that stood out to me. They stood out because they left the most lasting impression on me, when I started writing about all the games, these five had me on a roll, reliving my experiences and feelings I had when I played them.
So whether or not these are the five I had the most fun with, these are the ones that had the biggest impact on me as a gamer. And that’s fair enough.
EDIT: Ok, changing this to Reluctantly Recommended. While I stand by everything I wrote I can’t stop playing the game. It has the “Destiny” effect. It’s not a great game but you keep playing it. I will say that the main missions are fun, but the side stuff (Warchiefs included) that you have to do to unlock missions still feels like work and the cheapness of the encounters are still very prevalent. So be warned.
I really want to like this game. It’s pretty, it’s a big title, it’s got swords, I paid $30 for it…but I don’t. I’m sure people that are heavily invested into the lore of Middle Earth may really like it, but I can’t find any fun in this title. The combat is repetitive, VERY repetitive. I realize all games are but the sheer number of enemies this game throws at you making you mash the same two buttons over and over to win a battle after you’ve already grown bored of it is just stupid.
That’s my main issue with this game. There is something here that is good. Like Batman meets Assassin Creed. It has the makings of a great title. But it ruins the experience with the combat. It’s the same combat system used in the recent Batman games but Batman knew how to make it fun. You were never overwhelmed with enemies around every corner, but in Shadow of Mordor it seems every fight is a test of patience. Add to that, every one of your enemies seems to have a lot more health than you do which just adds time to an already uninspired battle.
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