Black ops 3

Release: November 6, 2015 Platforms: PS4, Xbox one, PC, Last gen

Story: Remember how well written Blops 2's campaign was? How underrated the writing for its characters was? How it changed the way the Call of duty campaigns told their stories? Well Black ops 3's campaign does none of that. Your introduced to characters with no relation to the series and not given much of a chance to like them. The world has more nano machines than Mgs 4 and you get to go on multiple acid trips. Have you ever been in a frozen forest but weren't cold? yeah that's the campaign in a nutshell.

Gameplay: This is where the positives start. After learning their lessons from advanced warfare they introduced a better movement system that felt much less flighty. The gunplay is basically unchanged from black ops 2 which is a good thing.

Graphics: While it was a step up from advance warfare, it still didn't improve greatly. I do appreciate that Treyarch actually uses colors in their game and doesn't leave everything grey and washed out.

What they did well:

Maps: While there are a handful of awful maps they are greatly out weighed by better maps and some of the designs are really cool again this ties back to the color its nice to see maps that aren't bland.

Guns: While most weapons are just updated versions of Black ops 2's weapons they've been rebalanced and the variety was nice not to mention how many were added after the fact.

Support: Treyarch continues to support this game 2 years after release which is fairly unheard of for most games especially for Call of duty.

Zombies: The Zombies maps in this game from start to finish were pretty good there was no Five or Transit to ruin the experience from the get go.

Personality: This is something I didn't appreciate until infinite warfare but they just had fun with their post game taunts and emotes

What could have been better:

Campaign: Nanomachines. Frozen forest. End.

Chat lag: While I enjoy the multiplayer there was one problem and its been seemingly building over time. Some issue with the engine causes any attempt to use the in game chat system causes lag forcing you to use auto mute to negate it

Nomad: While not unbalanced neccesarilly its still annoying they made a class that specifically appeals to camping, why support that play style if no one enjoys facing it?

Overall : 7.6

Top 5 best game soundtracks

A day late a dollar short but here is my top list for this week. To preface this list is, as always, personal preference and I'm basing it after the amount I've actually listened to them outside of the game.

1.Hotline Miami 1/2

2. Halo ODST

3.Borderlands 2/Tiny Tina's assault on Dragon keep

4. Halo 2

5.L.A. Noire

Dying Light

Released: 01/07/2015 Platforms:Xbox One, PS4, PC

Story: Harran, A booming city gearing up for its time in the spotlight, gets it just not in they way anyone would have hoped. It finds itself the epicenter of a massive zombie outbreak and is quarantined from the rest of the world with only precious few airdrops for the survivors trapped within. You play as Kyle Crane whose been sent in to find a rouge politician. However you find yourself torn between getting your mission done or helping the survivors you encounter along the way.

Gameplay: In a sentence? A really polished Dead island meets Mirrors edge. To go beyond that though, the game does a great job at making you feel the danger of the zombies. Early in the game you generally want to make more use of your movement(The developers worked on a "Run,Bitch,Run!" mentality) than your combat. Even the most skilled players would have trouble fighting a horde at the games outset. Not to mention the Night(Think Chiraq but, like, only filled with Kenyans). At night the zombies become stronger and more aggressive.

What they did well:

Movement: Man, this is something so central to the game it could've made or broke the game thankfully it was the former. It wasn't just something necessary or forced it was actually pretty fun running around for your life at night. Later in the game your free running is made better with a grappling hook(and wingsuit should you be inclined to get it via Easter egg).

Challenge: I mentioned above but for a bulk of the game combat with anything is difficult. Not to the point of frustration but to the point where it was engaging(Wow a zombie game where your not just steamrolling?!? yes its true). You really had to focus on where you were hitting to get the job done effectively

Combat: Following up on that The melee weapons were great but you had to aim for the head to be truly effective(or aim for the balls while you got your ass whipped). Guns weren't something you found until much later in the game barring the odd pistol.

Easter Eggs: The amount of Easter eggs in this game is great Be it referencing other games like Mario or LoZ, or just one offs like the sword in the stone there's plenty of cool things to come across in the game.

What could have been better:

Story: The story could be interesting and draw you in at some points but, would randomly be alienating at others. And Rais, the main villain was just a weak character his motives weren't all that grand for how much evil he did.

Overall : 8/10

I can't just abandon this blog for a year now can I?

