"The Order: 1886" Review

     

     Amidst The Order: 1886's long, unskippable cut scenes, embarrassingly high amount of quick time events and a lack of other things lies a game that could’ve been so much more. The Order: 1886, developed by Ready at Dawn Studios is Sony’s newest exclusive on PlayStation 4. Taking place in Ready at Dawn’s painstakingly well-crafted 19th Century London, “The Order” is the best looking console game I have ever played. You play as Sir Galahad, one of the Knights of the Roundtable. Along with your comrades, it is your sworn duty to uphold the order and fight against the supernatural as well as other threats. “The Order’s” story doesn’t quite always follow a straight path, instead changing direction frequently. Essentially, you and your comrades are dispatched to fight against the supernatural, but soon a nefarious plot unravels; leading Galahad to question those around him.
     Graphically, as I stated above, “The Order” is the best looking console game I have ever played. The game is letter boxed as well, which I actually enjoyed because it added a certain cinematic touch. Cut scenes are almost indistinguishable from gameplay. However, graphics can only get a game so far. Environments, albeit linear, are beautifully designed. If you explore, you can inspect photos, among other things to immerse yourself more into the game’s world. Every hair can be seen on the characters’ heads, every crease in their clothing, every fiber of their clothes, even the reflections of light in their eyes.         
     Most of the weapons seem standard except for the ones invented by the young and great Nikola Tesla such as the Arc or Thermite gun. The Arc gun fires a charged electrical blast inflicting serious damage on anybody who stands in its way. The Thermite gun fires a flare which is then ignited by a smoke shot from the gun. I only wish that these scientific guns were utilized more throughout the game’s campaign. The futuristic elements of "The Order" are what made it so fascinating. For instance, when injured in combat a knight can drink from a special bottle to heal their wounds. Gore effects when shooting enemies were unbelievable. Detailed red mists of blood spurting into the air caught my eye in numerous instances. The camera is pulled in tightly to Galahad making for some tense moments during combat. While shooting bad guys is always fun, at a certain point, the fire fights just became mundane. It became a simple act of sticking to cover, popping your head in and out while picking off the bad guys.
     “The Order’s” main problem is control. It is constantly taking control away from the player with its far too many QTE’s. The QTE’s made me feel like I was watching a movie instead of playing a game. When executing a takedown the game always decides for you whether it will be a lethal or non-lethal takedown, even in stealth sections of the game. You’d take cover behind a corner, wait for an enemy to approach you and then wait for a QTE circle to fill, timing your attack. Boss fights are even reduced to simple button mashing or pushing the stick in a certain direction. It became so bad that I actually sighed each time a button prompt was displayed on screen.
     “The Order” is not open world; it confines the player to a lot of relatively tight spaces with not a lot of wiggle room. This is not a bad thing though. In today’s generation of games, all I see is open world. Playing a linear game again made me kind of happy. The game may be linear, but there were definitely some cool set pieces such as rappelling down the side of a zeppelin then fighting your way through it. The characters in “The Order” are well voiced and I really got a sense of what they were feeling while playing through the story. Certain characters could have been developed more, such as Galahad’s partners Isabeau, Sir Perceval and Marquis. Isabeau was clearly a love interest of Galahad and I just wish that Ready at Dawn had done more to build a relationship between the two of them instead of a few little moments here and there. On an awesome side note, kudos to Ready at Dawn for working Jack the Ripper into the story.
     Remember how I said, “It is your sworn duty to uphold the order and fight against the supernatural”? Well… you do fight the supernatural; werewolves or “Lycans” to be exact. However, these fights are reduced to dodging the werewolves with the press of a button, shooting them a bunch of times and then finishing them off with your knife with a one button press. Oh, and did I mention the fact that you fight more humans than supernatural? Lame. Why entice with such a cool idea then barely expand on it? You fight about 80% humans, 20% supernatural. A quick backtrack to the QTE’s; the developers clearly recycled an almost exact boss battle from the beginning of the game for the end of the game; talk about lazy.
     The Order: 1886 isn’t a bad game; it just could’ve been so much more. Let’s put it this way, I believe that this game was merely a test of the PS4’s power. Having seen the so blatantly obvious sequel bait left at the end of the game, I’m excited to see where Ready at Dawn Studios takes “The Order” next. 
PROS:
- Best looking console game to date
- Science Guns
- Bringing linear back
- Voice Acting
CONS:
-  Frequently changing story
- Not enough Science gun use
- Mundane fire fights
- QTE’S
- Lack of Supernatural enemies