 Phew that was close! Man Time sure seems to fly when you busy most days huh? Well I suppose ones definition of "busy" may differ from my own but, that's irrelevant.

Now I'll be honest how often I'll find time to post is still questionable. I'm hoping to be able to post more often but really we'll just have to wait and see on that huh? Still I've got a decent backlog of games to cover and plenty of room for speculation for the future. As for now this is yet another post just to assure anyone following this that I'm, in fact, not dead.

Anyway one major update going forward is I'll be dropping the "Graphics" section from my reviews as we are moving into a new generation its likely everything is going to look really nice. I doubt I'll do anywhere close to proper justice in a simple description.

Smash bros DLC hopes

Well since smash bros 3DS has been out in Japan for a little while now we know the full roster. However there's a persistent rumor that Smash bros 3DS will be the first entry in the series to incorporate DLC characters. I don't know whether we'll actually see DLC, but we can hope right? Of course that said the Roster is pretty filled out and Definitely the best the series has had. Still there's always room for improvement. So that being the case if there was DLC and it was the standard 4 pieces most games opt for these would be what I'd like to see. Mind you I doubt we'll see any of them though.

1. Toad

Why: Well I was originally going to write Waluigi but I remembered he's permanently banned to Assist trophy status, So Then I thought the 3DS version has a lot of troll characters so why not one more? Toads been around a long time and to be reduced to a single move of peaches seems like a waste of a core character of the Mario franchise.

  

Final Smash: He'd use a mega mushroom and become Giga Toad the ultimate troll

Alternate Costumes: Toadette, Capt Toad, NSMB Green toad or Shyguy

Stage: Return of Peaches castle from Melee

2. Bayonetta

Why: Why else? Bayonetta 2 is a Wii-U exclusive and the Enhanced version of the first game was also released on the Wii-u recently as well. The 3DS has made bounds and leaps with increasing the amount of female combatants. Bayonetta is a badass fighter and would fit right in alongside anyone else in the roster.

Final Smash: Well true to the games a close range over the top combo on one or more characters caught in the start up animation.

Alternate costumes: Well now's as good as any time to wear those Nintendo cosplay costumes she got in the second game. 

Stage: There are many places that would make good maps but I honestly can't decide.

3. Big Boss (MGS:V)

Why: The surprise return of Snake! Sort of... Instead of Solid snake we get Naked Snake aka Big boss. With all of his new CQC and enhancements in MGS V he could sport a much more aggressive movelist. No more shooting RPG's at his foot to smash at close range! 

Final Smash: Well I think his old one was just fine but it needs to be re-skinned in a more old school helicopter. If it was a new one it'd have to involve a metal gear of some sort

Alternate Costumes: MGS 3 Snake, MGS 4 Old Snake, Solid Snake

Stage: Mother Base(Outer Heaven) it would change around each time its played much like the Animal crossing stage. This would be a reference to MGS:V where players can make the base however they choose.

4. Tiz(Bravely Default)

Why: Bravely Default has to be one of the most successful new I.P.s on the 3DS. It only seems like a given that its main cast be given some recognition in Smash. There are many classes in Bravely Default and thus many opportunities for character design. This would also be good publicity for the upcoming Bravely Second.

Final Smash: This should be obvious to anyone who played the game but it should definitely be one of the summons from the game, they were so badass, they were more animated then any other part of the game and would make an awesome final smash 

Alternate costumes: Agnès , Ringabel, Edea

Stage:  The Airship. You'd fight on the airship that you fly throughout the game stopping at the 5 major towns you come to throughout the game. Think of a much grander version of Delfino plaza from Brawl.

Destiny

Well I'm back for now, lets see how long that lasts huh? Anyway I truly had no intention of picking up Destiny, but I'm not one for being left out of fads. And that's what Destiny is by the end of the year the game will be most likely forgotten. Its going to be truly hard to review as there's little positive to say about the game, yet it's still been fun. Well I'm going to give it my best shot anyway.

Release: September 9, 2014 Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox 360,  PS3, PS4

Story: Ah straight away with the hard parts. Well anyway Destiny has you start out being brought back to life ,by Ghost your ally throughout the game, after you've spent an undetermined amount of time dead by the the hands of...who knows? From there you do your damnedest to commit genocide to every other sentient species out there, on the orders of some random chick, who may or may not be the traveler. Either way when you look at the story objectively its pretty weak.

Gameplay: Reminiscent of both Borderlands and Halo. Lots of jumping, Loot farming, and powers. The Gun play is definitely like that of Borderlands with guns that have many strengths and shortfalls.Melee being as useful if not slightly overpowered is definitely a remnant of Bungies Halo days. Other things like the physics on the players speeders and even the way some of the enemies move are also Halo hold-outs.

Graphics: Destiny is a pretty game as it should be, but the way that Destiny is pretty didn't really require the power of next gen. The Graphics are fairly cartoony with lost of bright colors and outlandish elements. So yes its a pretty game but it wasn't trying to be the next crysis either

What they did well:

Soundtrack: The soundtrack was never a concern as it was made by the incredibly talented Martin O'Donnell. It's easily the most successful aspect of the game. and despite that he was let go of the studio.

Graphics: I realize that I may have seemed harsh on the graphics above, so to clarify Destiny has some fantastic backdrops. The Final mission despite being ultimately Anti-climactic has a moment early on when you can see the massive garden in which your to be fighting through. There's not a time I play through the mission and I don't stop and look.

What could have been better:

Loot: Its become fairly infamous by this point but Destiny's loot system is well confusing to say the least. You collect engrams which can contain weapons and armor, and they are color coded by rarity. The rarity going from Whit-Green-Blue-Purple-Orange. Orange being refered to as exotic can only be obtained through an extremely lucky purple or through other special means. Purple engrams are the most rare engram to come across and yet that doesn't mean they are going to be purple or even orange, no they have a (FAIRLY LARGE) chance of becoming blue. thankfully Bungie will be fixing this.

Voice acting: Peter "Why did I take this job?" Dinklage voices Ghost your companion throughout the game and thanks to Bungies artistic direction come off sounding like he's losing more of his soul with each line. Not to mention all the other wasted voice talent that went to NPC's you rarely see.

Story: Remember my description of the story above? Its really that bad, there's likely less than ten cutscenes throughout the entire game. Bungie dropped players into a new world and simply expected them to know all its intricacies beforehand

Multiplayer(PVP): Perhaps I'm more harsh on it because Bungie made Halo which had a great multiplayer. The mulitplayer while occasionally fun has devolved rapidly into a contest of 2 weapons, Fusion rifle(mid range railgun) and Shotgun. The reason is most of the maps are small enough that you rarely need anything with more range, in the few instances you do it's Auto rifles, as Scout rifles, Pulse rifles, and even Sniper rifles are simply outmatched entirely by Auto rifles at any range, again another thing slated for fixing thankfully.

Overall : 6/10

Afterword: Destiny is a game with many flaws but even with all said and done its still fun, and if theres a developer with the ability to turn things around post launch its Bungie. Though like I said I'm not sure the game has enough content as is to keep people playing even after big releases like Call of duty, Halo master cheif collection, Assassins creed, and many more.

Still Quiet on the gamefront

Well September is finally here and that means we'll finally see some new games releasing. Most would assume I'm talking Destiny, but they'd be wrong. Even through the depths of boredom I'm still not even considering it. Destiny is Bungie's folly, they followed down Borderlands trail far too closely. I can't not see it as Borderlands with much less charm. You could make the argument that it has PvP multiplayer but the problem is that isn't really balanced. Games like Call of duty, Battlefield, even Bungies own Halo show how to balance there games. A high level player should only have a skill advantage over lower level players, not a weapon or stat advantage.

But enough about my dislike of Destiny. My september month is looking like Naruto UNSR and LOTR Shadow of Mordor. I haven't missed a Naruto game this generation I don't plan to start now. As for Shadow of Mordor I'm still slightly skeptical  it looks pretty good but I can see how it could end up just being a generic action game too. I'm hoping for a Demo but it seems unlikely now. Oh right almost forgot Minecraft Xbox 1 is coming out soon too so I'll also be playing that.

As for what I've been up too in the meantime. I've been playing through the Mass effect trilogy again. I've made it through the first and have moved on to the second. I forgot how good the second game was. Still I have another playthough to go through after I finish the third I'm heading back to the first on Insanity. That'll be fun since the First is definitely the hardest of the 3.

Anyway that about sums up my plans and post too show I'm not dead.  To anyone who's given me a chance and read these thanks.