Final Score: 6/10

"Dying Light" Review

     

     Dying Light is by no means perfect; however it would not be too far off if Dead Island developer, Techland had just worked a bit harder to really make “Dying Light” in a league of its own. Instead, what we get is a combination of many other popular games equaling a still very impressive AAA title. Having never played “Dead Island”, I didn’t quite know what to expect going into “Dying Light”, but I came away thoroughly and unexpectedly pleased. Here’s the gist; you are Kyle Crane, a government agent dropped into the Middle Eastern-esque city of Harran. Your job? To secure a file for your government employers, the GRE. You parachute into Harran in a vertigo-inducing cut scene. As soon as you hit the ground a few thugs surround you and you “cleverly” pull out your gun and shoot them even after they tell you not to shoot because it will alert zombies. A zombie comes rushing down the street and immediately bites you. You are given "Antizin", medicine that suppresses the symptoms of the infection.

     You are saved by a couple of free runners, Jade and Amir. After the opening sequence, the game makes you participate in an hour long tutorial of learning the basics. Firstly, parkour is a central aspect of “Dying Light” and its open world. You can run, jump and climb on almost 100% of everything around you. It’s not as fluent as “Mirror’s Edge”, but it is quite impressive. Later on in the game, you can obtain a grappling hook for easier travel. Think Just Cause. A couple of unlockable skills pertaining to the game’s parkour are the ability to vault off of a zombie while running or run up walls to reach a high ledge. There are three skill trees; Survival, Agility and Power. Agility and Power upgrade points are simply earned by running, jumping and climbing while Power points are earned by just killing zombies. These points are also doubled during night time. Survival points are earned through campaign missions, side quests, etc. Though three skill trees might seem daunting, Techland did an excellent job in balancing them and by the time I reached the end of the game’s campaign I had unlocked almost all of the available skills. I would recommend that you purchase the skills based on your preferred playstyle.

     The zombies in “Dying Light” are well, how do I put this? Dumb. When I say dumb, I mean almost brain-dead. However, here’s the catch, daytime consists of mainly “chump zombies”, but night time is where the zombies put on their big boy pants. Besides your average dumb zombies during day time, there are a few different, more challenging types. Brute zombies, acid spitters, bombers and runners present a decent if not greater challenge depending on your weaponry and unlocked skills. The runners were perhaps my favorite type of zombie in the game because of their little bit of humanity they still had left. If you hit one and then backed away, 9 times out of 10 they’d scream at you, “NO! PLEASE… AAAAGHHHH!” I almost didn’t want to kill them at first, but my mind quickly changed as soon as I started slicing them up like Swiss cheese. Combat is clunky and unprecise, but that's what it makes it fun. Guns can be used, but are ill-advised due to their high likelihood of alerting zombies.

     “Dying Light’s” day and night cycle is the game’s main selling point. At day time, your objective is to complete quests and scavenge for supplies, while at night your objective is to run OR sneak back to an unlocked safe house as fast as you can. Safe houses can be unlocked simply by clearing out zombies from the select areas and turning on the safe house’s power. Night is when the Volatiles come out; the fiercest and most relentless of the undead. If they spot you, they will chase you down like a pack of wolves. Plus, they can pretty much instantly kill you. Night time is definitely a success in the scary department considering the fact that I would always be frantically looking around using my “survivor sense” to scan the environment for them. I gotta say, if I couldn’t control my bladder, my bed would be ruined from each time I experienced night time in “Dying Light.”

     Story-wise, “Dying Light” is severely lacking. The story is bland and unoriginal and just barely scrapes by on a couple of decent characters and cool set pieces. The voice acting for the main characters is pretty darn good, but the good voice acting compliments stop there. Many of the other characters that you’ll meet along the way doing sidequests make for some of the drollest voice acting and lip-syncing work I have ever seen. These characters look like parts of their lips were stitched together when they talk. Not to mention how bored they sound, devoid of all emotion. Once you actually get into the sidequests though, they will pull you in. Some will make you laugh while others will make you cringe with their dark tones. I wish that developer Techland had just tried a little bit harder to really make the game’s story their own instead of relying on stereotypes like the obvious villain and a main character working for a secret government agency trying to secure a file. I mean seriously, come on guys.

     Graphically, “Dying Light” succeeds environmentally with its design of the game’s building structure and beautiful lighting effects followed by a spectacular dismemberment system with lots of detailed blood and gore. Character models look like early PS3, but considering that the game was first person and I couldn’t see what Kyle Crane looked like except for his legs and arms, I didn’t care too much. “Dying Light” has two maps. “The Slums”, exactly what it sounds like and “Old Town”, a more city-like map. Both offer a different aesthetic and that’s what I like the most about the maps. On a side note, “Dying Light’s” soundtrack is excellent. It’s sci-fi, it’s omniscient, it’s pulse pounding. It’s the perfect combination of music.

     Crafting in “Dying Light” is kept simple. You don’t need to find a workbench or anything like that to craft items. To craft, you simply tap the touch pad on the PS4 controller and the crafting menu will be brought up so you can craft on the fly. A few items that can be crafted are Molotov cocktails, throwing stars, fire crackers, medkits and upgraded weapons. Weapon crafting is where the game’s crafting system is at its strongest. Throughout the game, either by completing certain campaign missions or side quests, weapon blueprints are obtained. Each blueprint will work with a specific set of base weapons. Each blueprint adds a variety of different level effects to your weapon ranging from toxicity to fire and electricity with quite a few more effects. If you want better weapons, your best bet is to level up your character’s survivor rank as much as possible.

     “Dying Light” also features a co-op mode that allows for 4 player story mode exploration and the ability to be a zombie and invade other players’ games. Due to server issues I’m assuming, I have been unable to experience co-op. However, I did play the tutorial for the “Be the Zombie” mode and I have to say, it’s quite the creative feat. You take control of a “Night hunter” and hunt down other players using your super speed and agility. You can pounce on players and essentially just devour them… Well, I’m not quite sure what you do when you catch someone; you either eat or smash them to pieces. Regardless of the means of death, it is gruesome and beautiful at the same time.

     I’m glad I never played “Dead Island” so I could go into “Dying Light” with a clean slate of expectations. Techland certainly borrowed a lot of things from other popular game series, but they implemented what they borrowed extremely well. “Dying Light” is a new take on the zombie genre and each time I played it, I grew fonder of the game and the developers who had put so much passion into this new title. I hope for more zombie-parkour adventures from Techland in the future.

Final Score: 8/10

PROS:

-          Parkour

-          Well divided skill trees

-          Day/Night cycle

-          Beautiful environment design

-          Crafting

-          Solid game series rip-offs

-          Highly satisfying blood and gore

-          Excellent Soundtrack

CONS:

-          Daylight zombies are a little too dumb

-          Lame story

-          Emotionally lacking side characters

-          Relies too heavily on video game stereotypes

-          Broken co-op

"Shadow Warrior" Review

     

          Shadow Warrior is one of those games where each level will leave you wondering, “Ugh, is it over yet?” You play as the two-dimensional (boring) hitman, Lo Wang; ha ha ha. “Shadow Warrior” is filled with gruesome violence, 12 year old, immature quips and demons; lots of demons. Lo Wang is tasked with retrieving swords to rebuild the Nobitsura Kage, a very powerful sword. Along the way he meets a banished spirit, Hoji. Hoji provides less immature additional humor to the game. There are many different types of demons it seems, but none have any context to them whatsoever. While “Shadow Warrior’s” blood-soaked combat is beautiful to watch, it feels all for not. The story is weak and forgettable. Less than midway through I forgot what I was slicing up all these demons for.

      You are given a small arsenal of weapons including an smg, shotgun, pistol, crossbow, grenade launcher, flamethrower and of course, your sword. Additional things can be used as weapons including demon heads and demon hearts. Almost all of the weapons have upgrades to make them even more powerful. Lo Wang has upgradeable skills which can be purchased using ki and karma points. Money and ammo are fairly easy to find if you just look around. With all the weapons available to you, the sword is still the most fun to use by far. Heads can be severed and limbs as well from the demon spawn.

     Additional attacks can be accessed by using the touch pad or the buttons on the controller. Trust me though, you don’t want to make things difficult for yourself in the midst of combat by using the buttons. Depending on what direction you swipe in, followed by holding L2 or the back trigger on the Xbox One controller Lo Wang will lift up his now glowing left hand at the ready for an attack. Some attacks consist of unleashing a shockwave that will either knock enemies down or float them in mid-air for more accessible slicing or defensive maneuvers that block damage. This is one of the game’s best implicated features. You can use your sword and unleash devastating ki attacks with your other arm at the same time allowing for some brutal multitasking. “Shadow Warrior” assumes that because of your powerful skills, the practically unlimited amount of demon spawn the game throws at you will be easy to wipe out. The game’s difficulty scale is off the chart at times and it can be quite frustrating. Right after you’ve defeated two giant demons, three more will be waiting for you around the corner. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to slice and dice all these demon spawn, but a little better pacing would be nice.

     While the game’s humor got a chuckle out of me at times, it was largely unfunny. The writing could’ve used a lot more work. Cut scenes are told through creative drawings with narrations. In my time spent with “Shadow Warrior”, I enjoyed the mindless combat, but it got old fast. Each level was spent with a dull expression on my face as I wondered if this game was going to get any better. It didn’t. Shadow Warrior is fun in VERY bite-sized pieces, but as a 12 hour game, mmm, no.

Final Score: 5/10

PROS:

-          Blood-soaked combat

-          Combat multitasking

CONS:

-          Largely unfunny humor

-          Boring protagonist

-          Forgettable story

-          Weapons feel inadequate compared to sword

-          Terrible pacing

-          Story overstayed it’s welcome

"Grand Theft Auto V" Next-Gen Review

     

     Grand Theft Auto V is Rockstar Game’s latest entry in the GTA series. This time around there are two HUGE additions. You can play as three different characters and while there was online multiplayer in GTA IV, it is nowhere near extensive as it is in GTA V. First, the characters are Franklin, Trevor, and Michael. Franklin lives where CJ from GTA San Andreas lived. He is essentially a gangster, with a lot of heart just trying to get out of “the life” and work his way up in the world. Trevor is a deranged, psychopathic, drug dealer/addict-redneck who will annihilate anyone who stands in his way. Michael is a retired bank robber under “witness protection.” He has a wife and family, though they NEVER seem to get along. He’s tired of the retired life and is anxious to get back into the robbery business.

     Once all have been played as for the first time by progressing through the story mode, each character can be switched to at a moment’s notice by holding down on the d-pad and selecting one using the analog stick. This is particularly useful during combat when a character reaches critical health and is pinned down. You can switch to another character and save that other character. Each character has his own story and each is intriguing. Trevor might be the most fun to play as because of his never-ending back and forth emotional state. He either wants to kill everybody around him, or he whines about how his parents were never there for him and that he could really use some company.

     While playing as three characters is an enormously cool twist to GTA V, let’s discuss the biggest addition; GTA Online. Once you launch GTA Online for the first time, it’s time to create your character. You can select what your parents looked like altering your appearance and change a few different body characteristics before jumping into online. Other traits of your player’s appearance can be customized by visiting businesses around Los Santos. The entire game map is available to the player online. When you first start, it will seem daunting because of how little you have. However, it’s easier than you think to work your way up through the ranks. I would recommend playing missions with friends and starting a crew to earn bigger cash rewards for completing missions. With just a bit of grinding, you’ll have a luxury apartment with a ten car garage and an inventory chock-full of weapons. Online runs quite well and lag is a rare occurrence. Missions are greatly varied ranging from skydiving and dirt bike races to stealing drugs and assassinating a target, etc. Teams can even compete in death matches. When playing online though, it’s best to run around Los Santos with a friend and if not, watch your back. Other unsavory players around Los Santos will try to kill you, and some are relentless. If you get sick of it or you just don’t want to fight back, a passive mode can be enabled, disabling other players from attacking you. These unsavory players are marked with a red circle that varies in brightness based on the player’s mental state. (Effected by people they've killed, etc.) When GTA V first launched on last-gen, Rockstar had promised heists for GTA Online. It's been a while, but they are finally coming to online early 2015.

     Another big addition to GTA V on next-gen is the option to switch to first person. First person is both a joy and a curse. It creates an incredibly immersive experience during gun fights and driving, turning them into even more adrenaline fueled sequences. While turned on though, your field of view is severely impaired making it easier to be killed or crash your car. Flying a plane or helicopter is practically impossible. One of the most exciting things you can do in first person is go skydiving.

     Graphically, comparing the next-gen versions of GTA V to the last-gen, the improvements are certainly noticeable, while others are more “behind the scenes.” More radio tracks have been added, reflections can be seen in puddles and the back of cars, plus weather conditions are even more detailed. I assume that the character models have been improved, though it would take a deeper view and critique to really judge them. Lighting is more dynamic and draw distance has been increased as well.

     GTA V’s story is riveting because it weaves the three characters together while still managing excellently to keep them individualized at the same time. Side missions include “Strangers and Freaks”; missions where you meet strangers or freaks and carry out missions for them, races, and even specific side missions assigned to some of the characters. Grand Theft Auto V is a top-notch entry in the Rockstar Games’ series. With so many amazing additions, it's hard to comprehend how they could improve on a possible sequel.

PROS:

-          Three different, detailed characters

-          GTA Online

-          First person

-          Improved graphics

CONS:

-          Certain unsavory online players

Final Score: 9.5/10

"Far Cry 4" Review

     

     Far Cry 4 is a bigger, badder and better Far Cry 3. Bigger guns, bigger animals and bigger violence. You are Ajay Ghale, son of the founder of the “Golden Path”, Mohan Ghale. Set in a luscious, open world “Kyrat”, Far Cry 4 is filled with tall, green-grass mountains and even snowy mountains in the Himalayas. The world is huge and there is certainly plenty to do. You originally come to Kyrat to scatter your mother’s ashes, but you are interrupted by an eccentric, but absolutely insane warlord, Pagan Min (voiced by Troy Baker). Pagan kidnaps you and invites you to dinner. Like I said, insane warlord. You manage to escape and meet up with the “Golden Path.” They explain to you that there is a war going on and that they could really use your help to stop it.

     That’s about all there is to the opening of “Far Cry” and then you are thrust into the open-world of Kyrat. You don’t start out with much, but it won’t take long before you are a gun-wielding badass. Money is easily obtainable making Far Cry’s weapons and other things quickly purchasable. Available for purchase are the game’s regular weapons, signature weapons (weapons that come with attachments and better stats), and maps that reveal collectibles and unknown locations on your map. Collectibles don’t really offer much and I lacked any motivation to really go after them. Far Cry 4 is violent as all hell. Each time you are injured and you heal yourself, Ajay will most likely pick a bullet out of his arm with a twig or snap his hand back into place, etc. It’s brutal takedowns and fierce weaponry really bring the game to life. From stabbing someone through their chest from behind or slitting their throat from behind to blowing someone up with C4; Far Cry’s violence is absolutely beautiful.

     While killing everything that stands in your way is half of Far Cry 4¸the other half is hunting dangerous wildlife. There are rhinos, tigers, leopards, honey badgers (yes, honey badgers), yaks, bears, wolves, etc. Each is either easy to kill, kind of hard to kill, or damn near impossible to kill. If you’re going hunting, I would strongly advise you to use a bow and arrow, as it allows for a “clean kill” giving you two animal skins per kill making crafting much easier. Just a real quick side note here; YOU CAN RIDE AN ELEPHANT AND SHOOT WHILE RIDING IT. The most majestic creature of the game; you can walk right up to one and climb on. Elephants are one of your best options if you’re looking to take on a multitude of enemies. They’re even good for hunting if you are hunting something much bigger than you, say, a rhino. Elephants are able to charge at enemies and hit or pick them up with their trunks, followed by slamming them into the ground violently. Anyway, there are ten items to craft allowing increased capacity for each.

     There are two leaders of the Golden Path, Amita and Sabal. Both have different visions for Kyrat. Sabal wants to marry a young princess, Bhadra, and seize complete control of Kyrat. Amita wants to fund Kyrat using it’s drug trade. Throughout the story, Far Cry gives you the option to either side with Amita or Sabal. Each decision you make will put one of them ahead of the other on the path to become the Golden Path’s true leader. The game does a great job of testing your morals as you decide who to side with. Trust me; it’s a hard choice to make. Both Amita and Sabal offer compelling reasons behind their causes and it will often be hard for you to choose. Far Cry 4’s voice acting is solid for the most part, despite Ajay’s voice actor’s droll performance. Troy Baker as Pagan Min is great, but highly underutilized as he only makes a few appearances throughout the game otherwise taunting you via radio.

     Side missions consist of liberating outposts by taking out a select number of enemies, liberating belltowers by climbing to the top, assassinations, hostage rescues, stopping truck convoys, etc. There is also an arena in that offers weapon challenges, an endless mode, and your basic round by round mode. Ajay has a skill tree featuring two sections, “The Tiger” and “The Elephant.” “The Tiger” section consists of skill upgrades for combat while “The Elephant” section consists of skill upgrades to health and syringes. Syringes are crafted using plants littered throughout the environment and give temporary skills like tagging all animals and or enemies in the area or allowing you to deal double damage, but take double damage as well.

     Graphically, Far Cry 4’s environments are breathtaking. Tall trees and even taller mountains make for a wonderful sense of verticality to the game’s world. Far Cry’s mountains can be traversed a multitude of ways. Most mountains can be driven up using vehicles. Another quick side note here, driving is very awkward at first. It is done using the left stick to accelerate and reverse while the back triggers are used to aim and shoot. At first, I hated it, but I grew accustomed to it and came to appreciate the change of controls. However, if you’re not a fan though, you can change the controls to the usual setup via the start menu. There is also a small helicopter, (gyrocopter), and a grappling hook at your disposal to make your way up mountains. Character models look decent, nothing amazing.

     Oops, I almost forgot, one of Far Cry 4’s most “trippy” aspects are its multiple journeys available to you by participating in some side missions provided to you by Yogi and Reggie. They hand you a joint, followed by a surprise-syringe and off you go to the land of bright colors and evil creatures. These drug-induced adventures give a nice touch to the game adding a different bit of scenery. Far Cry’s campaign took me about twenty hours, a moderate amount of time and I enjoyed all of it. The game also features a co-op mode and the ability to create your own levels and share them with the rest of the Far Cry 4 community. Unfortunately, I have not had any experience with co-op mode as I spent the bulk of my time with the campaign. By the end of the game, you start to think to yourself, “was it really all worth it?” As you mowed down countless lives all in the name of what? The “Golden Path?” You are practically just a senseless killing machine; Ajay barely has any humanity portrayed through his few lines throughout the story. He’s just a shell, and a violent one at that. You never really even see your face besides a barely visible glimpse from a phone screen which just adds to your lack of humanity.

     In conclusion, Far Cry 4 is essentially “Far Cry 3 2.0.” It’s a new entry in the Far Cry series with new additions. It is not a brand new game. Most character models look similar to Far Cry 3, while the animals and environments have improved greatly. Also, comparing Far Cry 4’s framerate to Far Cry’s 3’s atrocious framerate, there is a huge improvement and I never encountered any bad framerate drops. It might not be an entirely brand new game, but the additions made to it make it a worthwhile entry in the “Far Cry” series.

PROS:

-          Huge open-world

-          Brutal violence

-          Improved hunting experience

-          Testing your morals

-          RIDING AN ELEPHANT

CONS:

-          Pointless collectibles

-          Mostly droll voice-acting

-          Inhumane protagonist

Final Score: 8.5/10

PlayStation Experience 2014

     

     So, PlayStation Experience was this past weekend and there are a few things I’d like to talk about. Some of the titles shown off were, “Severed”, “Street Fighter V” (Exclusive to PS4), “Super Time Force Ultra”, No Man’s Sky”, “Until Dawn”, “The Order: 1886” and “Uncharted 4.” “Severed” is a new game developed by Drinkbox. “Severed” is a creative looking game with using the past stylings of “Guacamelee” combined with enemies that you have to slice up. It also includes puzzles. Not much else has been revealed.

     “Street Fighter V’s” huge announcement was that it will be exclusive to PS4. Being that I have never played “Street Fighter”, there isn’t much I can say except that it looks like a cool brawler. Graphically speaking, the game doesn’t look that impressive. “Super Time Force Ultra” is a retro art style game through the “Space Time Continuum.” It features multiple playable characters and co-op. In the beginning of the video there is a funny surprise; it’s not hard to spot. The game looks pretty similar to “Broforce” coming to PS4 and PS Vita soon. “No Man’s Sky” is a game developed by Hello Games. It features mainly flight exploration, but also on-foot exploration. It is not quite clear to me what exactly the objective is in “No Man’s Sky”, but this game looks pretty damn cool considering it is being developed by a company who started out on mobile devices’ app stores. The game’s art style is breathtakingly beautiful.

     “Until Dawn” is a new survival-horror game coming to PS4. Hayden Panettiere is the star of the game. From what the teaser shows, the game looks like a run and hide type of game. Although, I am hoping that weapons of some sort are integrated. It looks pretty freaky. I have also read that if your character dies, that’s it. You move on to another character, just like in “Heavy Rain.” “The Order: 1886’s” new gameplay showcases its crisp graphics and steampunk art. The game’s weapons look intriguing and the cover-based and or run and gun bits of combat look quite entertaining. My only problem with this game from what I have seen so far is that I fear that it will just become a stick to cover while going in and out shooting at enemies type of game. I really hope that the story is engaging and the gameplay does not get old fast.

     I saved the best for last; “Uncharted 4.” WOW. As per usual, Naughty Dog has crafted an unprecedented looking game. Everything in “Uncharted” has been turned up to 11. Better graphics, crisper textures, detailed particle effects, dynamic lighting and let’s not forget, the action. Screw 11, the action in “Uncharted 4” has been turned up to 100. Take downs ranging from sliding down a mud hill, jumping and hooking an enemy right in the face to using a grappling hook to swing from a tree branch and swing right into an enemy knocking him out and grabbing his gun in mid-air. The scope of the game from what I can tell by watching the gameplay looks ginormous. A huge, lush-green tropical area. I am loving the jungle vibe and hoping that Naughty Dog sticks to it. Well, those are all my thoughts on PlayStation Experience. For more reviews and other “thoughts” stick to my blog and I’ll keep em’ coming.

Why I Started This Blog

In High School, I was in a Journalism class. Most of the writing assignments gave us free reign to do what we wanted; I chose to write about video games. I started out small, writing about Splinter Cell: Blacklist removing the longtime voice of Sam Fisher, Michael Ironside, and replacing him. Eventually I started writing about the consoles I purchased, i.e. the PS Vita and the PlayStation 4. Then I moved on to reviewing video games. After the class was over, I didn’t quite know what to do with my writings, so I decided that I would start a blog. Considering that I had no idea how to create a website, I used Google’s “Blogger” service to get me started.

     The first game I ever reviewed was Injustice: Gods Among Us. I had written the review for a class assignment. Once the school year was over, I started my blog. My first few posts were leftover from the assignments in class. After that, I began buying games that I was into and reviewing them. Soon after my first official publish on my blog, I realized that I had an extreme passion for this. I would publish a new review for almost every game I purchased. A new review would be published about every month or two. I was really getting into the swing of things.

     It is so simple for anyone out there to start their own blog and begin publishing. There are many blog services. Two of the most popular are “WordPress” and “Blogger.” What really makes it so easy is that even these two most popular blog services are free and easy to use. Anyone can start their own blog and publish as much content as they want, whenever they want. People can voice their opinions, their views about anything. They do not need to keep everything to themselves. Or, if they’ve been looking for someone to talk to about the things they think about, they can do that now! Anybody can visit your blog, read your ideas and respond to what you write.

     The message “hidden” inside blog services is that we were meant to tell/show the world what we are thinking about all the time and not worry about what other people might think. Blogs are not forceful. People can view them if and when they want to. So far, I have 1,905 page views in total. It’s not necessarily a lot, but I’m getting there. I have added non-intrusive advertisements on the blog and whenever somebody clicks on one, I make a very small amount of money. So far, I’ve made $0.12. But who cares, I’m doing what I love.
     The type of people who would view my blog would pretty much be anyone who plays video games and enjoys reading opinions on them. Why? Well, because I write about video games and I give my opinion on them when reviewing them. I started my blog over a year ago and I did not think that I will still be posting today, but I am and I love it.